Nosferatu 2024 Review (and Dracula, and Shadow of the Vampire 🤪) / Fernie's Haunting Childhood Mirror Reflection

1/10/25 - Ever wondered how the legacy of horror classics continues to haunt modern cinema? Join Laura and Esme from Chicas Cucuy, as they unravel the mysteries of Robert Eggers' "Nosferatu 2024." They navigate the chilling blend of Murnau's silent classic and Bram Stoker's "Dracula," and Steven A. Katz's "Shadow of the Vampire" exploring the adaptations' journey through creative evolution. They also pause to send thoughts and support to those affected by the fires in Los Angeles, reminding us of the real-world drama outside the silver screen.

**THIS EPISODE HAS SPOILERS GALORE!" you have been warned 🤪

Vampire lore, with its gothic imagery and themes of sacrifice and eternal love, takes center stage as we dissect the spiritual undertones of "Nosferatu 2024" and its classic counterparts. This episode ventures into the realm of remarkable performances that bring horror to life.  This episode is a testament to the vampire genre's enduring appeal and its ability to touch the darkest corners of human imagination.We spotlight an opera-trained voice actor Bill Skarsgård who gave chills as Pennywise and explore the unforgettable portrayals by Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, and Keanu Reeves in "Bram Stoker's Dracula." Get ready to meet rising horror star Lily-Rose Depp, whose debut performance in possession roles is as captivating as it is haunting. Our discussion also embraces the versatile Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, a familiar face across Dracula-themed films, weaving their unique presence into the genre's tapestry.

As a final treat we have a haunting childhood memories shared by our return guest Fernie Valdez, as he takes us through his unnerving 9 yr old experience.  
Do you have a true scary story you would like to share? Send us an email with a brief description of your story at [e-mail]

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Episode Transcript

Laura (00:31):
Hello listeners.
I'm Laura and I'm Esme, and weare Chicas Cucuy.
Thank you for tuning in to ourpodcast.

Esmeralda (00:38):
This is a podcast dedicated to horror movies and
real life cucuy.
We take a deep dive into thehorror film world and bring you
the latest and greatest andsometimes the not so great.
We will give you our cinematicreviews and insights to what
makes them so terrifyingly good.
And please beware of spoilers

Laura (00:53):
.
We want you to be happy hearingus, not mad at us for telling
you what happens, and after eachsession we'll feature a real
life scary story.

Esmeralda (01:00):
If you have one to share, we'd love to hear about
it and, hey, it may even end upin one of our episodes.
Tune in if you dare.
Hi, everyone hi.
Thank you so much forcontinuing to listen to us.

(01:21):
Today's movie that we're goingto review is Nosferatu 2024.

Laura (01:27):
It was such a great start of the year because we watched
it 2025 so we watched it when itwas already 2025, just to make
happy new years to listeners.

Esmeralda (01:35):
Oh yes, happy new year, even though there's a lot
happy, scary new year because,as you know, we live in LA and
we are currently dealing withfires and there's a continuous
crisis that's going on.

Laura (01:46):
That is affecting a lot of people and luckily our
podcast continues.
We're not victims to it yet, buteveryone's nervous in LA yes,
everyone's nervous in some wayaffected because of the air
quality yeah,

Esmeralda (01:57):
so we're a little bit south of where the fires are,
so we're not affected directly,but for anybody that's listening
that has been affected, we wantto just wish everyone health
and hopefully everyone recoversfrom this and hopefully la
recovers from this, because it'sbeen a lot of damage.
So we just wanted to pinpointthat and that we have all the
people that have been sufferingor passed or are continuing to

(02:19):
be evacuated as we speak thatthere are prayers yes, agreed.

Laura (02:22):
So what was your first impression?
Because esmeralda is a dieharddracula fan, so you can go ahead
and start telling us theconnection between nosferatu and
dracula, because there'sobviously a very distinct
connection

Esmeralda (02:33):
.
And before, further ado.
Super huge big props to roberteagers, which is a director of
nosferatu 2024, because heunderstood the assignment.
He went above and beyond withthis assignment yes, like he's.
So, oh my god and one day hehears our podcast.
You are amazing and and youobviously, like, did your

(02:55):
homework and watched all thosedamn movies yeah, yeah, he sat
there and watched them before,like you know yeah, thank you.
thank you for having a wonderfulmind, because now I want to
watch some of his other movieswhich I haven't seen the Witch
2015.
The Lighthouse 2019.
I'm going to go watch those now, yes, and the Connection, I'm
not going to go like super,super deep.

(03:16):
This is about films, not books.
So obviously, there was a bookwritten by Bram Stoker once upon
a time that was before even thefirst Nosferatu, and the first
Nosferatu, a symphony of horror,was back in 1922.
Wow, that's throwback.
Yes, so that's a silent film.
If anyone wants to still watchit, it's on Amazon Prime.

Laura (03:34):
you're able to stream it there and given that this
Nosferatu story is a melting potof both Dracula and the older
Nosferatu films, we'reintentionally not going to
summarize chronologically thescenes of the movie.
We're gonna base our podcasttoday on the similarities of
that have to do with Dracula andNosferatu and then, of course,
what stands out the most in this2024 version.

Esmeralda (03:56):
Yes, because I think at this point most of the
viewers.
If you are into horror, at somepoint you may have already come
across Nosferatu or BramStoker's Dracula or Shadow of a
Vampire, and maybe you've readit too, because it's a book.
So Bram Stoker is an author.
He wrote the Gothic book backin 1897 called Dracula.
The story is about a vampirewho tries to move to London and

(04:18):
feed off of local population.
A group of vampire hunters tryto stop and destroy him and the
novel is considered the originalvampire book.
It is a horror and scary bookand Dracula is not intended to
be a complex villain or anythinglike that.
Some say that the novel'sunique structure and wonderful
writing makes it an enthrallingread, so anyone wants to read it
.
I mean, like I said, I'm notgoing to go back and deep dive
on the book, but it's importantto say that that existed back in

(04:40):
1897.
You know, at some point 40years later or around there In
1922, fw Murnau he wanted tocreate a film.
At that point the widow of BramStoker did not want to release
the rights to use the nameDracula or the story.
So therefore, based on BramStoker, the writer, henrik Glein

(05:01):
, he wrote another screenplaythat was meant to be similar.
They didn't even use the wordor name Dracula, they used Count
Orlok the vampire.
There was Graf Orlok in thatmovie, but this is still based
on that book.
There were a lot of changesmade.
For example, there is a personthat was a real estate agent,
that worked for a real estatecompany, that went to see this

(05:23):
count.
Where the story basicallybegins, the names are different.
In Nosferatu, alexander Ganachis like Mr Knock, which is the
boss, and then the best realestate person that goes to see
Count Arlok is Hutter.
That's his last name and inthat sense it is similar to the
story of Dracula, because inDracula there is a real estate
company and they do send a guyto go see Count Dracula.

(05:46):
Okay, so they change the namesand that part of the story is
the same.

Laura (05:49):
That connection is very interesting, especially if you
are someone that has seen thatfilm and then now you're seeing
something that was made, youknow, years, almost a century
later huh.

Esmeralda (05:58):
Yes, it is a century.
It is a century later Plus two.

Laura (06:01):
Yeah.
So then also, there's anothermovie that I have had the
opportunity to watch, which wasfilmed in a release in 2000.
So that's my birth year.
Nonetheless, it's still verymodern in comparison to the one
that you just mentioned, and Ilike that one because it shows a
behind the scenes story of howit was to film that first

(06:22):
Nosferatu, which was in 1922,right yeah.
Of how it was to film thatfirst Nosferatu, which was in
1922, right yeah.
So it's literally portraying adirector and his team shooting
that movie with a real lifevampire, but he convinces his
crew and everyone to think thatit's a very skilled actor that
stays in character for the wholetime and the whole I guess the
whole like premise of the movieis that there's this deal that's

(06:44):
made that the vampire which isOrlok, he is promised by the
director permission to drink theblood of his co-star, greta,
which is the star yeah like theprotagonist of the story, the
main girl, in real life, so likeafter they shoot that, yeah, he
ate her and they had theirwhole encounter In real life.
He's like you can can keep her,you can have her, and that's a
really like I don't know, like areally messed up situation,

(07:09):
which also just alludes that thedirector is insane and that
he's just so passionate intomaking the best movie out there
that he's willing to do whateverit takes literally so this
movie is called the shadowshadow of a vampire and released
in 2000, and that also has alot of correlation to this movie
, and one of the best ones thatI could think of off the bat is
that the director is workingwith the actor who plays a Green

(07:34):
Goblin in Spider-Man.
What's his name?

