Tag: Nosferatu

I love silent movies but I wasn’t prepared for this one. I’d heard it was scary but I thought…how scary could a 1922 film be? I think the comedy of Keaton and Chaplin is some of the best comedy to this day but horror?

It was a great surprise with this one. The one word I would use is shadows…they make great use of them in this one. With the film stock they use plus that grainy look…it does make this vampire frightening. Some prints are tinted blue and yellow in some scenes. Nosferatu himself works well as a different-looking Dracula.

The first time I saw it was with my son who found out about it in high school. I tracked it down and bought a copy around 2017 or so. We were both impressed by this movie and it’s just so creepy and disturbing. Yes, you have to follow the subtitles of course but it isn’t filled with them.

Some people avoid silent or foreign films but try this one out. It’s only an hour and twenty minutes. You can see it for free on YouTube. There is another adaptation coming out this Christmas.

It’s a wonder we have this film at all. This was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula by Bram Stroker. Since the production company, Prana-Film did not secure rights from Stoker’s estate, they changed some elements—Count Dracula became Count Orlok, and the settings were shifted from England to Germany. However, the film’s narrative remained close to the novel.

After the film’s release, Florence Stoker, Bram Stoker’s widow, sued the producers for copyright infringement. The court ruled in her favor, ordering the destruction of all copies of the film. However, several prints survived, allowing the film to gain recognition over the years.

PLOT

Wisborg, Germany-based estate agent Knock dispatches his associate, Hutter, to Count Orlok’s castle in Transylvania as the Count wants to purchase an isolated house in Wisborg. They plan on selling him the one across the way from Hutter’s own home. Hutter leaves his innocent wife, Ellen, with some friends while he is away. Hutter’s trek is an unusual one, with many locals not wanting to take him near the castle where strange events have been occurring. Once at the castle, Hutter sells the house to Orlok, but he also notices and feels unusual occurrences, primarily feeling like there is a dark shadow hanging over him, even in the daytime when Orlok is usually asleep.

Hutter eventually sees the Count’s sleeping chamber in a crypt, and based on a book he has recently read, believes the Count is really a vampire or Nosferatu. While Hutter is trapped in the castle, the Count, hiding in a shipment of coffins, makes his way to Wisborg, causing death along his way, which most attribute to the plague. Hutter himself tries to rush home to save his town and most importantly save Ellen from Nosferatu’s imminent arrival. In Wisborg, Ellen can feel the impending darkness as Nosferatu gets closer. But she learns that a sinless woman can sacrifice herself to kill the vampire. Will Hutter be able to save Ellen, either from Nosferatu and/or her self-sacrifice?

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