Bacteria and vampirism in cinema

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Médecine et maladies infectieuses 43 (2013) 363–367
General review
Bacteria and vampirism in cinema
Bactéries et vampirisme au cinéma
O. Castel ∗ , A. Bourry , S. Thévenot , C. Burucoa
Laboratoire de bactériologie et d’hygiène, UBM, CHU de Poitiers, BP 577, 86021 Poitiers cedex, France
Received 11 July 2012; received in revised form 15 May 2013; accepted 18 June 2013
Available online 3 August 2013
Abstract
A vampire is a non-dead and non-alive chimerical creature, which, according to various folklores and popular superstitions, feeds on blood of
the living to draw vital force. Vampires do not reproduce by copulation, but by bite. Vampirism is thus similar to a contagious disease contracted by
intravascular inoculation with a suspected microbial origin. In several vampire films, two real bacteria were staged, better integrated than others in
popular imagination: Yersinia pestis and Treponema pallidum. Bacillus vampiris was created for science-fiction. These films are attempts to better
define humans through one of their greatest fears: infectious disease.
© 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Bacteria; Cinema; Film; Treponema pallidum; Vampirism; Yersinia pestis
Résumé
Un vampire est une créature chimérique ni morte et non vivante qui, suivant divers folklores et superstitions populaires, se nourrit du sang des
vivants afin d’en tirer une force vitale Les vampires ne se reproduisent pas par copulation mais par morsure. Le vampirisme s’apparenterait ainsi à
une maladie contagieuse par inoculation intra vasculaire dont on peut soupçonner une origine microbienne. Dans les nombreux films de vampire
le cinéma a mis en scène deux bactéries bien réelles, mieux intégrées que d’autres à l’imaginaire collectif : Yersinia pestis et Treponema pallidum.
Pour la science-fiction, il a créé Bacillus vampiris. Tous ces films sont autant de tentatives pour cerner un peu mieux l’individu au travers de l’une
de ces plus grandes craintes: la maladie infectieuse.
© 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits réservés.
Mots clés : Bactéries ; Cinéma ; Film ; Treponema pallidum ; Vampirisme ; Yersinia pestis
1. Introduction
A vampire is a non-dead and non-living chimeric creature,
which, according to various folklores and popular superstitions,
feeds on blood of living beings, feeds on blood to draw vital
force. The legend of vampires finds its origins in ancient mythological traditions and vampire-like creatures are found in various
cultures throughout the world.
In the XII century, vampires were supposed to be so common in England that they were burnt to answer the population’s
spitefulness [1]. Likewise, in the XV century, plague outbreaks
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected]
(O. Castel).
0399-077X/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.medmal.2013.06.014
caused the population’s anti-vampire frenzy (especially in Eastern Europe).
The recent discovery of a XVI-century common grave on
a Venetian lagoon island, containing the remains of a female
“vampire” (or at least considered as such by her contemporaries)
supports the theory that in this period “vampires” were believed
to be responsible for outbreaks such as the plague. The body
found on the Lazzaretto Nuovo Island was buried with a brick
wedged between its jaws, probably to prevent it from sucking the
blood of people presenting with plague the outbreak of which
flared in the city, in 1576 [2].
The vampire character became particularly common in Eastern Europe, in the early XVIII century, in the Balkans, Greece,
Rumania, Bulgaria, and especially in Serbia where the word
vampire first appeared during Arnold Paole’s trial in 1732 [3].
The latter reported having been attacked by a vampire during
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O. Castel et al. / Médecine et maladies infectieuses 43 (2013) 363–367
his military service. Soon after his death, there were reports
of victims with a bite mark on the neck in Paole’s village. An
army surgeon decided to open his grave, and traces of blood
were found blood on his body, especially around the mouth. The
corpse was “terminated” with a wood stake and witnesses were
horrified to hear the corpse controls utter a hoarse and powerful
cry when the stake was driven though it.
Vampires do not reproduce by copulation, but by bite.
According to popular belief “those who are killed by a vampire usually become vampires themselves” can be read in pages
63 to 69 of the Mercure Galant, May 1693 issue [4].
Thus, vampirism (as a perversion consisting in the aggressor’s bleeding to his victim) could be compared, because of
the inoculation mode of transmission during the bite, to a
contagious disease of microbial origin. The microorganism is
so dreadful that there is a risk for the victim to turn into a
vampire.