Esmeralda (07:36):
Willem Dafoe.

Laura (07:37):
Okay, so Willem Dafoe is the vampire in this 2000 film
and he plays a really good CountOrlok.

Esmeralda (07:42):
He's really creepy and ugly and yeah, he does a
really good account, orlock,he's really creepy and ugly and
yeah, he does a really good.

Laura (07:46):
Yeah, he does a good.
He convinces you that he's likea ancient being and like scary.
So in this movie, naseratu, the, the most recent one, he's the
mad doctor.
That's philosophical and whathe he like studies the mystic
and the occult.

Esmeralda (08:00):
Yeah, and his name here is professor albin.
You can't pronounce it.
No, how do you say let?

Laura (08:06):
me try it I don't even show the whole name, professor
amber heart.
Yeah, let's just say he's theonly professor in the movie.
You just know that, but they're.
That, for me, is that they paida little homage to shadow of a
vampire by using him in this newmovie, because it's the same
story.
He just he's just a differentcharacter now and he does a
really good job portraying thattoo, being that crazy professor

(08:26):
that was laughed out of hiscountry and that was banished
from sweden because of hisbeliefs and teachings yeah, like
he went another direction, buthe's still very wise and he does
end up helping the whole causeof nasradu and so he's actually
now we call him a crazyprofessor, but he's not really
crazy.

Esmeralda (08:41):
Everybody thinks he's crazy.
Yeah, everyone thinks that.
That's why I call him thatcrazy he was, but he's not
really crazy.

Laura (08:43):
Everybody thinks he's crazy.
Yeah, everyone thinks that.
That's why I call him thatCrazy.
He was just ahead of his timein believing that there's other
dark forces in the world, thingsthat we can't see.
He even said the things thathe's seen will cause Isaac
Newton to crawl back into hismother's womb.

Esmeralda (08:56):
Yeah, that was a very funny line and it just goes to
show how rivalry between scienceand religion, I rivalry between
science and religion.
I'm not gonna say religionbecause, like, this is not
really about religion, this isabout just beliefs, not like the
spiritual world.

Laura (09:09):
yeah, science and spiritual world never, never
unite, because they wouldbasically clash.
Yeah, like they would put downa scientific concept if you were
to believe that this ispossible and vice versa.

Esmeralda (09:20):
They're contradictory next to each other so as we go,
we're also going to mention alot of the similarities.
In bram stoker's dracula.
You kind of look into the newnosferatu that came out 2024.
It literally says that it's acombination of bram stoker's
dracula and the 1922 filmnosferatu.
So me being that I love bothmovies and shadow of Vampire the

(09:44):
one that Lara was justmentioning and I love Bram
Stoker's Dracula, I saw rightaway that they did combine it.
So I read this after the fact.
But I knew that they combinedit because they actually
included the other charactersand also, like, for example,
they named her different.
It was like in the BramStoker's Dracula there was Mina
Harker instead of Hutter, likeParker.
In Bram Stoker's dracula therewas mina harker instead of

(10:04):
hutter, like parker in bramstoker's.
But they were the charactersand the real estate agent that
went out there that was married,that became like the victim of
dracula in this case, countorlok is jonathan harker in bram
stoker and in nosferatu hischaracter is thomas hutter and
ellen hutter is his wife, theone that becomes mina from
dracula.
So it's all very confusing, butpeople that are like us, that

(10:26):
know all three, four stories,you'll know what we're talking
about.

Laura (10:30):
And a quick side note, since we are revealing the
actors and actresses of the cast, we would love to point out
what's his name.
I don't want to pronounce hislast name, wrong, bill.

Esmeralda (10:38):
Bill Skarsgård.

Laura (10:40):
More importantly, the actor that plays it is our Count
Orlok in this movie.

Esmeralda (10:44):
And he does such.
I feel like he needs a wholepodcast episode for himself.
We should do it.
How amazing he is, I mean,literally in this movie.
You don't even know it's himNever.
If you would not know it's him,you would never in a million
years know that he is the actorbehind Orlok.

Laura (11:02):
And the thing is that that's what makes him so
magnificent, because you reallyare just taken aback by the
character and, of course, youwouldn't recognize him because,
yes, he does have, like mask,makeup, whatever you know to
make him look like thisgrotesque count from you know
ancient right, but his acting,his men, like he does the very

(11:24):
good, like menacing creature,you know, yeah, and it's
impressive to see that, becauseof his portfolio, like because
he's able to play like a scaryclown and then now a vampire, it
just shows that he is made forthat type of role.
Like I think it's already hardenough to be an actor that has
to like, embody, like you know,a certain mindset character,
like we're saying.
So, like one thing is to act as, let's say, as a sailor or like

(11:52):
a scientist, whatever.
there's an endless endlesstitles of what you could.
You can be hired to portray,but it's another thing to act
like you're a creature, likewhat I guess.
What I'm trying to say is I'mnot trying to downplay the job
of an actress or an actor, butyou can definitely feel like
you're in the safe zone whenyou're playing a human being
because it's like oh how fun.
But when they're offering youto play a role that's of another
creature, I think there's waymore to that yeah, like you're

(12:13):
not playing a human, you'replaying a another worldly thing,
an entity or some, and yeah,and I'm sure, creature.
I'm sure there's so much to itthat we can possibly imagine,
but like in regards of trainingand preparation of what he had
to do, do that role.
But one thing I did know for afact was that he trained with a
opera singer so he could learnhow to speak in a lower octave.

Esmeralda (12:36):
Oh, yeah, because he had a really better tone, all of
his.

Laura (12:39):
His voice was him.
That's another thing.

Esmeralda (12:41):
Like he's a really good voice actor, yeah, and then
like the first time I ever sawhim was in castle rock season
one, and he played there waslike a really creepy.
I don't even know what he was,because he didn't even have a
name.
Okay, like he didn't have aname in this, like he was just
someone that they found in thebottom of some hole and then
they had him as a prisoner andthey were trying to figure out

(13:02):
if he was this kid that they hadkidnapped for a decade ago.
You know, he had like likepsychological trauma.
They thought that like he hadthe power to do horrible things.
I don't know how, but anyways,he played a really creepy and a
very interesting character andthat's the first time I ever
came across him and that waslike 2018.
He did the crow.
I cannot say that I've seen it.
I haven't seen it and maybe weshould watch it.

Laura (13:24):
I'm sure he did a great job.

Esmeralda (13:26):
Yeah, but he just like he was just outstanding.

Laura (13:29):
He was made for this.

Esmeralda (13:30):
Yeah, pennywise, he was perfect.
I thought that was like howcould he beat that?
You know, like his performanceas Pennywise in it, but, as we
could see, there's no limit tohis talent.
Yeah, there really isn't okay.
So, anyways, going back to bramstoker's dracula um, gary oldman

(13:51):
, he was count dracula and hewas like my favorite, uh,
dracula for a very, very longtime.
And winona rider was in it, um,as mina harker, and she does a
really great job.
You know she was at like herprime during that time.
And you know anthony hopkinswas in it and even monica
valucci whatever.
Keanu reeves did a really goodjob, even though though you know
Keanu Reeves, he's such a likelike a low key actor Like he
does.
His lines are very simple,whatever, but his I think it's
more his expressions like whenthings are happening, but he

(14:12):
looks like I don't know he'scool.
The funny part is that CaryElves he's another actor that
came out also in Shadow ofVampire and in Bram stoker's
dracula.
He came out in both, which isfunny.
I see how they like reuse someof these actors and that's kind
of cool that they do that.
They use willem dafoe, eventhough he's played a different
character, but they use them fornasferatu too, so let's talk

(14:33):
about illy rose dip, okay Ithought she was a great actress.

Laura (14:36):
Considering that I've never seen her in um any other
things prior, I want to assumethis is her debut movie.
Is that safe to say?
Um?
But she was a great actress inthe sense that there was a lot
of scenes of possession,epilepsy episodes trances and
all of those things, I think,make it exceptionally harder to
deliver, because you're like,you have to, like drool, get out

(14:57):
of your comfort zone and I rollyour eyes back twitch.
She did all of those things inthis movie, so you'll see that
in that sense she was a goodactress, because I know it took
a lot to like be comfortablelooking ugly and demonic and
trying to like contort yourselfand make it believable like
you're actually possessed, andshe really did hit the mark on
it.

