F. W. Murnau’s 1922 horror classic, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, is an atypical Dracula adaptation. The departures from Bram Stoker’s epistolary novel were very much intentional to skirt around copyright violations. But Murnau’s vampire, Count Orlok (Max Schreck), cemented the tropes inherent in vampire allegory, including the undead being carriers of pestilence and a thematic stand-in for xenophobia.
Source: Shadow of the Vampire at 25: How 2000 comedy-horror revamped the Nosferatu myth
