A scary creature causes fear, albeit brief, in its audience. With their classic plots and enduring popularity, Nosferatu and Coraline are examples of this deliberate strategy. Those who do not adore them at least admire and accept that they perfectly encapsulate the concept of monsters, to the point where they need to be seen again and dissected to figure out what it is about them that makes them compelling. Count Orlok and the Other Mother are terrifying monsters, yet their evil deeds stem from different motivations.
The opponent of the German silent expressionist movie Nosferatu, Count Orlok, was a tall, elderly man with a bald head and pointy ears. Below white eyes was a row of pointed fangs, and his irises were white. This extreme horror painting is complete with thick eyebrows and a huge beige coat paired with dark footwear and jeans (Massaccesi 95). When he sails across the ocean to Wisborg, the crew members get ill and die, demonstrating the nature of the threat he represents. In the film, the vampire can summon the winds to his will, causing the ship to continue on its course toward Wisborg, which heightens tensions due to the element of control exerted.
The presence of nighttime complicates matters; sunlight is fatal to Count Orlok since he is a night creature. Even more terrifying is the fact that people naturally associate the dark with danger. People have been fighting the night from the beginning of time, using fire and other sources of light to dispel it, and even worshiping the sun in certain civilizations. A lack of sunlight has always had a creepy connotation, so this is not a new phenomenon. Count Orlok sends a sickness onto Wisborg, sucking its vitality for his bloodthirsty needs. He serves as a metaphor for the battle: “The war was drinking the blood of millions” (Massaccesi 85). A terrifying aspect of this man is his penchant for victimizing others who have done nothing to deserve it.
Count Orlok’s terrifying monster status largely stems from the belief that his victims have little chance of defending themselves against him as he effortlessly dominates them and drains their life force. Hutter’s wife gave the villagers a fighting chance, but only because he had an odd sexual fascination with her from the start; so, it was not entirely her doing that undid him, but rather his doing that lead to his eventual doom. The need or desire for blood drives him to act evilly (Massaccesi 75). What makes him such a terrifying creature is that this causes him to prey on defenseless people.
A different incentive drives the Other Mother: “She wants something to love, I think,’ said the cat. ‘Something that isn’t her’” (Gaiman 69). This perspective might make one feel sorry for her, but looking at her tactics will quickly erase such feelings, with sewing button eyes being one such technique. She is a terrifying villain because of the manner she entices her victims. Someone who has been through more than Coraline has would be more susceptible to the Other Mother’s easy luxury. This blemish makes her so menacing; she plays on people’s baser desires and the hope that everyone can get by with minimal effort. The Other Mother saps the life of victims, mainly innocent people since she lures them into her tricks. Her initial generosity quickly erodes into a ruthless narcissism that will go to any extreme (even the kidnapping of her parents) to achieve her goals of being loved and admired.
Monsters do not always look scary, as evidenced by the Other mother’s initially upbeat demeanor, but Count Orlok ticks all the right boxes from the get-go. This should be a cautionary tale to all, as future examples may not be as blatant as the two presented here. However, it cannot be denied that both monsters have provided every reader with entertainment and assisted society in addressing real issues and problems in a way that is accessible to a wide audience.
Works Cited
Gaiman, Neil. Coraline. HarperCollins, 2012, Web.
Massaccesi, Cristina. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (Devils Advocates). Auteur Publishing, 2016, Web.