Director: F.W. Murnau
Screenplay: Henrik Galeen, from the novel “Dracula” by Bram Stoker
Starring: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schroder, Alexander Granach
Release Date: March 4th, 1922 (Berlin)
For my final review this Halloween season I decided to step waaayyyy back in time, to the silent era, in order to finally view what has long been considered an indisputable horror masterpiece, a film whose unmistakable influence can be seen in the genre to this day. Though it has since been surpassed by the film’s that followed in it’s wake in terms of sheer shock and terror, F.W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU still retains an undeniable eerie power that in several instances chilled me to my core.
The film is an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s seminal novel “Dracula”. Unable to obtain the rights, Murnau and screenwriter Henrik Galeen opted to change character’s names, and to call the ungodly creature Nosferatu instead of vampire. So Jonathan Harker becomes Thomas Hutter (Wangenheim), Count Dracula is now Count Orlock (Schreck), and the psychotic Renfield is now called Knock (Granach). These differences aside, the structure of the story pretty much follows that of every adaptation of the tale you’ve ever seen, with Hutter setting off into the mountains of Transylvania in order to oversee Orlock’s purchase of a deserted abbey across the street from his own home. Once the documentation has been signed, Orlock traps Hutter in his castle and sets off for his new home, in this case the German town of Wisburg. On the way he utterly decimates the entire crew of the schooner that is shipping his coffins, most of which are filled with plague-ridden rats, and upon arrival in Wisburg begins to feast on the blood of it’s residence, using the sudden arrival of the plague as his cover. Hutter manages to escape and rushes home to protect his dear wife, Ellen (Schroder), whom the evil Count showed a disturbing fondness for. In the film’s finale, Ellen sacrifices herself in order to lure Orlock out into the sunlight, which utterly obliterates the ghastly demon.
As far as adaptations go, NOSFERATU is actually quite sloppy. Murnau and team hit all of the important beats from Stoker’s novel, but certain elements never quite align, and one character in particular, Professor Bulwer (John Gottowt), has absolutely no bearing on the plot whatsoever, even though it is obvious that he is meant to be this film’s surrogate Van Helsing. Despite that, the film is held together by the absolutely mind-melting visage of Max Schreck as Count Orlock, a creature whose appearance is so surreally Satanic and unearthly that, thanks to the sublime expressionistic camerawork of Fritz Arno Wagoner, gave me the worst goddamn case of the willies. This despite the fact that the version of NOSFERATU that is available on Netflix features the most abysmally inappropriate modern musical accompaniment imaginable. It sounded irritatingly similar to Thomas Newman’s score from AMERICAN BEAUTY, and whoever made the decision to slap that onto this film deserves a swift punch to the scrotum. Regardless, the eerie imagery alone was able to overcome an audio obstacles I encountered. It helped that I was watching this alone, at around midnight, I’m sure, but the imagery in this flick is so powerful that it is still being ripped off and homage to this day. It should be noted that this was the first work of fiction to depict sunlight as lethal to vampires, a trait which has been absorbed by the cultural consciousness and is now accepted as a standard part of the vampire lore. The rest of the cast do a fine job, I suppose, though the acting style of the time was extremely over the top, and takes some getting used to. But any time Schreck appears on screen, the entire vibe of the film changes, as if Murnau and company were somehow able to distill pure evil into physical form and capture it on celluloid.
Vampires have never been creepier than as portrayed in this film. In terms of influencing the look and tone of an entire genre, this might be the most important horror film ever made. However, importance alone does not equate to a perfect grade. Earlier this month I reviewed another silent-era classic, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, and awarded it a perfect score. In retrospect, I have been wondering whether that was entirely fair. I mean, would I have scored the film so highly if I wasn’t aware of it’s importance to the genre? I feel like I should be more careful when it comes to films like this. Just because a film is a “classic”, does not mean it is flawless. I will not be going back and retroactively change my grade. That was what I felt the flick deserved at the time, and that’s what will stick. I will say, however, that in terms of maintaining a tone of starkly surrealistic terror, CALIGARI was perfect. Though it suffered from the same overacting and plot inconsistencies of NOSFERATU, CALIGARI took place in an abstract world, viewed through the hellish prism of a madman’s mind. Any inconsistencies in that story make their own strangely illogical sense.
NOSFERATU, on the other hand, totally nails it’s tone. I just feel that a little bit of work needed to be done to the story, and we would have at a perfect film. As it is, it is merely fantastic. Dreadfully, horribly, nightmarishly fantastic. Do yourself a favor and give this film a watch some time before you die, lest you be visited in the night by the unholy specter of Nosferatu.
Happy Halloween, everybody!
My Rating: 8/10
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