Furthermore, much before the discovery of vaccines, Prussian
and Polish peasants did not hesitate to protect themselves by
ingesting a little blood found in the graves of vampires or by
spreading some earth from the same grave around their houses.
2. Yersinia pestis and vampirism
The vampire theme has inspired German poets and writers
since 1748, when Heinrich Augustin von Ossenfelder wrote a
poetry book including a poem called “Der Vampyr”. It was followed in 1773 by Bürger’s “Leonore”, and in 1797 by Goethe’s
“Die braut von Korinth” (Fig. 1). In “Die braut von Korinth”
Goethe tells the story of a young woman buried “non dead”,
feeding on blood to survive in her grave.
John Polidori created the most charismatic and sophisticated
vampire character in modern fiction in 1819. In his book “The
Vampire”, the living-dead hero was inspired by Lord Byron;
indeed, Polidori was his personal physician.
Nevertheless it was Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, written in
1897, which became the genre standard, determining the vampire image still popular in fiction, even though it was quite
different from its folklore ancestors of which it keeps only few
original specificities.
The first cinematographic adaptation of Bram Stoker’s book
was probably the one made by Murnau in 1922: “Nosferatu, eine
Symphonie des Grauens”1 . But the scenario does not strictly
follow the book’s plot because, among other reasons, Murnau
did not have the means to buy of copyrights from Stoker’s
widow. The names and places were changed. Even Nosferatu was very different from Dracula: he was pale, rigid, bald,
and deformed, like a cadaver with wasted hands and an obnubilated stare whereas Stoker’s Dracula was a suave, elegant,
mysterious, and refined gentleman. Murnau’s influence on vampire movies was considerable because in his film, his vampire
was destroyed by daylight (this photosensitivity was compared
to that of porphyria), whereas in Bram Stoker’s book, count
1 Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (titre français : Nosferatu le vampire). Réalisateur : Friedrich-Wilhelm Murnau, Allemagne : 1922 ; 94 min.
Dracula walks in broad daylight. Daylight has become synonymous of death for a vampire since Murnau’s film came
out.
Murnau associated vampirism and the plague in this cinema
masterpiece, since the boat taking Nosferatu to Wismar also
harbored disease (Fig. 2). The question remains as to this was
really the plague or if this was the only explanation found by the
population, frightened by the increasing number of mutilated
and bloodless corpses. Seeing rats on the boat and in the harbor
helped confusing the audience: were rats and their fleas vectors
of the disease or were they only companions of the “vampire
plague” coming from far-eastern Europe and infecting Wismar?
In 1979, Werner Herzog adapted Bram Stoker’s novel: “Nosferatu Phantom of the night”, film which received four awards
and three nominations2 . It was the story of Hutter, a young notary
public’s clerk, who left to finish a sale with a castle owner in the
Carpathian range. After threatening encounters and evil warnings, he was received by count Orlock who was none other
than the reincarnation of the vampire Nosferatu. The plague
is strongly suggested is with numerous rats symbolizing the
disease (Fig. 2).
Two others films have associated vampirism and the plague:
• “The Satanic Rites of Dracula” was made by Alan Gibson
with Christopher Lee in 19733 . In the movie, Van Helsing
discovers satanic masses made by a strange leader in a mysterious London: Dracula in person. The latter, assisted by
military personnel and rich capitalists, has decided to upset
the British regime, and to spread the black plague. Van Helsing
must fight him;
• “Leonor” was made by Juan Luis Buñuel in 1975 with Michel
Piccoli and Liv Ullmann4 . The action takes place in the middle
ages: a lord, first inconsolable, marries again and soon his first
wife’s ghost come to him. A stranger offers to bring his wife
Leonor back from the dead and he accepts. But Leonor has
become a vampire and the plague begins to break out. The
captivating medieval atmosphere in this movie combines a
love story and death, with the association of a living-dead
and the curse of plague carried by an evil wind.
3. Treponema pallidum and vampirism
The modern AIDS pandemic has taken the leadership from
the plague, as a symbolic representation of epidemic death.
