Background
Grau had originally gotten the idea of shooting a vampire film while serving in the German Army during World War I, when a Serbian farmer told him that his father was a vampire and one of the Undead.
Grau had originally gotten the idea of shooting a vampire film while serving in the German Army during World War I, when a Serbian farmer told him that his father was a vampire and one of the Undead.
He was largely responsible for the look and spirit of the film, including the sets, costumes, storyboards and promotional materials. One example in particular was the cryptic contract that Count Orlok and Knock exchanged, which was filled in Enochian, hermetic and alchemical symbols. Grau was also a strong influence on Orlok"s verminous and emaciated look.
Before Grau and Murnau collaborated on Nosferatu, (1921), Grau was planning to create several movies devoted to the occult and supernatural through his studio, Prana Film.
Since Nosferatu was a loose and unauthorized translation of Bram Stoker"s Dracula Prana had to declare bankruptcy in order to evade infringement lawsuits. This made Nosferatu its one and only release.
Grau shot a film of the conference, currently lost. The conference was not a smooth event and Traenker withdrew his support of Crowley.
Following these differences the Pansophical Lodge would be officially closed in 1926.
After the war, he returned to Germany and pursued a career in commercial art and lived in the Alpine village of Bayrischzell, Upper Bavaria, until his death in 1971. Bayrischzell honours him to this day. Albin Grau was one of the main characters in the fictionalized movie account of the filming of Nosferatu, titled Shadow of the Vampire (2000), directed by American filmmaker East. Elias Merhige.
He was played by Udo Kier.