With the arrival of Robert Eggers' Nosferatu we can say one thing for sure: Bill Skarsgård is really good at playing iconic horror movie monsters. Skarsgård seemingly performed this minor miracle twice, with incredible results both times. In 2017's It, Skarsgård smeared himself with greasepaint to play Pennywise the dancing clown (a role he reprises in Max's upcoming series Welcome to Derry), the malevolent shapeshifter, prone to hanging out in sewers and eating children. That was no small feat. Although 2017's It was the first feature adaptation of Stephen King's tome of terror, it wasn't the first time the material had appeared on screen. Back in 1990, It was adapted into a TV miniseries, featuring the legendary Tim Curry as Pennywise. When it was announced that "It" was being adapted again, all fans of the miniseries shared the opinion: it will be almost impossible for anyone to step into the shoes of a clown Curry. Curry's take on Pennywise became so legendary, so ingrained in pop culture, that it was considered a fool's errand to even try to replace him.

And yet, Skarsgård succeeded. I'm not going to sit here and debate which of the performances is "better", simply because they are both unique and different from each other. Curry's Pennywise feels more like a carnival showman; a big, loud con artist who seems to really enjoy his job. Skarsgård's take, in stark contrast, is much stranger; he raises his voice, crosses one eye (something an actor can do for real, without the help of makeup or CGI) and drools a lot. Skarsgård's Pennywise is almost childlike in certain ways; it seems immature, even though it has obviously been around for centuries. And in the end, Skarsgård succeeded. Maybe it's just recent bias, but these days, if you ask someone to picture Pennywise, they'll almost certainly think of Skarsgård's version first. It's proof that the doubters were wrong and that Skarsgård really did have what it took to make his own horror icon.

Now, with Nosferatu, he's done it again. You could argue that in taking on the role of Count Orlok, Skarsgård had an even bigger challenge than playing Pennywise. With Pennywise, the actor only had to contend with the unforgettable performance of one person, Tim Curry. With Orlok, Skarsgård has to deal with multiple actors who have already played the role. In 1922, Max Schreck, looking entirely believable as a rodent vampire, originated the character in F.W.'s silent classic. Murnau. Then, in 1979, legendary and troubled actor Klaus Kinski played the vampire for Werner Herzog's remake of Nosferatu the Vampire (note: Kinski's character is called Count Dracula in Herzog's film, as Nosferatu was officially an adaptation, Butinsky apparently playing the same character Orlok, complete with similar makeup). And just to complicate matters, a wonderfully meta horror film "The Shadow of the Vampire" Willem Dafoe slipped into the famous Orlock make-up to play a (fictionalized) version of Max Schreck (interestingly enough, Dafoe also appears in the new Nosferatu, playing a vampire hunter). It's a lineup of heavy hitters. And yet, against the odds, Skarsgård makes Count Orlok his own, just as he did with Pennywise.