Written by Henrik Galeen
Directed by F.W. Murnau
Title Card: "Nosferatu. Does this word not sound like the midnight call of the Bird of Death? Do not utter it, or the images of life will fade - into pale shadows and ghostly dreams will rise from your heart and feed your Blood."
With Robert Eggers soon to release his own version, it was high for me to actually the original. Nothing wrong with a bit of German Expressionism on a Friday evening I thought. Nothing wrong with it at all.
Basically this movie's an unofficial adaptation of Dracula, only with some name changes and a rather silent atmosphere. After all, it's a silent movie and a very creepy one at that. It's amazing how unsettling this movie can be at times.
Anyways, you've got your protagonist of sorts with Thomas Hutter (Gustav Von Wangenheim), a man from a small German town, married to Ellen (Greta Schroder). His life took an interesting turn when he was assigned to travel to Transylvania to meet up with the mysterious Court Orlok (Max Schreck). The fact that Orlok by name frightened the locals should've given Hutter a hint of what was to come.
Instead Thomas met with the Count and like the adaptation it's based on, the good Hutter ended up being the Count's plaything and barely surviving the ordeal. As for the Count, this version has a trip to Wisborg in mind as well as the pursuit of Ellen as well.
I'll admit the dynamic with Orlok and Ellen isn't as refined as Dracula's with Mina's in most adaptations are but her role in Orlok's downfall served as a brilliant way to end this adaptation. Of course, it's a bittersweet ending for Ellen too, leaving behind a broken hearted Thomas.
As an adaptation, the biggest success would be while Nosferatu hit nearly all the same beats as Dracula, it still does them differently. There's no youthful visage for Orlok to hide behind and no brides to terroriseoor Thomas as well. Not to mention some characters are merged (Ellen literally being Mina and Lucy) while others like Knock (the Renfield of the bunch) are still given their own moments to shine.
- There's a few versions of this movie that have survived with most of them restored onto physical media.
- Orlok's origins were dipped into occultism for this movie. Nosferatu is an archaic Romanian word for "vampire".
- This was the first vampire film to have a vampire die by sunlight and it's been a thing ever since.
- Chronology: 1838, in both Wisborg and Transylvania.
Needless to say but Nosferatu is an utterly sublime piece of cinema that has well and truly stood the test of time. It's chillingly atmospheric, the use of score music certainly set the mood and the performances from everyone but especially Max Schreck are sensational.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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