Nosferatu (1922) Review for Halloween Horror Fest & IMDB Challenge

Nosferatu (1922) – Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (translated as Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror; or simply Nosferatu)

Directed by F. W. Murnau

Starring:
Max Schreck
Gustav von Wangenheim
Greta Schröder
Alexander Granach
Ruth Landshoff
Wolfgang Heinz

Running time: 94 minutes

Plot Synopsis:
Basically, it’s Dracula. From Wikipedia:

The film, shot in 1921 and released in 1922, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel (for instance, “vampire” became “Nosferatu” and “Count Dracula” became “Count Orlok”). Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaptation, and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed. However, one print of Nosferatu survived, and the film came to be regarded as an influential masterpiece of cinema.

My Opinion:

I watched this back in July as part of my IMDB Top 250 Challenge but never got around to reviewing it. Now with Halloween coming up, I figured I should finally write something about it for my Halloween Horror Fest. But you know what? I have NO clue how to go about “reviewing” this classic.

So! I’m going to just post some pictures from this great silent film based on Dracula. Because it’s iconic and it’s cool. I mean, LOOK at this dude!

I don’t have much experience with silent films. Since I started this IMDB Top 250 challenge at the beginning of this year, I’ve now finally watched some Charlie Chaplin films and totally fell in love with them. Nosferatu is obviously very different in tone but at least the Chaplin stuff better prepared me for watching another silent film.

I know this won’t be for everyone and I’d never be able to convince the Horror Guy I work with (who tells me, with excitement, every time another Wrong Turn sequel comes out) to watch something like this but every fan of true horror classics really should. I need to watch a lot more horror classics, too, so I suppose I can’t act too snobby for having watched this.

That’s it. I have nothing else to say so have a look at two more photos instead. Are they cool or what?! Nosferatu is old, it’s slow, it’s silent, and it’s a hell of a lot better than most current high budget films. Good stuff. Glad I gave this film a try while it was still in the IMDB Top 250 (it has now disappeared, having been replaced with far too many recent films that aren’t worthy of being anywhere near the Top 250).

My Rating: 7.5/10