Image Details

Kobal Collection

Necromancy and reanimating the dead hold an enduring fascination for us moderns. Moviegoers are both appalled and enthralled by the sanguivorous Count Orlok, played by Max Shreck (shown here) in F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent horror film Nosferatu. Ancient ghosts were often portrayed with a rigidness similar to the count’s—as if still locked in the throes of rigor mortis.