Today the highly anticipated 'Nosferatu' by Robert Eggers opens in Spain and the desire is justified. After horror masterpieces like 'The Witch' or 'The Lighthouse', it seems like a dream adaptation for a legendary work, and Eggers joins a legacy of directors including Murnau and Werner Herzog. Although If you ask another generationthey probably know the character for something else.
In all its years of history, Nosferatu has been more than just a nightmare creature. It also became a joke that closed a legendary episode of 'SpongeBob SquarePants' titled “Graveyard Shift”which is in the second season of the series and aired in 2002.
In the episode, Mr. Krabs implements a night shift after discovering that this way he can make more money and, to Squidward's chagrin and SpongeBob's excitement, they will spend the night working. In an attempt to convince Bob that this is not good news, Squidward spends the night trying to scare him until at one point the fear becomes real for both of them, since the restaurant lights start to turn on and off by themselves Who is it? None other than Nosferatu, who is playing a prank on them.
Another resident of Bikini Bottom
This episode has gone down in the history of the series as one of the favorites of many viewers who experienced it in its day. Among the experiments that the series has done, having an episode that played with horror worked wonderfully and even managed to give the occasional scare, as a user on Reddit recalls: ““This episode scared me when I was a kid, watching it now brings back good memories of my childhood even though it was pretty scary.”
The funny thing is that Nosferatu went beyond a mere episode-ending hook and became a regular guest. In the Nickelodeon series they seem to have a small obsession with the vampirebecause it has appeared up to 18 times both in the main series and in spin-offs. On all occasions, it is also done by rescuing and editing Murnau's original images, in what is a fascinating and quite unprecedented use of collage in a contemporary animation work, and one aimed at the general public.
So, SpongeBob has become an unexpected ally in keeping Nosferatu's legacy aliveand the idea that a viewer sees the vampire in the cinema and wonders “Isn't that one in SpongeBob SquarePants?” It's something that even makes Robert Eggers laugh, who in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter thanks the Nickelodeon series for his role, and remembers that he also discovered 'The Phantom of the Opera' thanks to clips that were shown on 'Muppet Babies'.
In Espinof | A 'SpongeBob SquarePants' screenwriter confirms the dark fan theory that links Bikini Bottom to the Cold War: “It's part of what makes it fun”
In Espinof | From Vans sneakers to runway outfits, 'SpongeBob SquarePants' is a money-making machine and a job that its actors “would not change for that of the big stars”