Esmeralda (15:14):
I think that she did a really wonderful job and I
think that she played a reallygood role.
You know, she is the characterthat is like stuck between the
two worlds, trying to live herlife as a normal person, a
normal wife.
But in osferatu they say howvery early on she had a
supernatural link so it was easyfor her to call upon count
warlock.
According to this version, veryearly on she is the one who

(15:39):
summoned him, unintentionally,so like they kind of say that
and if you're really payingattention, that's basically what
they find and she even agreesto it that she did that.
She just needed the closenessof someone and that very young,
like she was like basicallysummoning.
But because she had that linkto supernatural, it was easy for
him to attach himself to herand that attachment was not

(16:00):
going to be severed.
So I do like that because, likeI said, it's not the same as
the original nosferatu and it'snot the same as count dracula
either.
So I like that they had adifferent take on it.
But the part that is similar todracula is that you know she
was married and she was verymuch in love with her husband
and she was kind of stuckbecause a part of her wanted to
be there for her husband,especially when he started

(16:20):
having problems.
When he went and was around thecount, he knew that he had to
get away because he knew thatsomething was happening and he
was being attacked and weakenedby him.
Okay, first of all, let me alsoinclude in this that this film,
the visuals, were so beautifuland gothic and captivating.

(16:41):
The mood that that movie had iswhat I like.
I feel like it's like myfavorite and it's crazy because
I mean, I didn't really look atall of them, but I did see some
reviews that people were likethey didn't get it or they just
like, oh yeah, I like how itlooked, but I don't get the
movie and I'm just like that'sfreaking weird, and I just feel
like maybe it's because they'rewatching it with fresh eyes and
they really don't know any ofthe history, which I mean I feel

(17:03):
like even then it would be aninteresting movie, but I don't
know, maybe it's too Tooabstract for their mind.

Laura (17:09):
Yeah, because when I went to see it the first, I saw this
movie twice in the theaters.
The first time I went to go seeit, the whole theater clapped
at the end, so I had a goodcrowd.
Okay, they all seemed to.

Esmeralda (17:19):
Nosferatu was about yeah, when I watched it, I don't
think I no one can, no one can.
But I mean I don't think it wasa thing.
I mean it wasn't like wewatched it right in the premiere
.
I mean, I didn't watch it inthe premiere, I watched it.
Well, me neither this last week.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

Laura (17:30):
But I mean, like you know , I Shut up baby, I just want to
.

Esmeralda (17:41):
I feel like that was like a really good movie.
Okay, the one thing I reallyliked about Nosferatu is that
they gave us a little bit moreof the people that lived there
in Transylvania, which it lookedlike a lot of them were gypsies
.
We are assuming they're gypsiesbecause of the location and the
way they looked and theirdancing and playing music, but I
think they did note that onBram Stoker's Dracula and then

(18:06):
note that on Bram Stoker'sDracula and then also like a
shadow of the vampire, johnMalkovich, which is one of my
favorite actors.
So he's playing this actor andhe actually tells when, like his
, like the screenwriter and likethe you know, assistant and
like all these other people thatwere involved in the movie.
Um, when they asked him, likeokay, but we are gonna need
extras, like where are theextras?
And he said these people, thesepeople that live here in the
village where they were filming,adjacent to the entrance of

(18:27):
where orlok's castle was, therewas a small village and they
were super scared of nosferatu.
They had crosses everywhere andthey were really like
superstitious people, but theylooked different.
Those did not look like gypsies, but in that village they all
knew who he was and he basicallysaid well, these people are
extras and they're like, theseare not actors.
And he told them they don'thave to be actors, they just

(18:47):
need to be.
And I like that he said thatbecause it's like, basically,
that's what he wants.
He doesn't want actors, hewants these people to be as
authentic and realistic aspossible.
So those are the people thatrepresent the gypsies and this
nosferatu.
They use more of a gypsy scene,like Dracula does, instead of
Nosferatu.
There was a time that they alsowanted to sacrifice.

(19:08):
It looked like they were doingsome kind of ritual because they
had a nude young woman, virginon a horse and they were taking
her to the resting place ofso-called Orla and they were
saying that she was there, was asacrifice to him.
They were trying to dosomething to appease him, but
that's the thing.
It wasn't her that needed to besacrificed.

(19:28):
Maybe he did eat her in orderto leave the gypsies alone.
Hutter saw this while he wasthere and stayed there before
going to the castle, so hethought it was all weird already
.
That was one of his first scarymoments, besides the fact that
he almost got killed by thesegypsies.
But when he woke up the nextday the gypsies were nowhere to
be seen and he had recollectionof certain things and he was

(19:50):
already in his bed, but therewas no gypsies.
It was almost like he wassleeping in an abandoned,
freaking little hostel orsomething like that.
Now the visuals were really,really cool.

Laura (20:05):
So when I first saw this movie, the cinematography seemed
to stand out at a certainmoment.
like you mentioned, the wholemovie was carefully curated and
every scene I felt was somehowbeautifully organized and well
thought out but, it like hit meonce they showed thomas, which
is like the real estate agent,um once they showed him in the
middle of the woods when theforest is like all black,
there's like clearly one road ofsnow and then you see the

(20:28):
count's carriage pull up, butthat whole scene looks so
beautiful.
It seemed like romantic, itseemed dark fantasy, but surreal
, but surreal like beautiful andvery gothic, yeah it was so
nice.
So my favorite part was actuallythat part, and only because in
the carriage I loved how youcould see through, so it made it

(20:49):
look even more ghostly andcreepy because the carriage
clearly had no one in it, no onedriving it, and the door just
swung open from the carriage butyou could see through the other
side of the little window andit just looked like damn, like,
if I get on this, where am Igoing?
Where is it leading me to?
You think that's interesting,because if I was realistically
there, I would be like okay, Iknow I'm supposed to go to this

(21:11):
castle or this manor, whereverhe's at your castle, yeah.
But in my head I would questionlike, but is this the character
gonna lead me there?
Like, is there someone I couldtalk to?
Like he just blindly like wenton it, but I wouldn't have gone
on it.
It was part of the transit.

Esmeralda (21:25):
But also remember he was just starting and he wanted
to like that was his firstmission and they did tell him um
ahead of time, like look, it'sin a very obscure, you know
location and this and that.
And it also reminds me again ofdracula, because keanu reeves,
which plays the guy, thejonathan harker, which is his
counterpart.
Um, he goes out there and likethey're telling him you know

(21:47):
what the area that you're goingto is really very like, very old
, like uh, beliefs, verysuperstitious people.
They are still like they didn'tin London.
They did not consider them ascivilized as they were they are.
They just kind of saw them asstill very medieval thinking
type people, you know.
So he was basically telling himthat, like you know, when you

(22:07):
go to the East, areas are notlike us Developed Basically, you
know.
So he was kind of alreadyexpecting something to be
different and, yes, itdefinitely was.
Yeah so when you guys watch thismovie, you'll for sure pick up
these scenes that we're talkingabout, these beautiful scenes,
and you'll know what vibe we'rediscussing here, because that

(22:28):
we're talking about thesebeautiful scenes and you'll know
what we're, what vi werediscussing here, because it's
something that you don't see ina lot of movies, especially not
scary movies, right.
And then I love it when heactually arrives to his
destination and he gets off andthen, just like the there's like
I don't know if it's in theforest or when he gets out,
there's like a silence.
And that silence while he'strying to, you know that he's
trying to just like look aheadand out of this darkness he sees
the castle entrance, he'strying to look at it and he

(22:49):
could see someone, but he's likeobviously scared to go in.
And this takes us back also tolike the original Nosferatu and
to Shadow of the Vampire,because again, the director in
Shadow of the Vampire was tryingto get that part Like he was.
It was like a very importantpart of the movie that he wanted
to capture on film and he evensays out loud like this is the
first time that he sees orlockand he wanted to get his

(23:12):
authentic like facial expressionor scared or whatever.
Obviously that's a differentstory because said already that
there was a fictionalized likethat.
We don't know what happened,but in remembrance to that when
you see this scene he is takenaback and he's looked.

