Nosferatu, now playing in cinemas, is a big hit, earning high praise from both critics and fans. Robert Eggers has always been a highly acclaimed director in the horror genre, with The Witch and The Lighthouse under his belt.

Nosferatu might be scaring audiences silly, but Robert Egger’s gothic horror could have been about an entirely different monster.

Which is to say, you probably recognize the story of Eggers' Nosferatu: the mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) wants to buy a house in the fictional German port town of Wisborg, so newly hired agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is sent by his boss Knock (Simon McBurney) to close the deal.

Credit: Focus Features Spend enough time on the film side of the internet, and you're bound to find discourse on who's the better director — Ari Aster, Jordan Peele, or Robert Eggers? So, when Eggers decided to make his own contribution to the Nosferatu mythos,