Nosferatu
July 20th 2011 23:59
Director: F. W. Murnau
Screenplay: Henrik Galeen (based on Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, but uncredited) (original German title: Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens)
Production: Germany
Year: 1921
Sub-genre tags: vampire, German Expressionism, silent era cinema
Logline: A vampire count organises a new residence and sets his hungry sights on his new assistant's wife.
Core cast: Max Schreck (Graf Orlok), Gustav von Wangenheim (Hutter), Greta Schroder (Ellen), Alexander Granach (Knock), Georg H. Schnell (Harding)
Memorable moment: Nosferatu (Orlok) dissolves in the rays of the early morning sun that shine in through Ellen's window.
Curious Facts: All known prints and negatives were destroyed under the terms of settlement in a lawsuit by Bram Stoker's disgruntled widow. However, the film would subsequently surface in other countries (whew!) The concept in popular culture that sunlight is lethal to vampires originated with this movie.
Intensity levels:
Blood & gore: low
Fear factor and/or frights: low
Likelihood of bad dreams (disturbing content): medium
Horrorphile’s two cents: Vampire’s tales don’t come more phantasmogorical or as resonating in oneiric qualities ... The director’s vision is consummate in its minimalism and dark profundity ... One of the great landmarks of German Expressionism, alongside Robert Weine’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1926)
Click here to read Horrorphile's movie review.
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Next to Metropolis - some of the most pop culturally significant cinamatic images to come out of the 1920s.