Laura (23:26):
You could kind of almost feel what he must be feeling
when he sees this figure appearfrom the shadows yeah, and then
a similarity that continues onin all three movies is when the
real estate agent actually hasthe first conversation with
count orlock or jackie like allof that is the same in all three
versions.
He is intrigued as as to likewho he's meeting, but quickly he

(23:52):
he becomes very fearful, likehe notices something's wrong,
something's off.
I just feel like with draculathey make they portray him as
like not so terrible, but in innosferatu and all the nosferatu
versions they make him as like acreature.
Do you agree?
Like dracula still can pass asa human, but in nosferatu it's

(24:13):
like no, we know thatsomething's really wrong he
looks almost like death, likedeath is dead already yeah.
But yeah, in dracula he passeslike because for a while he, the
real estate agent, even askshim like oh, were you married
once?
Like trying to small talk.

Esmeralda (24:30):
It takes a while before he realizes himself like
okay, there's something fishyeven though, yes, you're right
about that, he does still noticea lot of things, like he
notices very quickly, like how,the weird thing?
with his shadow moving separatethan him and being like its own
entity, um, or like his shadow,is also an extension of dracula
that can do things and causethings to fall.

(24:51):
And like we see dracula like hetries to like choke him while
he's talking to him.
Normally he like almost, like,is like choking him from behind
and, um, he spills like the inkover Mina In this case it would
be Ellen Hunter Little portraitthat he's carrying, and he's
carrying it like in a littlelocket right and that's his
excuse to pick it up or wantlike demand that he wants to see

(25:15):
it.
So he's obviously captivated byher and in both times Dracula
and this current Nosferatuthat's his whole point of having
lured him there.
Like his whole reason forsupposedly needing a real estate
to relocate etc.

Laura (25:31):
Is obvious his real motive is because he wants to
get in contact with this womanthat he has an obsession with I
mean, I don't know if it's likea staple scene, but it seems
like it's relevant to all thesedirectors, like they, of course,
want to include it.
It's when he's slicing the loafof bread, like somehow they
never seem to miss that part.
It seems like if that's apivotal moment that shows the

(25:54):
agent that he's a vampire or no,because they keep adding that
in every scene.

Esmeralda (25:58):
And then this scene I thought dracula was when he cut
his.
They changed it to when he cuthis.
Remember he's shaving himyou're right.

Laura (26:04):
Only the nosferatu version does that have that
scene.

Esmeralda (26:06):
Forget dracula but the point is that the minute um
sees blood like there is areaction and it's a pivotal
moment where the human nowrealizes that he's weird.
Yeah, and then, like also inDracula, he's like repelled by
his gold cross that he's wearingaround his neck In Nosferatu.

Laura (26:25):
So that's the thing that is very interesting about
vampire lore.
There's different remedies tovampires and keeping them away,
but it looks like Nosferatu isso powerful that really like
none of that stands in its inhis way and I found that in this
2024 version there's like asense of hopelessness that I

(26:46):
feel is like it's scary, like asa viewer, because you see
everyone practicing prayer,everyone is like very optimistic
and they always, they alwayssay like your mind is is the
most powerful thing ever.
So you would think, with so muchpositivity and like belief in
god and faith in god, you wouldthink that there's some light at
the end of this tunnel.
But the vibe that nastratu gaveme was that not that it's

(27:11):
irrelevant or pointless to doprayer or to like give words of
encouragement, but it almostseems like it's no match for how
dark and evil Nosferatu is.
It's like the legend, becausethere's a codex of secrets that
they end up involving in themovie that shows, like the
prophecy, like what's supposedto happen where he came from and

(27:31):
it's very like clear that thegirl has to willingly like
sacrifice herself to set themboth free into like wherever
they're going.
But also the world would becleansed of nosferatu, the
plague, which in latin meansplague, right, yeah, or vampire.
It means um, I forget ifnosferatu means plague or
vampire in vampire, but but yeah, it leaves a big impression on

(27:53):
me because I don't want tobelieve that, as a human, that
God is not the most powerfulthing in the world.

Esmeralda (27:58):
It's not a Latin word meaning the offensive, the
insufferable one.
Nosferitu yeah, the offensiveor insufferable one.
So it could be either a plagueor a vampire In Romanian.

Laura (28:08):
They both mean that, so it's a synonym.
But, yeah, like as a viewer, asa human being, I I don't want
to believe that god is notnumber one, that you cannot like
overcome anything through thoselike prayers and and just like
unity with among people.
But in this movie it's showingyou, like it gives you that,
that vibe, that like all thoseactions, all those faithful um

(28:29):
beliefs and actions, are justlike passing thoughts.
I don't know if it gave thatvibe to you, but it made me feel
like, yeah, that shit's notworking, or like that's
pointless, because he's comingfor you and, sure enough, he
does do his damage on all thesepeople that are supposed to be
protected, like they have thecross necklace on them, they're
praying every night, well, Ithink, and it's just showing you
like that's how powerful his,like his, the darkness is and

(28:53):
you know what yes, I get whatyou're saying that's an ugly
feeling.

Esmeralda (28:56):
But also it just highlights, because of how
powerful the darkness thatenvelopes everyone because of
him, requires something a littlebit stronger than just prayer,
and it is the only thing thatcould counter, you know, know,
fight it or be counteractive toit would be the sacrifice, a
willing sacrifice.
So someone has to sacrificethemselves in order to kill him,

(29:19):
like literally, like that's theultimate sacrifice when you are
like willing to give yourself.
And in Dracula let me bring outDracula also at the very end
the ending was very different.
In Dracula they kind of likenod toward reincarnation and the
girl coming back and whatever,whatever, right.
But in that sense she was ableto release them both because she

(29:40):
sacrificed herself, byforgiving him and giving into
him like love, like her lovetoward him, which at the end is
basically the love that she hadfor him, enough to sacrifice,
kind of removed the damnationthat he had, including hers,
because in Dracula he damnedhimself when the church
basically turned their back onhim, when she killed herself and

(30:03):
he was unable to, he renouncedGod and stuff.

Laura (30:06):
So that's a different ending and if we're confusing
you, maybe there's people whodon't know the exact
distinctions of what's what.
But let's just say it, justmake it clear.
Nosferatu 2024 is not so muchof a love story.
It's more like she was like intune to the spiritual world, so
she summoned him somehow andthen they got linked.
An accidental connection wasestablished between the two and

(30:27):
then the plot start with dracula.
It's a love story.
He's seeking one specific girlthrough oceans of time.

Esmeralda (30:34):
So, yes, so there is a difference.
Like we said, nosferatu wasinspired from the bram stoker's
dracula, but obviously it was amuch darker version.
But they both ended with thefact that someone has to
sacrifice themselves, which iswhatever it is, by love or by
just sacrificing themselves forthe rest of the humanity, so
they won't suffer.

Laura (30:54):
But it's still a sacrifice and that's the only
way to defeat it sacrifice and Ikind of challenged the
sacrifice made in nas for all to2024, because for me I feel
like she was still forced, butsupposedly she willingly
summoned him and told him likeyeah, the prophecy is fulfilled.
Like do give dude, give myselfto you.
But he threatened her likecrazy, so I don't know.

(31:16):
Yeah, he threatened her.

Esmeralda (31:17):
I don't think that was.
I think at the end, no, it wasemotional, but I think she
accepted the fact that she knewdeep down that was the only way
and her like seeing like thepeople who were being affected
and her husband and people thatwas staying with and stuff like

(31:37):
made her see how horrible thathe was gonna like destroy people
and I think she just feltresponsible.
So she felt like you know what,I do have to do this willingly,
because she did it not likewanting to do it, but like
willing to be the sacrificiallamb.
Basically okay, but you knowwhat there's like?
Yeah, it's like everybody couldhave a different take, but the
thing is that it does take usthrough like all these feelings
and all these like feelings ofdread that he was giving us
again the acting was phenomenalfor for orlock and everyone

(32:01):
involved because even thomas, Ifelt, had to prove himself as an
actor because he was the onlyone that had the opportunity to
face count orlock like directly.

Laura (32:10):
So it was on him to truly show the audience how scared
he's supposed to be and howscary it is to be in his
presence.
And he did like when, whencount orlock approached him
while he was by the fire, thatwas the first time you see him
like.
He couldn't contain himselfbecause the whole period of time
that he was talking to him andtrying to, like you know, bring
out these documents to for himto sign, like he was really

(32:33):
scared, but he was still tryingto be professional and trying to
compose himself.

