Nosferatu: A Symphony of HorrorFor a hundred years, vampires have been a fixture of horror movies, sending chills up the spines of audiences around the world. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is widely considered the earliest example of a true supernatural vampire movie, and is also one of cinema's most noteworthy examples of it as well, replete with genre-defining moments. Unofficially adapted from Bram Stoker's "Dracula", Nosferatu set the tone for virtually every supernatural horror movie over the course of the last century since.
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It could be assumed that many movie and literature fans are familiar with the overall plot of "Dracula", and Nosferatu hardly deviates from this at all. Perhaps the single most unusual alteration is by way of the depiction of the vampire (who is not named "Nosferatu"): Count Orlok (Max Schreck). Orlok differs substantially from contemporary interpretations of Count Dracula, upon whom he is clearly based. As opposed to the Bela Lugosi version who is well-groomed, Orlok looks decidedly rat-like, from his fang-like front teeth to his pointed nose and ears. While Dracula was implied to be able to shapeshift into a large dog in the novel, Orlok's animal affinity is more closely related to rats. They infest his dirt-filled coffins on his voyage to Wisborg, and his arrival carries a deadly plague which ravages the town. Another notable difference between "Dracula" and Nosferatu is the ending. In this movie, Ellen Hutter (Greta Schröder) is not afflicted by vampirism, but is still the object of Orlok's desire; only in this latter way is she like Mina Harker to Dracula. Instead, she takes command and lures the vampire to drink her blood so as to distract him from the crowing of the cock, rather than allow the story to build to a violent action set piece, as it is in the novel. This quieter and more metaphor-driven climax puts Ellen in a more active role in the story than Mina before her, and emphasizes her resourcefulness and bravery. By contrast, her husband, Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim), is depicted as a bit of a flake. He is certainly motivated by his unsettling boss and sanguine enthusiast, Knock (Alexander Granach), to get a handsome commission for selling a house to Orlok, but he abjectly disregards nigh every warning of the perils before him as he travels to Transylvania, even laughing as he tosses aside a book left for him by the locals, warning him about evils like Orlok. Though Thomas escapes Orlok's castle in the Carpathian Mountains, he injures himself in the process, and arrives too late in Wisborg to have any meaningful impact. Despite his failings, what Nosferatu makes apparent--even more than in many other adaptations of its source material--is about the purity of Ellen's love for her husband, and his for her, and how that purity is anathema to an evil like Orlok.
Directed by F. W. Murnau, Nosferatu is a prime example of German Expressionism, featuring striking visuals and fantastic elements. Many of the iconic images from this film are still felt in horror movies and thrillers today. For example, when Orlok makes his trek along the seas to Wisborg, he stows away in a coffin filled with the dirt of his homeland. When the ship's crew starts dropping like flies, a manic first mate begins smashing the coffins with an axe, prompting Orlok to intervene. But what makes this image so haunting is how he does it; rather than just emerge from the coffin, he rights himself vertically in defiance of gravity, all while maintaining the posture of a corpse. Orlok is the most memorable visual effect of the movie, skulking through the streets, his shadow creeping up the stairs to Ellen's bedroom, while his body is nowhere to be seen. All of these haunting images make Orlok a bogeyman who stays with the audience long after the film's conclusion. It isn't just the elaborate makeup and costuming that makes Orlok a monster, but Max Schreck's shambling gait and twitching movements that give this vampire the distinct impression of being some inscrutable, unholy abomination. Being a movie that is one hundred years old this year (2022), it is a miracle that Nosferatu has survived as well as it has. Although the movie has only recently come into public domain, it had survived over the decades past by various issues and reissues, some with alarming and creative alterations. For example, like the unorthodox pop rock dub of Fritz Lang's Metropolis by Giorgio Moroder, in 2003, Arrow Entertainment released a version of the film with music by goth rock band, Type O Negative, in place of the score. Releases of the movie have also had the film tinted, scenes played at different speeds, and so on, meaning that there may arguably be no "pure" version of the film widely available. And yet even this speaks to the influence that the film has had on film distribution. Despite home video being a relatively new way of enjoying movies, silent and seemingly forgotten movies became quick and easy filler for distribution companies to line their catalogs with--since many of the creators who could sue for damages were themselves long dead--and Nosferatu was no exception. Yet many movies like this one are given better treatment nowadays due to the efforts of film restoration in the last several decades. Either way, audiences can enjoy at least one version or another of this timeless horror classic--ideally in the spirit intended by its creators--even if it has experienced mutations over the last hundred years. Like its iconic antagonist, Nosferatu is a film that refuses to die and haunts its viewers with delicious terror.
Recommended for: Fans of a seminal horror movie classic that established the tone and look of the vampire movie as we know it, as well as other horror movie tropes that are so ingrained into modern cinema that they are essentially invisible to the genre now. Despite its age, Nosferatu is a vibrant and thrilling movie, and even with the horror elements present, is suitable for most audiences to enjoy, even slightly older children.
Directed by F. W. Murnau, Nosferatu is a prime example of German Expressionism, featuring striking visuals and fantastic elements. Many of the iconic images from this film are still felt in horror movies and thrillers today. For example, when Orlok makes his trek along the seas to Wisborg, he stows away in a coffin filled with the dirt of his homeland. When the ship's crew starts dropping like flies, a manic first mate begins smashing the coffins with an axe, prompting Orlok to intervene. But what makes this image so haunting is how he does it; rather than just emerge from the coffin, he rights himself vertically in defiance of gravity, all while maintaining the posture of a corpse. Orlok is the most memorable visual effect of the movie, skulking through the streets, his shadow creeping up the stairs to Ellen's bedroom, while his body is nowhere to be seen. All of these haunting images make Orlok a bogeyman who stays with the audience long after the film's conclusion. It isn't just the elaborate makeup and costuming that makes Orlok a monster, but Max Schreck's shambling gait and twitching movements that give this vampire the distinct impression of being some inscrutable, unholy abomination. Being a movie that is one hundred years old this year (2022), it is a miracle that Nosferatu has survived as well as it has. Although the movie has only recently come into public domain, it had survived over the decades past by various issues and reissues, some with alarming and creative alterations. For example, like the unorthodox pop rock dub of Fritz Lang's Metropolis by Giorgio Moroder, in 2003, Arrow Entertainment released a version of the film with music by goth rock band, Type O Negative, in place of the score. Releases of the movie have also had the film tinted, scenes played at different speeds, and so on, meaning that there may arguably be no "pure" version of the film widely available. And yet even this speaks to the influence that the film has had on film distribution. Despite home video being a relatively new way of enjoying movies, silent and seemingly forgotten movies became quick and easy filler for distribution companies to line their catalogs with--since many of the creators who could sue for damages were themselves long dead--and Nosferatu was no exception. Yet many movies like this one are given better treatment nowadays due to the efforts of film restoration in the last several decades. Either way, audiences can enjoy at least one version or another of this timeless horror classic--ideally in the spirit intended by its creators--even if it has experienced mutations over the last hundred years. Like its iconic antagonist, Nosferatu is a film that refuses to die and haunts its viewers with delicious terror.
Recommended for: Fans of a seminal horror movie classic that established the tone and look of the vampire movie as we know it, as well as other horror movie tropes that are so ingrained into modern cinema that they are essentially invisible to the genre now. Despite its age, Nosferatu is a vibrant and thrilling movie, and even with the horror elements present, is suitable for most audiences to enjoy, even slightly older children.