20 Greatest Horror Villains Of The 2020s (So Far)

Even though Count Orlok made his cinematic debut over 100 years ago in 1922's original Nosferatu, and is himself inspired by Count Dracula from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, writer-director Robert Eggers and actor Bill Skarsgård made the character feel wholly new in their recent remake.

Eggers leans hard into the grotesque nature of Orlok, presented here as a legitimately corpse-like entity who indeed looks like an undead nobleman rather than a more heightened monster as in the original 1922 film.

But the bold choice to end all bold choices, of course, is that moustache, and while some found Orlok's prominent lip-caterpillar unintentionally comical, it absolutely suited Eggers' conception of Orlok as a corrupted man rather than an abstract entity.

Between all this, the incredible makeup and costuming, and of course Skarsgård's magnificent performance in the role, we were given a new Orlok to rule them all, and quite possibly the single most terrifying Dracula - or Dracula-adjacent character - ever committed to screen.