
How is it that this film still can effect us so profoundly, when so much of horror's power is drawn from the unexpected? One would think that age would be the death knell of a great horror movie, and yet films like Nosferatu prove this to be dead wrong. Whether you're discovering it for the first time all these decades later, or watching it for the 90th time, Nosferatu has the power to utterly creep you out. Personally, I credit it to the merits of German Expressionism.

The film oozes atmosphere from beginning to end, and is jam-packed with iconic imagery that has stood the test of time for a reason. Interestingly enough, it also set a standard for vampire films, and Dracula adaptations in particular, that was not really followed (at least not for many years). Nosferatu stands out on its own as a unique and truly cinematic retelling of the Dracula story, with liberal license taken, of course. It is vastly different from the Hamilton Deane and John Balderston play that would first be staged two years after its release--the version which inspired Universal's famous talkie version with Bela Lugosi at the start of the next decade.
Nosferatu chooses a different path, eschewing the nascent sex appeal of the vampire to take a more traditional, folkloric approach. The vampire here is still in his repulsive, pre-modern form--there is nothing at all sexy or alluring about Count Orlok (Unless you're into that sort of thing. Who am I to judge?) If anything, the vampire here is a metaphor for plague, and even possesses certain undeniable anti-Semitic overtones (but that's a post for another day).

In addition to its Expressionistic roots, or perhaps in connection to them, I have always found that the film retains so much power largely because it is so visual in nature. Of course, this was very much necessary due to the limitations (or some might say advantages) of silent cinema, in that the visual was the easiest and most effective way to get your message across. Later versions of Dracula--and indeed horror films in general of the next couple of decades--would rely less on imagery and more on dialogue and cerebral scares. This is not to say that Nosferatu is not a psychologically frightening film, but I would submit that more of the terror it inspires is derived from the direct impact of what we see on screen. It is not so much suspenseful as it is downright terrifying to look at.
As has been the case throughout most of film history, America has been resistant to foreign films, and so this film did not even have a chance to be released here when it first was made in 1922. In fact, it wasn't until the 1960s, many years after a single surviving print had made its way to these shores in defiance of a court order, that it began to attain the cult following in the U.S. that it now enjoys. I have had the privilege of witnessing Nosferatu on the big screen with live musical accompaniment not once, but twice. And although I had my gripes with both viewings (an ironic, snarky crowd the first time out; and wholly inappropriate music the second time), I still consider myself fortunate to have had the experience.


18 comments:
Very well written article! I look forward to reading more about it throughout the year. Have you seen "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000)?
I certainly have, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Perhaps that film that can even be the subject of a future N@90 post...
If I'm not mistaken, Bela Lugosi was the original seductive vampire. There were many appealing vampires to follow. And then they started sparkling. Sigh...
Amazing post--lots of great insight and history here!
A great article about a great film, there will never be a vampire as creepy as Count Orlock. The remake was good but it in no way captured the magic of the original.
(Here's hoping Michael Bay doesn't try to remake it...)
Great post and, I am sure, a great beginning to a wonderful series! Can't believe it is 90 years old! Amazing film. Creepiest vampire ever!
Lugosi's Dracula is pretty much considered the beginning of the vampire as a sensual and attractive being. Let's not talk about the sparkling...
Al, thanks, and I agree about the remake. A very good movie, but the original is still the best.
Keep reading, Joe--I'm just getting warmed up!
Uhm... what?
Are those last two comments are a sad attempt at some joke?
My apologies. Those two comments were unfortunately a blog troll's idea of a clever joke. Moving right along!
I have made more than a few posts on this Great Film and about Orlock himself... the 1979 remake was "good" but not "great"....Salems Lot came the closest to this vampire..... "Shadow of the Vampire" was pretty good as well ( I own a "Silver Screen" edition of the 12 inch Shideshow Nosferatu for my collection)... keep up the great posts....the Doctor
Great appreciation for an over-looked movie. I recently watched it and enjoyed Murnau's amazing visual style. Shots like the procession of coffins down the empty streets have are beautifully eerie, effect, which is even greater when one thinks about its age. I am also looking forward to your next Nosferatu post!
I did enjoy the Nosfertu remake quite a bit, and I'd even be open to a new version, if only for how vastly films have changed in the past 90 years. But agreed, the original will always be the best.
Thanks Michael, keep checking, I'll have the second installment up soon!
I was able to see the film a couple of months ago in the town cinema here in Freising, Germany. I've seen the film a number of times in various incarnations, but have to say I kept looking at my watch. Some very profound scenes (especially the coffins being led out of town) and the idea of the film itself produced at the very start of the doomed Weimar experiment after the horror of the Great War, but much was either hokey or terribly-paced. Still, it beats the 1931 version hands-down.
We'll have to agree to disagree Keir--this film still packs a hell of a punch for me. It's just dripping with atmosphere, and yes, more effective than the 1931 Hollywood version (which I also love).
A friend of mine once asked me what I thought was the best vampire movie and with little hesitation I answered, "Nosferatu."
Your piece says it all; Murnau's film is a masterpiece of German Expressionism.
Perhaps THE masterpiece of German Expressionism.
This is HerrSchreck from over at Schreckbabble... and what's interesting. although you say that NOS never made it to.American screens, is the fact that at least one print made it into the hands of universal studios, at least by the mid 1930's. If you watch a comedy short from the studio called BOO! you'll see lots of footage from Murnaus film in it, along with the Frankenstein monster viz their 1931 classic, as well as their sound remake of Leni'CAT AND THE CANARY, THE CAT CREEPS.
I wonder if these scenes from NOS would have been totally unfamiliar to audiences, if the film truly never made it here..
Since beginning this series, I've learned that the film did in fact play in very limited release in 1929 in New York and Detroit, and that a print was used as reference by Universal Studios during the making of their 1931 Dracula.
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