Nosferatu (1922)

Film: Nosferatu

Director: F.W. Murnau

Country: Germany

Released: March 1922

Runtime: 89 minutes

Genre: Horror

Studio: Prana Film

Influenced: Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog, Robert Eggers

 

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrors was the first cinematic adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and its influence on the horror genre is vast. By the time the film premiered in Berlin in early 1922, director Murnau was already well-established with 9 films under his belt, though few of these now survive. He would go on to make many more classic movies, but Nosferatu is the film he's synonymous with.

Watching the original version with modern ears & eyes, my main two criticisms are that is not all that scary and that the film score grates on the nerves, but on the other hand the technique, artistry and use of spooky locations produce some iconic, memorable moments. Notable scenes for me are Max Shreck (who plays the bald, fang-toothed, rodent-faced vampire Count Orlok) rising upright from his coffin and later emerging from the bowels of the ship, as well as the shadow of Orlok coming up the stairs and then reaching towards the door. I'll also never forget the spectral image of the ship gliding into harbour with no one on deck.

Notable differences from the novel include the ending, with Dracula facing a much more brutal demise in the book compared to the film, mainly because the equivalent Van Helsing character (Bulwer) has just a minor role in Nosferatu, with fewer of the great weapons he possesses in the novel. The movie has a stronger association with plague than the film, and the figure of Orlok is more tyrannical than Dracula; critic Siegfried Kracauer argued that the horror genre that sprang up in Germany at this time reflects and documents the subconscious of the German people’s fixation with tyranny that would climax in the rise of the Nazis.

Henrik Galeen’s script for Nosferatu (unauthorised by Bram Stoker's wife Florence) changes the setting from London to Bremen. At times, the film's narrative can be hard to follow, and Orluk's motivation for pursuing the clerk back to Bremen on board a sailing ship is not entirely obvious, but Murnau's intent here seems to be symbolic; as the incarnation of power and pestilence, Orluk infects the whole crew, in the same way a tyrannic leader might wreak chaos and devastation. Weird, macabre camera effects are the film's forte, not its narrative.

In the Blu-ray edition I own, the film score is replaced with one by James Bernard, who also scored various Hammer horror film versions of Dracula, making for a more immersive viewing experience and heightening the drama. Another welcome addition to more modern, restored versions of the film are the use of tints, with blues and greens used to denote nighttime and yellows and pinks for daytime.