Nosferatu 1922

Cast:
Max Schreck - Graf Orlok
Gustav von Wangenheim - Hutter (as Gustav v. Wangenheim)
Greta Schröder - Ellen Hutter, seine Frau (as Greta Schroeder)
Alexander Granach - Knock, ein Häusermakler
Georg H. Schnell - Westenra, Harkers Freund (as G.H. Schnell)
Ruth Landshoff - Lucy, Westenras Frau
John Gottowt - Professor Bulwer, ein Paracelsianer

In 1921, director F.W. Murnau set out to make a horror film based on Bram Stoker’s novel, `Dracula,’ but was denied the rights to the property by Stoker’s estate. Undeterred, however, Murnau merely changed the title to `Nosferatu,’ the name of the title character to `Count Orlok,’ then proceeded to make what has come to be considered nothing less than a classic of the silent film era.

An unsettling film (especially for the times in which it was made), it is a faithful adaptation of Stoker’s story, and brings images to the screen, the likes of which at the time, had never before been seen. And although by today’s standards much of it may seem relatively tame, there is an innate sense of the sinister about it that is timeless. For the same elements that so unnerved audiences in 1922 when it was released, are equally discomfiting now, most of which is courtesy of Max Schreck, who portrayed Count Orlok.

With the influence of producer and production designer Albin Grau, the film established one of two main depictions of film vampires. The “Nosferatu-type” is a living corpse with rodent features (especially elongated fingernails and incisors), associated with rats and plague, and neither charming nor erotic but rather totally repugnant. The victims usually die and are not turned into vampires themselves. The more common archetype is the “Dracula-type” (established by Bela Lugosi’s version of Dracula and perpetuated by Christopher Lee), a charming aristocrat adept at seduction and whose bite turns his victims into new vampires.

Parts of the film depicting Transylvania were in fact filmed in Slovakia. Nosferatu’s castle, for instance, is Orava Castle in northern Slovakia, and other locations are in the High Tatras and on the Váh River around Strečno Castle.

It’s basically the classic plot of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’, only with details changed. ( Count Dracula becomes Count Orlok, Harken becomes Hutter, and Orlok follows him back to Germany, not Britain.) Max Schreck completely steals the show. As he slinks through shadows, purses his hideous rodent features, moves like an animated corpse, and springs from his coffin and into your imagination, you never once gain a doubt that he isn’t the freakish vampire you see. There is no charisma in ‘Nosferatu’, no sex appeal or eroticism. Count Orlok inhabits a realm of nightmares, not a realm of earthly evils. His appearance is alien, his behavior is inhuman, and his feats of power unholy. He can turn intangible in the movie and seems to be telekinetic as well. The special effects of 1922 are laughably outdated by todays standards, but the film does a remarkably good job of balancing what you see with what is going on. His coffin, assembling itself piece by piece into a cart at irregular intervals, is a surreal experience. It’s distorted, fractured, bizarre, and crooked: far more terrifying than the way-too-real aesthetics provided by modern day CGI.

Share This

Top 20 Best Scary Movies