Nosferatu, The Vampire

Rating:
Summary: Truly frightening
Review: It always surprises me when I suddenly notice there are horror films I should have seen years ago but am only seeing for the first time now. F.W. Murnau's 1922 classic take on the vampire legend, "Nosferatu" is one of these films. What horror film fan would not take some time to watch this legendary creation? Well, me for one. I put it off for years due to my general dislike of the vampire sub genre. You can only take so many debonair duffers tooling around a castle sinking their fangs into the throats of girls before you give up in frustration. A few vampire films I like, such as "Fright Night," but as a general rule I can leave them more often than I can take them. It only took a few minutes of "Nosferatu" to discover this film wasn't going to be the type of vampire film I am used to seeing. You won't see a Frank Langella or Christopher Lee type playing the lead bloodsucker in this disturbing movie. One look at the hideous visage on the DVD cover provides ample evidence that the vampire in this movie won't wow the ladies with his good looks or suave charm. The vampire in "Nosferatu" is exactly how a vampire should look.

Set in Germany back in the nineteenth century, "Nosferatu" tells the horrific tale of an entire town stricken by the evil machinations of the rat-like Count Orlok, a truly sinister figure both loathsome and repellent. After a real estate agent named Knock sells the count his property, he falls under the spell of its gruesome tenant. The agent wants Orlok to come to Bremen, so he sends his assistant Hutter out to the castle. Harker's virginal wife Ellen objects to the sudden departure of her husband, but knows he must fulfill the obligations of his job. The scenes involving the trip to Orlok's pad and Hutter's subsequent stay are masterpieces of ominous foreshadowing. Animals bolt in panic as the coach nears the castle, the villagers fall silent when Hutter mentions Orlok, and his driver adamantly refuses to take the assistant to the castle. The count sends his own coach, an unusual device that moves supernaturally thanks to Murnau's use of fast motion photography. Obviously, strange things are afoot even before the vampire goes on his rampage.

Hutter falls prey to Orlok during his stay at the castle, but manages to escape and head back to Bremen to warn the town. His wife, in the meantime, suffers strange dreams and hallucinations that foreshadow her own encounter with the vampire. Knock goes off his rocker, and is institutionalized at the local jail. As for Orlok, he boards a vessel and heads to Bremen and a meeting with Hutter's virgin bride. The scenes on the ship are masterfully chilly. The count hides in a coffin in the hold of the ship, rising to feast on the unwary sailors. His movements on the boat, often accompanied by dozens of rats, nauseates even as it fascinates the viewer. By the time the movie reached this point, I couldn't think of a horror film character more hideous or repulsive than Orlok. When the ship reaches port, doctors fear a plague has killed the crew. They are partially right. A plague has reached town, but one these doctors have never seen before. Before long, townspeople start to drop like flies as Orlok pounds the cobblestones at night looking for Hutter's wife. The conclusion to the film involves no stakes, no holy water or crucifixes, but a good old fashioned German girl using her purity to destroy evil. I'll leave it you to see how she does it.

"Nosferatu" is a classic because a perceptive viewer can see so many themes in it. Is it a movie about sexuality, or Weimer politics, or a foreshadowing of the National Socialists? I'd like to promote a view of the movie I haven't seen yet (although it may be out there somewhere). I couldn't help but see a lot of potential anti-Semitic themes playing out in the movie. Orlok's physical presence resembles in no small way the depictions of Jews that often appeared in Germany even before the Third Reich rose to power. Associating the count with rats and plague is similar to how the Jews were portrayed in notorious anti-Semitic propaganda. I think, too, that the encrypted letter the count sent to Knock underscored what many Germans thought about Jews, that they communicated in esoteric languages and practiced a strange religion. Orlok, when he arrives in Germany, is an outsider, a dangerous foreigner seeking to kill and corrupt the good German people. Again, the Jews were always seen as outsiders with a hidden hostility to gentiles. The conclusion of the film only confirmed this thesis in my eyes, when a pure German woman using her wiles managed to defeat the evil count. Germans always worried about Jews marrying their women, so the idea that a girl could not only withstand the advances of the count but also use his lust to destroy him must have resonated deeply with certain segments of the audience. I could go on and on, matching certain scenes with how many Germans perceived the Jews.

I hope the film isn't anti-Semitic. But as a horror film, it is unmatched. Murnau's technical experimentation along with Max Schreck's portrayal of Orlok make this film a must see for horror fans. The DVD is good too, with a ton of extras. You get extensive liner notes on location sights, notes on Murnau's influences, still galleries, several different soundtracks, and a commentary track from a film historian. The quality of the picture transfer didn't look too good, but the movie is over eighty years old. If you haven't seen "Nosferatu" yet, you're missing out on a great experience.

