Following on from the success and international acclaim of Richard Eggers’ (2025) cinematic revisioning of Nosferatu, there has also been a great deal of consternation and uncertainty regarding this reframing of the classic original. Running through the online barrage of comments and clusters of new online Nosferatu groups, even academic discussion-based platforms, are points and questions such as:
—How does Eggers subvert and/or conform to the original and/or previous remakes/adaptations?
—What genre’s are at play in Eggers film and is it even a vampire movie?
—The body of the vampire is purposely grotesque, but how does the monstrosity of Egger’s Count Orlok define itself against normative values, the wider vampire genre, and even other representations of Nosferatu?
This is a call for abstracts for an edited collection inspired by Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu which has brought into sharper focus questions around the ideas of adaptation, genre conformity, audience expectation, authenticity, and meaning making within the mise-en-scene of the vampire.
This initial focus does not limit the connective possibilities, which could include, but are not limited to:
—How does Eggers’ version of Orlok fit with the concept of the ‘monster and the monstrous’?
—What are the narrative threads running through the three main Nosferatu movies? (Murnau/Herzog/Eggers)
—How do these relate to or include adaptations/remakes/sequels such as Vampire in Venice (1986), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), Mimesis Nosferatu (2018), Nosferatu (2023)?
—What are the specific differences between each version and if there is a connection what do they represent as a collective thread of meaning, or as singular puncta points?
—How do the aesthetics connect to the concept of Orlok and/or the vampire motif, and what do they each represent?
—The place and importance of set design, lighting, costume etc. to meaning and interpretation?
—How does the 2024 production connect with Stoker’s vampire, other vampiric versions and the character representations?
—How does Eggers create authenticity through use of lore and historical accuracy in the narrative and design?
—How is the narrative created/changed through changes to other characters such as Ellen, Hutter, Knock, and Prof. Bulwar/Prof. von Franz?
—How do these relate above characters relate to those from Stokers novel and/or its adaptations?
—What are the specific cues, clues and creative instances of Eggers’ production and what do they reveal?
—The changing significance of the historical setting in relation to times the films were made from Murnau’s Weimar Germany to Eggars Populist America?
Please send 300 word abstracts and a short bio to the editors Phil Fitzsimmons ([email protected]) and Simon Bacon ([email protected]) by June 30th 2025, with final chapters of 5,000-6,000 words by July 1 2026. The finished collection will be part of the Vampire Studies: New Perspectives on the Undead series at Peter Lang, Oxford.