Willem Dafoe is a cinematic treasure. Ever since his breakthrough in Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning film, Platoon, Dafoe has been gracing our screens with iconic and remarkable performances. His filmography is impressively long. He’s appeared in big-budget flicks like the recently released Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and 2002’s Spider-Man. His performance as the maniacal Green Goblin ranks as one of the greatest and most iconic villains in cinema.
Dafoe has also appeared in “smaller”, beloved films like The Boondock Saints, American Psycho, The Florida Project, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Poor Things, and so much more. But buried among these dozens upon dozens of films on Dafoe’s resume are five little vampire movies. One of them you’ve undoubtedly heard of: 2024’s highly-anticipated film, Nosferatu. How does this film compare to Dafoe’s other vampire movies? Let’s take a look. Here are all 5 vampire flicks featuring Willem Dafoe ranked by Rotten Tomatoes, including the newly released Nosferatu.
5
‘Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant’ (2009)
37%
- Release Date
-
October 23, 2009
- Runtime
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109 minutes
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant is a loose adaptation of the Vampire Blood book trilogy, also known as the Cirque du Freak trilogy, the first trilogy in The Saga of Darren Shan. It follows a teenager who joins a traveling sideshow of strange and monstrous creatures, the Cirque du Freak, after being transformed into a vampire. Dafoe plays the supporting character Gavner Purl, an uptight vampire who looks down on humans.
An Unworthy Adaptation
Cirque du Freak received negative reviews, as you can see from its 37% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was also a box office disaster, prompting Universal to scrap its plans for three proposed sequels. Maybe this film would’ve performed a little better if they had given it a more alluring title, like Vampire Blood rather than Cirque du Freak.
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4
‘The Hunger’ (1983)
58%
The Hunger
Long before his breakthrough role in Platoon, Willem Dafoe appeared in 1983’s The Hunger. A loose adaptation of the eponymous novel by Whitley Strieber, The Hunger centers on a love triangle between a vampire couple and a human doctor, who specializes in sleep and aging research. This movie features a couple of big names, such as Susan Sarandon as the human doctor and music legend David Bowie as a vampire.
A Small but Memorable Role in a Forgettable Movie
Dafoe had a brief appearance in the film, as a young man who harasses Bowie’s character. The Hunger didn’t perform well critically or commercially, scoring a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. But in the years since its release, The Hunger has become a cult classic. Warner Bros. has plans to develop a remake, which will hopefully fare better than its predecessor.
3
‘Daybreakers’ (2010)
69%
- Release Date
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January 8, 2010
- Runtime
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98 minutes
Daybreakers is an intriguing mix of sci-fi and horror. It takes the concept of a global pandemic to a new level, after an infected vampire bat starts a plague that transforms most of the world’s population into vampires. Set in a futuristic world overrun by vampires, Daybreakers follows a corporation that’s researching a substitute for human blood while trying to capture the remaining humans.
Overshadowed by ‘Twilight’
Daybrakers features some notable names, such as Ethan Hawke and Sam Neil, both of whom play vampires. Shockingly, Willem Dafoe does not play a vampire. He plays a human who’s been cured of his vampire sickness and is now leading a rebellion of human survivors. Daybreakers scored decently well with critics, wracking up a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Unfortunately, this film was released during the vampire craze of Twilight, causing it to go overlooked. Daybreakers was also overshadowed by other major releases at the time, including Avatar and Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr.
2
‘Shadow of the Vampire’ (2001)
82%
Shadow of the Vampire
- Release Date
-
December 29, 2000
- Runtime
-
92min
Interestingly, Shadow of the Vampire is closely linked to Nosferatu. It captures the making of the 1922 silent film and includes all its real-life players, such as the movie’s director, F. W. Murnau, played here by John Malkovich. While shooting the film, the cast and crew of Nosferatu begin to suspect that their lead actor, Max Schreck, might actually be a vampire. Max Schreck is the actor who plays the iconic vampire Count Orlok in the real movie. But don’t worry, Schreck wasn’t really a vampire. This is just a fun, fictionalized story behind the production of Nosferatu.
An Academy Award-Nominated Performance
Max Schreck/Count Orlock is played here by Willem Dafoe. His performance was lauded by critics, earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. This was Dafoe’s second nomination in this category (the first being Platoon), though he wound up losing to Benicio del Toro’s role in Traffic.
Dafoe’s performance eerily resembled Schrek’s portrayal from the original film, aided in part by his phenomenal makeup team, who earned also an Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup (they lost to How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey). Shadow of the Vampire is regarded as one of Dafoe’s best movies and performances, scoring a solid 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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1
‘Nosferatu’ (2024)
90%
- Release Date
-
December 25, 2024
- Runtime
-
2h 12m
2024’s Nosferatu is the latest remake of the 1922 silent film of the same name. Although it’s a plagiarized rip-off of Bram Stocker’s Dracula, Nosferatu has forged its own cinematic legacy in the 100+ years since its release. 1922’s Nosferatu is viewed as a cinematic masterpiece and a major influence on the horror genre and the vampire subgenre. And this 2024 remake is shaping up to be just as good. It’s attracting a lot of hype and fanfare — and also a lot of good reviews. At the time of writing, 2024’s Nosferatu has scored an impressive 90% on Rotten Tomatoes among 124 critics. Seductive and frightening, it pays homage to the 1922 original while standing as its own great film, providing a modern update to this horror classic.
From Vampire to Hunter
Nosferatu was written and directed by Robert Eggers, who’s made a name for himself in the horror genre with movies like The Witch and The Lighthouse. Eggers’ latest entry features a star-studded cast that includes horror icon Bill Skarsgård as the famous titular character, alongside Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Oh, and there’s also Willem Dafoe, who plays Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz, a Van Helsing-type vampire hunter who’s actually an original character in this film. Nosferatu just released on Christmas and will undoubtedly haunt everyone’s holidays for the rest of the year — and maybe even beyond that.