One of the most anticipated horror movies of the year is Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, the star-studded remake of F.W. Wurnau’s classic 1922 silent film — and, to a lesser extent, several episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Eggers is known for making acclaimed movies like The Witch, The Northman and Massive Phallic Object Island (aka The Lighthouse). According to the director, his cinematic inspirations for Nosferatu included classics like The Innocents and Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers. More surprisingly, he also watched a cinematic work made by the Oscar-winner who directed Spaceballs.

Eggers recently told IndieWire that, during the writing of Nosferatu, he watched Mel Brooks’ final directorial effort: 1995’s Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

Ostensibly a parody of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Francis Ford Coppola’s swing-for-the-fences take on the iconic novel, Brooks’ film also poked fun at more than 60 years of Dracula movie lore. Much of Dead and Loving...