Bill Skarsgård says he hopes Nosferatu viewers will be “disgusted by their attraction” to his “gross” titular vampire

With his long, pale-skinned fingers, sharp teeth, and hunched silhouette, Nosferatu’s Count Orlok is one of the most striking horror figures of all time. In Robert Eggers’ take on the character, though, which is set to release in December, actor Bill Skarsgård hopes to turn him into a bit of… a pin-up?

While promoting his upcoming action-fantasy The Crow, the actor teased his version’s look in a new interview with Esquire, explaining that while his bloodsucker is undeniably “gross”, he’s “very sexualized”, too. “I do not think people are gonna recognize me in it. It’s playing with a sexual fetish about the power of the monster and what that appeal has to you,” Skarsgård continued. “Hopefully you’ll get a little bit attracted by it and disgusted by your attraction at the same time.”

Often described as an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1987 novel Dracula, the story of Nosferatu, which was first seen on screen in F. W. Murnau’s silent feature back in 1922, sees ancient, Transylvanian bloodsucker Count Orlok set his sights on the wife of his estate agent – and bring terror to their small German town.