Before AIDS, syphilis had made a deep symbolic mark in the
collective unconscious and many films have used this dramatic
force. The references to the plague, so present in “Nosferatu”,
have been replaced by the fear of AIDS and blood transmitted diseases, the modern plague. A picture of circulating red
blood cells on the screen is much more meaningful today than
2 Phantom der Nacht (titre français : Nosferatu Fantôme de la Nuit). Réalisateur : Werner Herzog, Allemagne/France : 1979 ; 107 min.
3 The Satanic Rites of Dracula (titre français : Dracula vit toujours à Londres).
Réalisateur : Alan Gibson, Grande Bretagne : 1973 ; 87 min.
4 Leonor. Réalisateur : Juan Luis Buñuel, Espagne/France/Italie : 1975 ;
101 min.
O. Castel et al. / Médecine et maladies infectieuses 43 (2013) 363–367
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Fig. 1. Posters of films Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), Nosferatu the Vampire (1922) by Manau, Count Dracula and the Vampire Bride by Alan
Gibson (1973), Leonor by Juan Luis Buñuel (1975), and Nosferatu Phantom of the night by Werner Herzog (1979).
Affiches des films Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), Nosferatu the Vampire (1922) by Manau ; Count Dracula and the Vampire Bride d’Alan Gibson
(1973) ; Leonor de Juan Luis Buñuel (1975) et Nosferatu Fantôme de la Nuit de Werner Herzog (1979).
Fig. 2. First image of the film Nosferatu by Murnau showing rats leaving the ship’s hold with coffins and the vampire’s pestilential mists; scene showing the
importance of rats in the film Nosferatu Phantom of the night by Herzog.
Première image du film Nosferatu de Murnau montrant les rats sortant de la cale du navire convoyant les cercueils et les brumes pestilentielles du vampire ; scène
montrant l’importance des rats dans le film Nosferatu Fantôme de la Nuit de Herzog.
seeing some rats racing around. There are many references to
sexual decadence and to its inherent consequences. No movie
has been made associating vampirism and AIDS; this raises
the question of the required incubation period, in the collective
unconscious, for a new pandemic infectious disease to trigger
cinematographic creation.
The hypothesis according to which Bram Stoker, the author
of Dracula, would have died from sequels of syphilis was only
recently ruled out. In Coppola’s film “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”,
professor Van Helsing first appears during a lecture on sexually
transmitted diseases5 .
“Bram Stoker’s Dracula” is modern version of the vampire
legend (Fig. 3). Lucy, a sex-starved young woman, who openly
courts 3 men, quickly becomes Dracula’s victim, while Jonathan
must escape from the three demons that keep him prisoner in the
castle. The decadence of the bourgeois society is stressed by the
word SIN that appears in the liquid deformation an absinthe
bottle label.
5 Bram Stoker’s Dracula (titre français : Dracula). Réalisateur : Francis Ford
Coppola, États-Unis : 1992 ; 128 min.
The inherent violence of intercourse is brilliantly demonstrated in the parallel development, typical of Coppola, between
Mina and Jonathan’s marriage and Lucy’s murder by Dracula
as a wolf. Doctor Van Helsing was the one who best stated
this: “Civilization and syphilization progressed together”. This
holds true for the cinematographic versions of Bram Stoker’s
novel5,6 .
4. Bacillus vampiris: the identified agent of vampirism
“I am Legend”, by the American author Richard Matheson, is
considered as a great classic science-fiction novel [5,6] (Fig. 4).
It was published in 1954 and has been adapted three times as a
movie.
This is the story of Robert Neville’s tragic fate, as the last
survivor of a pandemic that began in California. This outbreak
was caused by a bacillus that the bacteriologist hero was able
to isolate and that the author called Bacillus vampiris. This bacterium, no listed yet in the official bacterial taxonomy, changes
6
Dracula. Réalisateur : Bill Eagles, Grande Bretagne : 2006 ; 90 min.
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O. Castel et al. / Médecine et maladies infectieuses 43 (2013) 363–367
Fig. 3. Posters of films Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola (1992), and Dracula by Bill Eagles (2006).