Fernie Valdez (32:37):
Yeah, he was trying to be at a certain point,
then that's where the scenecuts.

Laura (32:40):
I feel like if the scene didn't cut, he wasn't there
screaming yeah, because he wasabout to start screaming, like
he got so like, even like, likehe just knew like no, I'm not
coming out of this castle aliveand you know he made a really
good facial expression he did.

Esmeralda (32:53):
He did like it was really authentic, like we felt,
like we were.
He was taking us to what he wasfeeling he did really good and
you know when he was supposed tosign his name, you know how at
the end she kind of like uh,throws it in his face.
Like you sold me for a bag ofgold where I guess in those
documents but wasn't it inanother language?

Laura (33:08):
because she said it, it was in his language, so he read
that part.
In Count Orlok's language.

Esmeralda (33:13):
Right.
So somehow she said that yousigned it and it said literally
there that you were giving me upand he added this bag of gold.
So at the time I don't think hereally knew that part.
No, he didn't, she was justsaying it that basically that he
sold her or whatever.

Laura (33:29):
But that's because count orlock told her.
Yeah, he didn't tell her likebut why does she believe anyways
?

Esmeralda (33:36):
okay, so the thing is that even when he kept telling
him like sign, I think hethought he signed already but he
didn't, I think because of fear.
That's how terrified he wasthat he thought he signed and
then like signed, like he toldhim again to sign it, and that's
when he went and you could seethat he was like reluctantly,
just trying to just do his bestto sign the paper to get the

(33:57):
fuck out of there, right.
So like that part you couldreally you felt like it was like
real, like he was reallyfearful.

Laura (34:03):
So, yeah, a plus acting for sure and then, who else was
a good actor?
I mean, everybody was for sure,willem dafoe.
I mean obviously we alreadysaid that, though he's for sure,
I was gonna say renfield, notrainfield yeah I was gonna say
him yeah.

Esmeralda (34:17):
So renfield and you know, there's even like a spoof
movie of renfield by himself,that I think I'm not renfield,
it's not renfield well, renfieldis um a character in dracula
yes a character confused for awhile with her knock and her
knock.
Her is an h-e-r-r knock.
He was the boss of thomashutter.

(34:39):
He was the one that ran thatwas his real estate company.
He was the one that sent himthat sent him.

Laura (34:44):
He was the person, like you said, that sent thomas out
to that adventure to meet countorlock.
But he was in cahoots all alongwith the count because he knew
that that specific man needed tobe summoned over there.
He knew what the documents saidbecause he prepared them.
He helped.
So at one point he's this saneowner professional company but

(35:06):
that's not where his acting isamazing.
It's.
It becomes exceptional once hebecomes insane, and it was like
a switch once, uh, thomas beganhis venture out to his
destination.
This guy went mad and he wasdoing a lot of like blasphemy,
like self-harm to himself,eating raw animals.
But like the way he would likemove his body, his facial

(35:27):
expressions and his dialogue, hesounded like he was so
possessed yeah, like just so.

Esmeralda (35:33):
Another, yeah, another possession was taking
over like from lily rose yeah,like, but that he was like able
to function like a functionalpossession, right like because
he was talking and tellingpeople yeah, yeah, he was good,
he was a good actor for thatyeah.
So simon mcbirney, good propsto you, because he did a really
really good part.

Laura (35:50):
That's his name that's the actor, and he came out naked
like two times, so he had to becomfortable in his body so
kudos for that too.

Esmeralda (35:58):
And my favorite part was, yeah, he was eating animals
and stuff and when he busted aozzy osbourne and ate the head
of the pigeon pigeon, oh my god,and he was like literally
crunching on it.
He's like you're still talkingto the people that were in
charge.
Yeah, he was.
He was a really good actor and,um, also, like the friend, the
one that was helping them, aaronwas named frederick.

Laura (36:18):
Yeah, aaron taylor johnson frederick harrington I
think he's so cute and he'smarried to this old ass lady why
we need to ask him that.

Esmeralda (36:28):
Why, oh my god, he was groomed wait, is this his
real life are you're talkingabout?
Yeah, oh, yeah, okay, I don'tknow his personal life like that
I do, but anyways, yes, he doesa very good job.
Also in his character.
I like the fact that he wasalways like that's preposterous,
like he had no, like anythingthat was like anything that was

(36:49):
like even close to sounding thatwas not scientific and not like
Kept saying like I'm a ship, aship man.
There you go.

Laura (36:55):
Yeah, I'm a ship man.

Esmeralda (36:56):
But you know so he didn't believe, even when his
wife started like gettingpossessed and everything.
And it was really sad the waylike his family died because
Orlite just took them all in oneswipe.

Laura (37:05):
Okay, don't go into detail.

Esmeralda (37:07):
I'm not going to go into detail, even though we say
spoilers I was.

Laura (37:10):
I was purposely not trying to say that one, I don't
know why, okay even though wesay spoilers all the time, just
know that I'm gonna give youenough details on that specific
family, because it was like atreat, a bad one a treat.

Esmeralda (37:21):
A treat, if you like, scary and gore, like it was
like damn, like I'm.

Laura (37:24):
I'm telling you guys, that's why I feel like nasferatu
was like untouchable, like he,like you could pray all you want
, but he was still gonna do hisdamage.
It ain't safe, it ain't safe.
But yeah, I've seen him, theactor, in like very select
movies, but never like a rolewhere he had to do like an
accent and act likeold-fashioned I love that.

Esmeralda (37:41):
They said it in the old faction.

Laura (37:43):
I don't know how to describe it, but he did good.

Esmeralda (37:44):
No, he did really good, and the thing is that I
like when they I feel like Igive more props to people that
can play those parts like theold victorian type, like like um
, old hat style of acting orwhatever, because it's not an
easy role.
And then also just in general,like you know how sometimes they
try to remake movies and theytry to make it in more like

(38:05):
modern times that would havekilled the whole thing.
You know, like in this casethey had to keep it old school,
like that, like they had to toget the right vibes, to get the
right everything.

Laura (38:13):
So I'm glad that they stayed true.
When I, when I first startedwatching the movie the first
time, I didn't know what vibe itwas in like what's what um
setting, what time frame soright when I saw the carriages
and like the housing of likegermany or wherever they're at.
When I saw it old I'm like okay, like we're in that mode now.

Esmeralda (38:28):
Yeah, no, I was worried about it when I first
heard they were gonna make.
I'm like man, I hope they keeplike the same time, like the
timeline, because that gave roomfor the artistry, and like the,
the scenes and the the filmingand the photography that they
had in those movies, like allthose scenes, even like when
he's in the castle, rememberwhen, um, he's in the castle and

(38:49):
he like they kind of likeswivel the camera from one scene
to the next.
I noticed that and the reason Inoticed that is because I get
motion sickness.
Everybody, everybody listeningto me, I get motion sickness.
So there's, like some moviesthat I actually can't watch,
which is sad.
But anyways, this one is notlike that.
It did not give me motionsickness, but I am very aware of
how they move the camera around.
So, like, I noticed very earlyon that they'll have one scene

(39:12):
and they'll swivel, they'll likepivot the camera and they'll
swivel to a different scene.
Like they do it straight, likeit's not like this bobbing up
and down, like it's like a damndocumentary, not like that.
I hate that.
But they swivel it so like.
There was a part that I really,really liked when they were in
the castle, when thomas hutterwas, I guess, hearing, hearing
noises, he was trying to get out, when he was trying to figure
out how to escape the castleBefore he saw Orlok in his

(39:37):
coffin and he said likebasically I knew it, like he was
trying to like find a way outand he saw him in there Before
that happened, when he was goingthrough the maze of whatever.
The castle was Just thatphotography, like the way the
corridors looked, it was justlike really stunning filmography
.
I agree, let's um rewind itback because we want to talk
about, I'm just saying, billskargegaard, I think, because,

(39:58):
like, I'm still obsessed withhis acting abilities, but
anyways, okay, so count orlock,we're gonna talk a little bit
more about his features.

Laura (40:06):
Yeah, so the first few things that you obviously see
from him are his face.
You see that he's bald.
He has like long acrylic nails,but whatever.
All of that is disgusting andew.
But for me, when they show himfeeding off of someone, I don't
know why they show him naked orwhere you could see his body,

(40:27):
and it's not like the nudity atall, because they don't even
show his private.
Generally they don't show him.
Well, one time they do.
But you know what I mean.
Like, like in those scenes it'snot that you're seeing something
like oh, that's inappropriate,it's more like the way they make
his body contract as he'sfeeding it shows like if he yeah
, like, if he's like chuggingand chugging you know what I

(40:48):
mean like it's going through hiswhole body, like it looks like,
yeah, like if his body'ssuctioning the blood, but in a
very dramatic way, and I thinkthat's so gross.
What does it remind?

