I Read Dracula As A Pre-read For Nosferatu

Starting The Year With Vampire Stories

Hello!!!

This is Joyie and welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet where I talk all things books!

Have you been reading anything this week? This week I finished reading Heidi and then started the latest Haruki Murakami novel: The City And Its Uncertain Walls. I'm over halfway through it and am hoping to finish it next week.

Now last week I mentioned I was reading Dracula. It was on my list for a long time, but I kept putting it off. Then in December I heard about Robert Eggeres’ Nosferatu, and I was pretty intrigued.

Then came the lump in my throat and for a while I had to live with the possibility that I might have cancer. At that time I decided if things were alright, I’ll go watch Nosferatu. I have never been a person who goes to movies, every single time I’ve been to one, it’s been because I was coaxed into it by others, and even so, the last time I went to a movie was in 2017. But anyway, that was when I decided to read Dracula since Nosferatu is an adaptation of Dracula. So, that was the first book I finished in 2025, and then yesterday I also went and watched the movie.

Even though Nosferatu is inspired by Dracula, the story is far too different from the book, which for me meant I could enjoy it as almost an independent piece of media.

The book really gave me eerie feelings at parts, especially at the beginning when the story is set in Castle Dracula, or when Dracula arrives at Whitby in the wrecked ship. But in its final arc, with the team hunting down Dracula, I personally found it somewhat goofy and felt like it took away from the fear element of the story. But I liked Mina, and how the group admired her, and her relationship with Jonathan was also very wholesome.

Nosferatu on the other hand, I thought, maintained its eerie atmosphere pretty consistently from beginning to end, although at no point did it scare me like the book did. I liked Ellen, she's technically supposed to be Mina’s counterpart in the movie, but she's just way too different a character. Her story in my opinion had more complexity. Even her relationship with Thomas, Jonathan’s counterpart in the movie, in my opinion was more interesting than Mina’s relationship with Jonathan. They fight and argue and things get nasty, which to me makes it more realistic, and them, easier to sympathise with. Thomas loves Ellen, like Jonathan loves Mina, but Mina is a lot easier to love, everyone in the story admires her. Ellen throws fits and says hurtful things and is seen by the people around her as a hysteric woman who needs to be tied down and sedated. That is the Ellen Thomas loves, so I do give him a little more credit.

Nosferatu ends somewhat differently from Dracula, which I think works better for it. Overall, I'd say I'm glad I decided to go watch the movie, not just because it was a visual treat, but also because it gave me the motivation to finally read Dracula after all these years.

What about you? Have you read Dracula or watched Nosferatu? What do you think of them? I'd love to know!!!

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That’s it for today, I'll be back in your inbox next week.

Until then,

Joyie 🌻