Based on the story of Count Dracula, newlyweds Ellen (Greta Schroder) and Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) must travel to Transylvania to help arrange the a property transaction for Count Orlok/Nosferatu (Max Schreck). At the same time as the Count's arrival, a mysterious plague strikes the town, and to make matters worse, the Count expresses interest in Ellen...
Is Nosferatu, Dracula? Or is it Just Coincidence?
There's a lot of confusion about this subject, so just to clear the air: The director, F.W. Murnau, thought the rights to making a movie about Dracula would be secured, and started making the movie. As it turns out, that didn't happen, and the rights were never acquired, so they got around that technically by changing the vampire's name to Orlok, aka, Nosferatu. But the dialogue screens still say "Dracula". So, the original idea and the plot from Dracula, but the vampire is Orlok instead. Now that that's out of the way, let's get on with the movie.
Nosferatu is a Silent Film? How Scary Could it be?
Being that this is a silent movie, Nosferatu is likely to bore modern audiences. These days, everyone is programmed and accustomed to a certain formula in their horror films, and the formula goes something like this:
- A character (often a teenager) is all alone.
- There's a long period of silence.
- Then something pops up and makes a sudden, loud noise.
- Fifty percent of the time, whatever pops out isn't actually a threat.
This all started with Cat People (1942), and ever since then, countless horror films have used this exact formula to make a quick buck. Being desensitized to jump-scares and Asian ghost children wandering around can make you miss out on genuine chills and thrills, but if you can keep an open mind to a different kind of scary, Nosferatu is worth your time and will tingle your spine.
What really makes the movie so admirable is the way it's shot, the way the shadows play on the scenery and the locations you'll see the characters creeping around in. Chances are, you've already seen the most memorable scenes copied in another movie somewhere, one of them being Orlok stalking his way through a doorway right at you. Describing the images in Nosferatu can't be done justice, you cannot be told what it is – you have to see it for yourself.
Another big contributing factor to the movie's success is the performance of Max Schreck as Count Orlok. This may blow some people's minds, but vampires actually were not originally sexy and brooding whiny teens. Orlok is nothing like the "vampires" made famous in Twilight – he's ghastly, lanky and foul to all five senses. His mannerisms aren't even remotely human. Schrek is completely possessed by the character, through his steely eyes and his creep up the stairs after Ellen Hunter.
The fact that the movie is silent is not a demerit, but actually makes it more impressive that it can sink its way into your mind, even into the very room you're in, with more power and lasting effect than any modern movie can that just pops out and says "Boo!"
Nosferatu is 4 Orloks out of 5.
29 days until Halloween!
- Directed by F.W. Murnau
- Written by Henrik Galeen
- Starring Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schroder, Alexander Granach
- Unrated
- Running time: 81 minutes
- Available on Netflix DVD Queue and Instant Queue
Caleb Laulusa - I began writing video game reviews for an international website that sadly, went under before any of my work was published. I also found ...
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