Esmeralda (40:57):
me of.
I'm actually like an animal,but I can't.
Yeah, but what animal?
Like a snake?
No, I was gonna say a snake, asnake like when it's um like
just pulling and pulling like ananimal inside.

Laura (41:08):
Yeah, like.

Esmeralda (41:08):
It's like just turning the other body inside
out, which is not.

Laura (41:12):
He's just very aggressively drinking the blood
yeah, like it shows that he'snot taking like a little bit at
a time.
He's like chugging, like likedrying the body up it's not the
way that we would like.

Esmeralda (41:22):
Just um try to drink a vanilla ice cream shake.
Not like that, like so that'sso ugly.

Laura (41:27):
So yeah, that that's like the gross part of of him count
warlock.
And yeah, you're right, they doshow us one time his hopeful
body and he's ugly like he haslike um his skin like maggots on
him.

Esmeralda (41:37):
Huh, he has maggots like incisions or something he
has incisions.
He has like no, not incisionsuh legions, lesions, not legions
he has legions of lesions, hehas openings in his body.

Laura (41:48):
It's ugly like wounds and he has maggots and he looks
like decomposed he looksdecomposing.

Esmeralda (41:54):
He looks like almost like a body that has been found
in the river, because it looksalmost like it's been like gray
huh, like gray, like in water,but decomposing or something no,
he's not hunchback, yes, he is.
His back is like excessively bigit's big, but he's not
hunchback.
They even show him very likebig, looking like tall.
Big it's big, but he's nothunchback.
They even show him very likebig, looking like tall when he's

(42:14):
standing.
So he's not hunchback.
Okay, I think we just see thatbecause when he's drinking the
blood he like does thatcrouching, that contraction yeah
, okay, and then you want totalk about, like at the end, how
he looks like within thesunlight at the end, when,
finally we see ellen givesherself willingly, he goes into
her room.
You could see more close-up,like his skin, his face, and

(42:39):
then like when he proceeds todrink her body, and like he said
that they have to basicallyconsummate, like the whole thing
right, so basically he has tohave sex with her I don't know
what happened there like yeah,the whole flesh there again he
chugged like he did that thingwith his body but then also,
like there was parts where shewas like pulling him in, like it

(43:00):
looked like she was trying tokiss him and hug him, but her
hands are like going over hisfish skin, you know, decomposed,
slick, shiny, gross looking,slimy body.
And there's even a time that Idon't know if you noticed that
she, like he has like a, likeone of the little opening wounds
that she puts her finger in it.
Did you see that part?

(43:21):
Oh my god, I saw that.
I was like oh my god, but itwas.
She only did it once.
Like she went like this, likeshe put her finger accidentally,
huh I don't know if she did itaccidental or not, or it was
meant for us to see that and getgrossed out, because I
definitely like, oh, it's kindof like, so that was gross, but
anyways, go on I don't even knowwhat to say after that.

Laura (43:41):
I don't know what to say, but the sunlight hits him he
looks crazy when he's lookinginto the light, that's like a
cool picture to even paint like.
When he looks like he looksshocked, that he's like oh I'm
still here for the sun.

Esmeralda (43:54):
But see, that's the thing, because she was basically
dead, like she was already,like her blood was gone, you
could tell that she kept themthere till dawn.
And when he looked up becausehe sees the sun, he's like
looking up, like slowly, like ohshit, okay, the sun's coming
out but she took like every likeout of sheer willpower, like
every strength she had left, andshe pulled him back, like she

(44:16):
grabbed his face and she pulledhim back.
And I think that she did thatknowing like I cannot give him
time to flee, like I have tokeep him here until dawn is out
in order for him to die, youknow, and it was nasty because
he still threw up, like I feellike he was being wasteful
because he chugged so much blood, but then he like threw some up
but he threw it up because thesun was already killing him.
Yeah, it wasn't a wasteful thing.

(44:37):
It wasn't like he was like, oh,I'm gonna just throw it up.
No, he was beginning to feelthe sun and the sun was starting
to kill him.
So, yes, he started throwing upfirst and it was just such a
horrific but when they show hisbody from the top view, he has
no butt.

Laura (44:54):
His little legs are shriveled into skeleton legs
like palitos, and then his wholehunchback is still out.

Esmeralda (45:01):
I think because he started to disintegrate.

Laura (45:02):
No, yeah, he looked like those people that are so fat
that they have lollipop legs.
He looked non-proportionate andugly Because you got to see all
of his cuts and him cuts andlike him, like in life.

Esmeralda (45:15):
And then he started shriveling up.
No, that's when he wasshriveled Like.

Laura (45:18):
He looked so gross.
From that one aerial view hewas already done like shriveled
and it looked so bad, so bad.

Esmeralda (45:24):
Yeah, and poor her, just dead under him.
But you know.

Laura (45:27):
I wish freaking Aaron Taylor.
That's his real name, but Iwish he would have been alive
and that's another spoiler Atthe end of the movie, because he
was such a non-believer.
I was happy that his carcasswas there, but I wish that he
would have been alive to see it.
Because all this time he didn'tbelieve and I was happy that his
residue stayed, because anothermovie, oh, it turned into dust

(45:51):
or something dumb.
Yeah, but he stayed.
I'm like, yeah, so they couldcarry his ass around the city
and show like this is whatexists, like this fool is dead
now.
And she, I felt like that wasvery, um, like a token, like yes
, you're, you're gone and you'rehere, we could see and you know
what I was satisfied with theending, the way they did it, the
way they took it.

Esmeralda (46:09):
Because, like in Nosferatu, like the old one,
obviously he hits the son, hitshim, and they trick him into
doing that because, like when hehas, well, shadow of Vampire
tricks him.
Because, like in that one, thedirector once he gave you know
how we talked about that he gaveher the girl which was Greta,
which was the actress that um,he let her like, okay, you're

(46:30):
welcome to eat her, drink herblood or whatever.
At the end, that's your payment.
They did like they were able toopen the things that he didn't.
He knew it was dawn but he'slike, oh, I don't, it doesn't
matter, just because I'm awakeat dawn doesn't mean I'm gonna
die.
He says I could still stay inthe darkness as long as, like,
the sun didn't hit him.
Basically, is what he's saying?
So, like they opened up this,like a vertical lift type door

(46:50):
was raised up, um, and the sunhit some.
They did like a weird endingwhere you know when the films
are, when there's exposure tothe film, and they just kind of
like burn up.
So they did that.
So basically, the sun killedhim.
That's how they did.
Shadow of vampire um in dracula.
Obviously it was like a wholedifferent thing, you know,
because they he, um, he wasn'tdown anymore, like he was

(47:11):
pardoned or whatever, so he diedlike a regular human being.
I, yeah, I also agree with youthat I really like the way that
they actually shriveled him up,but he didn't just turn to dust,
he didn't just disappear orliquefy or whatever the hell you
know, he actually shriveled andremained.
And.
But I was sad that um ellenhunter died, but it had to be
done to save the rest ofhumanity, right?

Laura (47:32):
Yeah, so what would you rate this movie in scary In?

Esmeralda (47:34):
scary.
I would rate it 7.
Okay.

Laura (47:38):
I would rate it 6.
But I would still agree withyou with 7.
, just because there are alittle bit of jump scares.
No, there are.
And there's times where Iwanted to cover my face, like
just because I didn't know whatto expect.
But I, where I wanted to covermy face, like just because I
didn't know what to expect, butI never did like it wasn't that
extent, but you just feel like,oh, it's gonna happen, like
there was this one moment in thedarkness.
there's like a candlelightwhatever you get a vibe of like
oh, it's gonna pop up, but yeah,I would say six.

(48:00):
Um, because the story is morescary, not so much like the
scenes are scary.
Yeah the moment um but it'slike the story is really scary
and creepy and then would youwatch it again.
Definitely I would watch itagain.
I would watch it again too,because I watched it twice
already and I felt like, yeah,it was still good, like you know
, like.

Esmeralda (48:20):
I would be down to watch it again.
For me it's an instant classic.