Affiches des films Bram Stoker’s Dracula de Francis Ford Coppola (1992) et Dracula de Bill Eagles (2006).
humans into wasted and cannibal beings, trop sensitive to UVs
to survive in the sunlight. Any individual infected by this bacillus becomes allergic to odor of garlic, which induces nausea and
emesis. The bacterium secretes an isotonic solution in blood, the
“presence of which slows down blood flow but ensures functional
activity of all the body. The bacillus feeds on fresh blood (iron
capture by overexpressed siderophores) and provides the body
with the energy it needs (symbiotism). Without blood, it survives by sporulation or by engendering bacteriophages. It can
live with or without oxygen (facultative aero-anaerobic). In the
body, it lives in symbiosis with the whole system. The vampire
provides it with fresh blood; the bacillus provides energy to the
vampire, so that the vampire can continue providing the bacillus with fresh blood. Incidentally, the bacterium also triggers an
abnormal growth of canines by post-transcriptional regulation
of tooth growth genes”.
The creatures that the disease has removed from humankind
are monsters humans can be protected from only by elimination.
The hero was immunized by a bat bite (antagonism with the
rabies virus?).
Fig. 4. Posters of films The Last Man on Earth by Ubaldo Ragona (1964), The Omega Man by Boris Sagal (1971), and I am a Legend by Francis Lawrence (2007).
Affiches des films The Last Man on Earth d’Ubaldo Ragona (1964) ; The Omega Man de Boris Sagal (1971) et I am a Legend de Francis Lawrence (2007).
O. Castel et al. / Médecine et maladies infectieuses 43 (2013) 363–367
“The Last Man on Earth” was made by Ubaldo Ragona in
1964. In this movie, Robert Neville is the ultimate obstacle to
the birth of a new social and biological order, the vampires7 .
He must be eliminated. He enters the “legend” as the last Man,
sentenced to death by an improvised court of vampires.
In the 1971 version “The Omega Man” (in French “The
survivor”) by Boris Sagal, vampires were replaced by albinos
dressed as medieval monks8 . The memorable vision of a devastated Los Angeles while Charlton Heston drives in streets littered
with wrecks and cadavers contributed greatly to the film’s success that rapidly became a cult and classic post-apocalyptic
science-fiction movie. This film had the merit to present in a realistic and rarely equaled manner the menace of a bacteriological
plague that still remains quite present in our minds.
The latest version has kept the original title “I am a Legend”
was made by by Francis Lawrence in 20079 . In this version, a
virus supposed to cure cancer, mutates and eradicates 90% of
human beings. Most of the survivors present with rabies and are
changed into night creatures suggesting vampires. The others
(1% of humans) have miraculously resisted. One of these, a
military scientist Robert Neville, played by Will Smith, has New
York for himself and decides to find the remedy that will save
the world.
5. Conclusion
Vampirism has been the theme of a great filmography, close
to 200 films.
A Canadian movie made by David Cronenberg in 1977 should
be mentioned as related to viruses. It is a revisited “underground”
version of the vampire myth according to the moviemaker. In
this film vampires do not have longer teeth but an appendage
located under the armpits.
Concerning bacteria, only nine films have suggested a relationship between vampirism and infectious diseases.
Two bacteria responsible for a worldwide plague have been
used because of their symbolic power:
• Yersinia pestis for its transmission and lethality as an almost
unavoidable dreadful scourge. Between realism and symbolism, the disease that has plagued humankind with 3 known
pandemics has been used abundantly in cinematographic production;
7 The Last Man on Earth (titre français : Je suis une légende). Réalisateur :
Ubaldo Ragona, États-Unis/Italie : 1964 ; 86 min.
8 The Omega Man (titre français : Le Survivant). Réalisateur : Boris Sagal,
États-Unis : 1971 ; 98 min.
9 I am a Legend (titre français : Je suis une légende). Réalisateur : Francis
Lawrence, États-Unis : 2007 ; 90 min.
367
• Treponema pallidum, less spectacular in its manifestations
and contagiousness. It symbolizes sexually transmissible bacterial diseases before the era of AIDS.
Furthermore, a bacterial species, Bacillus vampiris, was
created for science fiction to answer, not without wit, needs
associating the menace of a bacteriological plague with a recall
of traditional vampirism.
These movies are as also attempts to better understand
humans through one of their greatest fears: the infectious disease.
Disclosure of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest
concerning this article.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
A French version of this article is available as a multimedia
component. Supplementary materiel (pdf file) associated with
this article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com, at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.medmal.2013.06.014.
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