Nosferatu Inspired Lenses with Coloured Contacts

In the 1922 depiction, Count Orlock has long, swollen-looking hands, extended claw-like fingernails, pointed ears, and a bald head. Many stills from the 1922 film are now iconic, such as the shadow of Orlock climbing the stairs or standing on the ship deck. Our talented affiliate @martaitken.artistry recreates this famous character in a black-and-white Instagram post. Using our White Zombie lenses to recreate the dead-eyed look of the Count, who has been rotting away in the shadows of his abandoned castle, Aitken uses a bald cap and prosthetics to perfect his homage to this cult classic. His depiction shows Orlock as an emaciated and rotting character, with blackened fangs and cracking skin. Using long false nails, Aitken creates an instantly recognisable portrayal of Orlock, using the lighting to remake the famous scenes of Orlock reaching from the shadows.

Eggers and the special effects makeup team behind Nosferatu (2024) worked hard to pay respect to the original film and include recognisable attributes whilst creating a stand-alone character. Nosferatu was apparently a passion project of Eggers’, in the works for a long time, which meant he was able to share a clear vision with his team. David White, the prosthetic makeup effects designer, revealed to Variety that Eggers sent a photo of a painting he had finished a few years earlier. It showed the character in shadow, but with a ‘great head shape’ and ‘ashen skin’, which gave White a fantastic starting point and understanding of the vision. On the Graham Norton Show, Nicholas Hoult (Thomas Hutter) revealed that co-star Bill Skarsgård had to wear white contact lenses at certain points during filming, which left him mostly blind, to make the Count appear dead and rotting. 

In this blog, we’ll cover our range of lenses that can help you achieve your Count Orlock look—save it to your bookmarks for a fun costume idea this Halloween! To create a clouded and milky effect across the eye, our Blind White contact lenses are the best for the job. See them being used to full effect by @ladyparadoxx below, and check out more examples from our talented affiliates in our gallery.

As the name suggests, they help your eyes appear blind; however, this also means that your vision in these lenses is severely limited, as mentioned above by Hoult regarding Skarsgård’s struggles on set. Because these lenses completely cover the pupil, it is challenging for light to get through to your eyes and critically restricts your vision. Our blind contact lenses are great for photoshoots requiring minimal movement, but we wouldn’t recommend wearing them whilst outside or in dark spaces!

Our White Mesh contact lenses are also excellent for achieving an unnerving stare in your costume, creating a blind effect at a distance. These lenses would also be ideal for a creepy Orlock or undead creature of the night costume.

Close up, you can see the netted nature of the lens. This allows some light to reach the eye so it is easier to see through these mesh lenses than our blind contact lenses. However, they still obscure your vision, so do not wear them whilst driving, and we wouldn’t recommend wearing them in dark or crowded spaces.

If you are looking to achieve the same dead-eyed blind effect without impairing your vision, then check out our White Zombie contact lenses! The lack of a ring at the outer edge of the lens blends the iris into the sclera, creating a desaturated ‘blank canvas’ effect that leaves only the pupil visible. They’ll provide a similar effect to our blind lenses without covering the pupil, meaning they are safe to wear whilst walking and moving around. As you can see above, @martaitken.artistry successfully used these lenses to create an amazing Orlock transformation.

Put your twist on this horrifying character! Orlock is already a variant of the classic Dracula, which was conjured from a mix of fables and myths of vampires and real history. Each version of the character, from 1922 to ‘79 to 2024, has had distinguishing designs. Have some fun creating your version like @sophiebaverstock, who created this amazing look whilst having fun with a fellow SFX friend.

Sophie uses our angelic yellow contact lenses. We also recommend our Yellow Azazel Demon contact lenses, featuring a scary, poisonous-looking pattern of black and yellow in the iris; these lenses are perfect for portraying the plague-bringer.

If you want to include a more classic idea of a vampire, then our red lenses are perfect for the occasion. Our Red Mini Sclera contacts are ideal for depicting a centuries-old vampiric entity that is the personification of death, enlarging the eye and capturing the soul with their vibrant colour. @mulan_mtz uses the Red Mini Sclera lenses in her occult glam devil look, showing just how bright these lenses are. From one devil to another, these lenses are a great way to make your Count Orlock costume stand out.

A fun and unbeatable couple's costume for Halloween this year could be Orlock and Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp). Depp’s dark, treacle-like eyes look almost black in the desaturated and grey-scale scenes of the film—lean into this and the element of demonic possession by using our black contact lenses. Our Black Halloween lenses are great for adding a creeping sense of darkness to your look, which is perfect for this gothic horror centred on a twisted obsession. @rimgaile.ma uses one of the Black Halloween contact lenses in her freaky Friday 13th makeup look below.

Or utilise a softer brown contact lens, such as our Morning Coffee Brown contact lenses, for a look closer to Depp’s natural eye colour. @nicolleslooks models our Coffee Brown lenses for us in this simple but stunning look below.