Laura (48:23):
I just do feel like it's really long.
It is long.

Esmeralda (48:27):
It's two hours and 12 minutes long.
That's pretty long for a movie.

Laura (48:29):
It's like an extra half an hour than the average movie
yeah, and you feel it, butdoesn't mean it's not good, but
I felt it.
I feel like I felt it to thetwo times.

Esmeralda (48:36):
I'm like, oh, this shit is on I did notice it, but
it's something that you feellike is necessary, because it
wasn't like, oh, this wasunnecessary or no.
Everything like that happenedin the movie was something that
had to be, like it was part ofthe movie and it belonged there,
like I don't think I would editanything out, so no, I think it
was good.
Another thing that made meremember there was a book and I
know we're not doing books, Iknow I know I keep saying that,

(48:58):
but there is a book and I'veeven told Laura that I want her
to read it, but she hasn't umand it's called Dracula in Love
by Karen Essex, and this book Ireally recommend it.
If you like all of thesestories and you happen to be a
reader, please read Dracula inLove.
It's a whole other version andthis one is through Dracula,
like Bram Stoker's Dracula, minaWilhelmina, like that's her

(49:21):
through her eyes and it kind oftells like her perception and
everything she went through,because she also went through
stuff that obviously they're sofocused on Dracula.
You know we're not taking herside as much.
It's crazy because it goes backto the romantic side and you
know I think lara has heard mesay this and I'll say it again,
bram stoker's dracula, like Isaid it like when people have

(49:43):
asked me like oh, what's yourfavorite love story, I say
dracula.
They're like what?
But to me it's such a romanticjust the fact that one will
change their life for anotherhuman.
For another human being.
I mean this case, he's not ahuman being, he stops, he ceases
being a human being justbecause of his love.
For like he lost so dearly.
It's very like um, you know,like a tragic love story type of

(50:04):
thing.
You know, um and dracula andlove kind of carries that and it
does we need more loyal peoplelike that out here this
generation yes, that are gonna.

Laura (50:14):
That doesn't work they're gonna find you in every century
.

Esmeralda (50:18):
Yeah, so in dracula love, they kind of touch on that
.
They touch more on that aboutthe fact that dracula has been
searching for her through somany centuries, that he has
found her in so many places, butthat and he's so like
distraught because he says that,no matter what, she never
chooses him.
Like even when she does, likefind out who he is and regains

(50:41):
his love for, like her love forhim, that she always doesn't
want to stay with him or becomeum undead with him, because in
that life that's all sheremembers.
She doesn't remember her otherlives, all the lives that she's
had and all the times that she'smet him.
So she always chooses to staybecause she either has has
children and wants to be therefor her children, or she wants

(51:01):
children, or she wants to havethis life, or she has loved ones
.
So he always says that, nomatter what, he will always
choose her, but that she neverchooses him.
And I always found that reallylike sad and like, yeah, like
you get it and you understand it, you know, as a woman
especially so.

Laura (51:16):
All in all, laura, I think we both agree that this is
like an instant classic andthat it's something that could
be watched again for years andyears to come so, all in all,
watch nosferatu 2024, but incase you want to keep up with
all the movies that we alsotalked about today, we're going
to recommend them to you andhopefully you get a chance to
watch them at some point.

Esmeralda (51:37):
It doesn't have to be in any particular order, and
thank you for listening this far, because we did scramble a lot,
trying to, you know, bring inthe ties from each and every one
a little tiny footnote, I cameinto some information that I
also want to, uh, rediscover,and this is something that we
would have to, like, read, andsupposedly there's a novel that

(51:58):
came out a few years before bramstoker's dracula, back in 18,
whenever I said earlier, um, andit was called carmilla, and
this supposedly is like thefirst vampire novel that came
out, and the crazy part is thatit has a lot of similarities too
, but a lot of the lore issimilar, you know, and um, how

(52:22):
she's able to be a vampire andshe walks by night and she
drinks blood and she's able toshift, change like a shape shift
, shape shape shift and intoother animals when she's eating
people's blood and things likethat.
So that's something that'sinteresting.
The vampire lore has beenaround for a very long time and,
um, sometimes it's interestingto find out, like, where it

(52:43):
actually came from, you knowyeah, definitely.

Laura (52:45):
So our first recommendation would be the 1922
nosferatu symphony of horror.
Yes, then the second one thatcame out would be would?

Esmeralda (52:55):
be bram stoker's dracula, and that came out 1992
and then shadow of a vampire.

Laura (53:01):
That came out in 2000, best year and then a whole
century later from 1922 from theoriginal nas for a two.
We now have nas for a two 2024and wouldn't it be cool if that
cast or director could be aliveto see it today oh my god, what
would he think.

Esmeralda (53:19):
What would he say?
I mean, what would he say?
What would bram stoker say?
Or henrik gillian, which is thewriter that kind of adapted it
to be different than bram stoker?

Laura (53:29):
because the technology is way more advanced today.
And you know, it would just be,they would be like shocked and
amazed right otherworldly forthem, for sure, very surreal.
So that's how powerful, uh,creative people and authors are
that they can leave a legacy and, you know, it ends up on the
silver screen one day and, thankgoodness for artists, it
influences, yeah, a big audience.

(53:50):
So now we're going to concludewith our Gary story.

Esmeralda (54:12):
So now, everyone, we have a spooky little story by
our return guest, and by return.
He's not here physically again,but we saved this tasty little
story that he gave us on hislast visit that he had the story
we have for you today is fromberniedez.

Laura (54:21):
He has a bunch of scary stories to share with us, and
this one in particular has to dowith a memory he had when he
was a child.
Yes, and it takes in a littlebit, to the movie we just
watched, not because of anyvampires, but because he has
always said that he's had sometie to the spiritual world and
that he's been a target forhauntings and just weird things

(54:42):
happening to him.
So, as we saw our protagonist,ellen hutter from nosferatu, she
was somewhat of a conduit.
She was spiritually inclined,yeah.
So since she was younger, sheshared that things would happen
to her.
She would already know what waswrapped in her christmas
presents, whatever she had likethis little thing following her.
Until later it got worse andworse.
So fernie is our ellen no, I'mjust kidding and he, yeah, he

(55:06):
has a lot to unpack with us.
Hopefully this is not the lasttime we hear him.
I'm sure be on our podcastagain soon.

Fernie Valdez (55:12):
So take it away about the darkness man when I
was about eight years old, nine,because my, my cousin was about
four years old and we wereliving in culver city,
california, and across thestreet we used to live on one
side of the street and then myaunt used to live right across
the street from us, right, butshe would always spend the whole
day in my house and whenever wewould be like being bad or like

(55:35):
annoying, my grandma would tellmy aunt hey, nana, go, take
these things and take them toyour house and lock them up over
there, because, yeah, they fedme up.
So then one day that happened,she took us there.
Somebody's trying to thinkstupid things, right?
So my cousin goes to thebathroom and I'm like, ha ha ha,
I'm gonna play a prank on him,I'm gonna scare him.

(55:55):
So then I go into the closet andI close the closet and I'm
waiting for my cousin to comeout and look for me, and and
then I'm thinking like he'sgoing to come to the closet,
he's going to open the closetand I'm going to jump and I'm
going to scare him, right, yeah?
So then I'm standing there inthe closet and my uncle which
was my tia nena's brother, youknow used to live in the same

(56:16):
apartment and he had this, youknow, like taller than me mirror
in the closet that he wouldjust like put it in there and
then when he would he dress up?
You know like he put on thewall and like he was really
conceited, you know and helooked at himself.
You know like, oh, yeah, youknow like you look good, you
know, so I'm there?
Is it like those kind of doorsthat you open and the no, no, no

(56:37):
, it was a mirror that he wouldactually take in and out of the
closet.
Oh, okay, yeah, so he just likestand there like at one end of
the closet and oh, okay, yeah,so he just like stand there like
at one end of the closet andthen you know like he would take
it out and put it back when itwas done.
So I'm standing there and Ihear like like something you
know, like I don't know, like afunny noise, and mine, at the
closet I just had a little cracklooking for me, right.

(56:59):
So there was some light comingin and I seen like a reflection
through the mirror and I gotclose to the mirror and I saw
that it was my reflection and Iwas like, but then, when I'm
looking at my reflection out ofthe blue, my reflection starts
going and like the face, theface looked kind of fucking
scary right so I fucking gotscared.

