diekmann and grau gave henrik galeen a job to screenplay inspired from bram stoker's 1897 novel "dracula", despite prana film not having rights to the film. galeen was an experienced specialist in dark romanticism ; he had already worked on "der student von prag" ("the student of prague") in 1913, and the screenplay for 1920's "der golem, wie er in die welt kam" ("the golem: how he came into the world"). galeen set the story in a fictional north german harbour town named wisborg and changed the character names. he added the idea of the vampire bringing the plague to wisborg via rats on the ship. he left out the van helsing vampire hunter character. galeen's german expressionism screenplay was poetically rhythmic, without being so dismembered as other books influenced by literary expressionism, such as those by carl mayer. lotte eisner described galeen's screenplay as "" ("full of poetry, full of rhythm").