Remaking the Screen Vampire: from Nosferatu (1922) to Nosferatu (2024)
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- Start Date: 01 Nov 2025End Date: 01 Nov 2025Sat (Daytime): 10:30 - 16:30In PersonFull fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00
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What is the course about?
As one scholar has suggested, film, ‘made up of still images, ghostly shadows of the dead that are reanimated through technological means, bear[s] striking parallels with vampirism’ (Abbott: 43). This course will consider those films that are concerned with the vampire specifically, a sub-genre of the horror film, and will examine their development from some of the vampire’s earliest cinematic incarnations up to the present day. Murnau’s unauthorised 1922 adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula (1897) miraculously rose from the dead after he had been ordered to destroy all copies of the film. We will explore this influential film in some detail before looking at other important vampire films that were also to prove significant in the development of the iconography of the genre, films such as, among others:
Dracula (Tod Browning 1931 US)
Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer 1932 Germany)
Dracula (Terrence Fisher 1958 UK)
Nosferatu, the Vampyre (Werner Herzog 1979 Germany)
Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow 1987 US)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola 1992 US)
Blade (Steven Norrington 1998 US)
Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson 2008 Sweden)
Nosferatu (Robert Eggers 2024 US)
We will consider how the (sub)genre itself has shifted and changed since Murnau’s film was released and how increasing genre hybridisation has led to some fascinating filmic creations that span the globe. In considering the most recent remake of Nosferatu (Eggers 2024) we will think about the enduring popularity of the vampire film and its continuity significance in popular culture.
What will we cover?
• The relationship between the cinema, technology and the figure of the vampire.
• The vampire film as a sub-genre of horror and one that has become increasingly hybrid.
• The development of the vampire film from its early silent incarnations to the present day.
• The iconography and the aesthetics of the vampire film.
• The continuing popularity of the vampire film in popular culture.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
•Understand the relationship between the cinema, technology and the figure of the vampire.
• Demonstrate familiarity with the vampire film as a sub-genre of the horror film
• Demonstrate a broad understanding of the history of the vampire film.
• Analyse the visual style and the iconography of the vampire film.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
This course is an introductory course and as such does not presuppose any prior expertise in film history or film analysis.
The skills required to explore the topics and the films will be discussed in class.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
The course will be delivered as an informal lecture/talk but there will plenty of scope for discussion and questions throughout. The course will be supported by screening extracts from a range of vampire films.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
You will require a pen and paper (or laptop/device) but the tutor will provide all other materials such as handouts digitally through Google Classroom.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
Please look for other Film Studies courses under History Culture and Writing/Film Studies at www.citylit.ac.uk.
Dr. Paul Sutton is an independent film scholar who has taught Film Studies in UK higher education for over 25 years. His research covers psychoanalytic and film theory as well as Italian and French cinema and critical theory. He has published articles in journals such as Screen, French Studies and the Journal for Cultural Research. He is currently writing a psychoanalytic book on film spectatorship, Afterwardsness in Film, and has recently published work on television as a form of palliative care, and an assessment of the films of the Italian experimental filmmaker Ugo Nespolo.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.