(57:20):
And then I yeah, I tried to openthe closet door and my cousin
had locked me in from theoutside.
So I'm kicking, kicking,kicking, kicking and I kicked
the door until I fucking kickedthe hole and I crawled through
the hole.

Esmeralda (57:34):
I was scared.
No way you broke the door.

Fernie Valdez (57:37):
Yeah, well, I kicked the hole.

Esmeralda (57:39):
Oh, my God.

Fernie Valdez (57:40):
I kicked the hole because this fucking thing in
the mirror was like still makingthat stupid sound and shaking
his head what so?
It was your reflection, makingthat weird noise and like
staring at you yes, I wouldnever look at a mirror in my
life again and this fuckingthing that's shaking the head I
can't remember what other horrormovie I saw and there's a

(58:00):
fucking demon that's shaking hisfucking head like that oh my
god.

Esmeralda (58:04):
No, yeah, I know which one.
I've seen so many scary movies.
It's not the one that's in umhouse on haunted hill I remember
because I'm not as a hauntedhill.
That's the first movie that Iever saw.
The remake has a haunted hill Iforgot what year it came out,
but not.
There's like a really, reallyancient old one where what's his
name price comes out in, butnot him.
It's a remake and that one cameout like maybe 2000s or

(58:26):
something.
But anyways, on that one it'sthe first movie where they put
spirits.
They see them like throughcameras and they're not.
They can't see them in realperson, but they can see them
through a camera and they'redoing that weird movement Like
it looks like they recorded likemoving, this weird awkward
movement and it's kind of thesame thing as like how it looks
on the ring.
But on that same movie there'sa part the guy he's like I don't

(58:47):
know he's going crazy or what.
There's a demon behind him andhe's shaking his head all hard
like.
So I'm thinking like when you,when you're describing, I'm
remembering like differentlittle visual things that I've
seen and I'm thinking maybe it'sthat movie that you're talking
about and that.

Fernie Valdez (59:00):
How crazy how these things happen after this
experience, I mean thisexperience with the mirror and
the fucking head shaking andlike, well, you know.

Esmeralda (59:11):
I was nine years old.
You know like hell, no, yeah,you've seen too many things
since you were a kid.
That's already like yeah,you're definitely already like a
sensitive person to that, andthose are scary things, like
things that you're not going tojust forget.

Fernie Valdez (59:23):
You're not.
No, it's like it was justtattooed in my brain.

Esmeralda (59:28):
And what did you do when you got out of the door?

Fernie Valdez (59:29):
I fucking, you know like started screaming and
banging on the door and mycousin was looking out the
window like towards my house andwe're screaming and my cousin
is terrified because I'mterrified.
And then I guess my aunt saw usor she was going to come check.
She found out that the fuckingdaughter was fucking a big
asshole.

Esmeralda (59:49):
She was like what the hell?

Fernie Valdez (59:51):
And then she whooped my ass for doing that.
And then I told them and noneof them believed me.

Esmeralda (59:57):
They thought that I was fucking just making it up
and I was like alright, whatever, that's the worst thing that
nobody believes you yeah, youknow, like and, but that taught
me never to undermine what yourkid is telling you.

Fernie Valdez (01:00:08):
Like lynette, you know she went to some fucking
nightcares when she was a babyand stuff like that.
So that taught me never to notbelieve them, you know right?

Esmeralda (01:00:17):
yeah, definitely, because you've already
experienced being not believedyeah, so, yeah.

Fernie Valdez (01:00:21):
so when I had my very bad accident and you know,
like pre-covid, I had a positiveexperience, you know, I mean,
if you consider almost dying, apositive experience, you know.
But there I am in the floorwith my stomach, you know, like
in the worst pain that I've everbeen, and my ears were like
humming, like like I don't know,like a raptured tank full of

(01:00:41):
air and and my eyes were likeblurry as fuck and I couldn't
get up and I'm thinking God, youknow like I'm done, my back is
gone, it's broken.
And again this little voice,like in my head, tells me you
know like wiggle your feet, so Iwiggle my feet.
Wiggle your hands, so I wigglemy hands.
Wiggle your head, so I wigglemy head, you're not broken.

Esmeralda (01:01:05):
Get up.
And I got up and this was likeyour own voice that you were
hearing, like in your head, ordid it sound totally separate
than you?

Fernie Valdez (01:01:10):
it sounded like me, but it you know, like I knew
at the time.
Even then, you know that itwasn't me like you knew those
were not your thoughts exactlythat.
That's the way it is.
You know, like, like when you,when you say hmm, esmeralda, and
Esmeralda is thinking something, and you hear your own thoughts
, you hear your own voice, right.
So that's the way I felt, but Iknew that it wasn't me because

(01:01:32):
you know, like I, was underBecause you were thinking the
opposite.
Yeah, I was under dire stress.
You know like I'm thinking myback is broken, so I'm not
thinking clearly.
I'm not thinking clearly.
I'm not thinking, you know like, okay, well, you know, how can
we find this?
You know like, why don't youshake your feet or your legs or
whatever the fuck?

Esmeralda (01:01:51):
you know like, but these things were asked in a
specific order.
So, yeah, well, yeah, that's apositive thing right there when
you're already giving up hope.
Yeah, wow, yeah, these storieswere crazy.

Laura (01:01:59):
Yeah, I have a lot more stories we'll call.
Call you next week, same timenext week.

Esmeralda (01:02:04):
Well, we're definitely going to add more,
more of your stories in thefuture, so don't be surprised
when I call you again.

Fernie Valdez (01:02:09):
All right, all right Thank you Bye, good night
you guys have a good night, besafe, bye.

Esmeralda (01:02:17):
Okay, everyone.
So what do you think of that?
Let's just talk about that alittle bit.
Let's recap so you're a childplaying an innocent game with
your cousins, thinking it's likea normal visit, and it turns
into horror suddenly because ofsomething you were not expecting
to see in the mirror of allplaces.
Now, wouldn't that scare you toever look at a mirror ever
again, laura?

Laura (01:02:36):
probably you know how some rooms have mirrors embedded
into your wall, like in your,where you have a closet that has
a sliding mirror.
I feel like I would want to takeall that down, like cover it up
, and I would just feel veryuncomfortable around my
reflection, especially if it'ssomething that happened to you
as a small child, because that'snot gonna be like something
that's gonna just leave yourmind, you know yeah, and it's
very sinister that the demon orwhatever it was pretended to be,

(01:02:59):
him because it's like ferniecan never look back and be like,
oh, I saw this red monster,like doing or whatever, like he
can't describe the monster inany way like a shadow trying to
grab me.

Esmeralda (01:03:07):
He's like it was me.
Yeah, like, and the crazy partis that he heard it first and
you know, you think you'rehiding in a closet, you know
from someone.
Then you hear a noise thatmakes you turn around and then
like, like, what a sight thatwould be to see yourself doing
something that you're not doing.

Laura (01:03:22):
That's very much like Dracula 2, though Like he had a
shadow that was following himaround that wasn't doing what he
was doing.

Esmeralda (01:03:30):
That was an extension that was not doing, although
Orlok from the original, likeNosferatu, on Shadow of a
Vampire as well, had noreflection.
Right yeah.

Laura (01:03:38):
But the point is I've never heard something like that
before.
I don't think I've ever had,like a friend or family member
like, yeah, confide that in me,like my reflection did something
that I wasn't doing.

Esmeralda (01:03:47):
Yeah, I've seen movies like that before, though
yeah, fresher fiction.

Laura (01:03:50):
That's why, like I said, let's move past the like the
movies, because I feel likethat's a that's a reoccurring
like scene, like we could seethat in movies and stuff but in
real life I think that's crazy.
It is crazy, that's unique.
I haven't heard that ever.
Has that happened to anyoneelse that's listened around the
world?
I know, because if it, has,please let us know.

Esmeralda (01:04:07):
Send us an email and we will definitely interview you
.
Thank you for all the peoplethat we have seen.
That hears us not just in theUS, but around the world other
countries and we'll send a shoutout next time.
If any of you have anyexperiences like that, feel free
to send us an email and let usknow and you never know, we
might reach out to you to be ournext podcast story and, like we
tell fernie, hopefully itdoesn't happen to you ever again

(01:04:29):
, but if it does, you'll hear ithere from us, yes, all right,
everyone.
I hope you enjoyed that and seeyou next time.
Bye, thank you.