Horror Classics: Nosferatu

I've said it before, but I love old horror movies. I cut my proverbial teeth on a lot of the old Hammer films - that's how this series got its start after all. As 2022 nears its end, however, I wanted to add a special title to the series: Nosferatu. Why is Nosferatu special? Well, it's 100 years old!

Behind the Scenes of Nosferatu

Produced by Enrico Dieckmann and Albin Grau, and written by Henrik Galeen, Nosferatu is a silent film that was made as an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula - I'll get to this in a bit.

Production began in 1921, in Wismar, Germany with most of the exterior shots for the Transylvania of the film being shot on location in Slovakia...that must've been so cool! Anyways, the film apparently had a tight, and I mean really, really tight budget. This meant the director, F.W. Murnau, only had one camera and one negative (roll of film) to work with and so he had to follow the writer's instructions to the letter to get the film made.

I'm not kidding about the instructions either, Galeen had noted changes to lighting and camera positions as well as a few other odds and ends. The film released in 1922 and was a smash hit - with a few minor criticisms here and there - which is to be expected.

The Plot

A young real estate agent named Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) who travels to Transylvania from the town of Wisborg, Germany, to see a certain Count Orlok (Max Schreck). The purpose of his visit? To sell the Count a house - specifically the one exactly opposite Hutter's.

Of course, when the Count arrives in Wisborg, all hell breaks loose as a mysterious plague appears, picking off residents one by one.

What Works?

Surprisingly enough, there's quite a bit here that actually works!

The music is nice and allows the film to flow almost seamlessly. I say 'almost' because there are moments where the film jumps a bit but that didn't bother me.

As far as performances are concerned, I think the actors did a great job. Since it's a silent picture, a lot of the performance is in the body language and facial expressions of the actors. Schreck's Count Orlok is a creepy-looking aristocrat and he sells it really well. Wangenheim's Thomas Hutter is a fantastic victim and the Renfield-type character of Knock is just as good if not better.

Schreck's makeup and several of the shots in the film are great and, considering the film was made 100 years ago, they hold up quite well.

The ending works and is bittersweet. Essentially, a pure-hearted maiden must willingly sacrifice herself by allowing the vampire to gorge himself on her blood. This will make him forget about the sunrise and the sunlight will kill him. Ellen Hutter makes that decision allowing the vampire to take her blood so that he gets caught in rays of first light. She then dies in her husband's arms, leaving him heartbroken.

It's bittersweet, like I said, they've beaten the vampire but at the cost of a young woman's life. That final shot of Thomas Hutter weeping over his dead wife is a haunting image and, for a silent picture, produces just as much sadness as our modern day works.

What Doesn't Work?

The only real issue I had with the film, and this is really more of a nitpick than an actual problem, is that some of the performances were a bit overdone. Again, a lot of the performance had to be done with facial expressions and body language so this is understandable. That said, I still thought some of the characters - mostly Thomas's wife Ellen - could've toned it down a bit.

The Stoker Lawsuit

I think almost everyone is familiar with this part of the Nosferatu story in some way, shape, or form. Remember how I said the film was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula? Well, when Stoker passed away in 1912, the intellectual property rights went to his wife and estate. Imagine her surprise when, 10 years later, she finds out about this adaptation of Dracula that had been made without the permission of the Stoker estate.

The story goes that Albin Grau, who you'll recall helped found Prana films, had wanted to do a retelling of Dracula for quite a while. Unfortunately for him, Bram's widow Florence (who was in charge of the Stoker estate at the time) refused to sell him the film rights. You can see where this is going.

Grau pressed on, setting up the film. He made several changes to character names and locations (Dracula became Orlok, Mina became Ellen, England became Germany, etc.) in order to avoid a potential lawsuit...I'm sure you can guess how that went.

To say that Florence Stoker was unhappy would probably be an understatement. She sued Prana Films for copyright infringement and won. The judge in the case ordered that every print of the film be destroyed; only one print, which had made its way to the US survived. Albin Grau went bankrupt and was forced to shut the doors on Prana Films - Nosferatu was its only release.

Final Thoughts

Overall, in spite of its flaws, the movie holds up quite well to some of today's films. Now, is it dated? Yes. Is it perfect? No, it has its issues but so do all films. It's a product of its time and while it's not going to be for everyone, I thought it was quite good.