Rating:
Summary: Restored?
Review: This is a great silent film, but don't expect this "restored" version to live up to Kino's edition of "Metropolis." There is quite a lot of scratches & trash, especially toward the beginning, and I wonder exactly what qualifies it as "restored," as there is no accompanying before/after feature. It's really enjoyable if you select the soundtrack by Art Zoyd.

Rating:
Summary: One Of My 3 Favorite Horror Films
Review: "Nosferatu" is simply a trademark for all vampire films. It's also faithful to the story (well at least the first 3rd of it) by Bram Stroker. When most people think of the first film adaptation of "Dracula," most of them think of Tod Browning's 1931 film. Even though the 1931 version is also one of my faves, I can't say I liked it better than "Nosferatu." The costume design for Max Schreck is brilliant. He doesn't take the erotic vampire attitude and look by Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi, he looks like a rat with the side-by-side fangs, rat ears, a skeletal frame, and a bald, clean-shaven skull to top horror off. No vampire film can match this one. It is simply the original. Favorite Horror Films: 3) THE SHINING 2) NOSFERATU 1) PSYCHO

Rating:
Summary: Good movie bad DVD
Review: I'm going to keepit short its a good film avery bad dvd I watched for an hour and was very jumpy and when I looked to see if there were any sratches or finger prints there were'nt

Rating:
Summary: The REAL Vampire...
Review: NOSFERATU is my all-time favorite vampire movie. Released in 1922, it is more frightening, and creates a far better sense / atmosphere of dread than any other bloodsucker film I've seen. Max Schreck is perfect as the mysterious count. His spider-like actions accentuate his oddly sculpted features. He is Dracula in a way that no one else (including Lugosi) has ever equalled. He is scary! Watch him terrify young Harker. Watch the crew of the Demeter meet their doom. Watch the count's long-distance hipnotic effect on Nina. This is vampirism as more than just a gore-fest or spooky halloween story. This is the tale of a believable vampire in the guise of a man. I cannot recommend NOSFERATU highly enough. Just buy it...

Rating:
Summary: Nosferatu! That name alone can chill the blood!
Review: Loosely based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" novel, "Nosferatu" is one of the earliest vampire movies ever made. Directed by F.W. Murnau at the height of the German Expressionist movement, this film is an eerie time capsule that introduced audiences to stage actor Max Schreck, who stars as the ghastly Count himself. Bearing a bone-white complexion, sunken eyes, rodent ears, and a sharp chin, Schreck's version of Dracula leers with the hunger and claws of a predatory animal. Indeed, Max's version of the character is unique, for future actors like Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee portrayed the vampire as an rich and attractive man, not as a pallid gargoyle.
Set in the lush streets of Bremen, the story of "Nosferatu" is told from a historian's diary written in 1838. It all starts when Johnathan Harker (Gustav von Wangenheim) is offered a golden opportunity. He works as a clark to his estate agent, Reinfield (Alexander Granach), a crazed old man who sports a toothy grin. Obviously tormented by the vampire's curse, Reinfield convinces Johnathan to have the aristocrat purchase a house in the village. To make things more interesting, that property would be right across the street from where Johnathan and his wife Nina (Greta Schroeder) live. Shortly after, the excited young man travels to Transylvania, despite the fact that Nina is concerned about his abrupt decision. Soon, the audience is led into the Count's cold castle, where Nosferatu slowly terrorizes Johnathan by sampling blood from his jugular vein. All the while, Nina is connected to her love by unseen nightmares, sleepwalking and calling out his name. Realizing the true horror of the situation, both she and Johnathan are determined to escape Dracula's supernatural trap. Later on, poor Reinfield is locked up in an insane asylum and Nosferatu comes to Bremen by hiding in the "Demeter" vessel, where his coffin lies among several boxes of unhallowed earth and diseased rats. Throughout the trip, the ship's crew members are quickly drained of their blood and mistaken by doctors as victims of the plague. Eventually, it's Nina who willfully offers her throat to the vampire, sacrificing herself in a final attempt to save her husband.
Although this movie somewhat lacks its spine-tingling suspense, viewers will still be impressed by F.A. Wagner's early experimentation with photo negativity and stop-motion animation. The latter of the two gives several chilling illusions of the vampire's power. The Count can appear and disappear at will and force doors to open and close unaided. In the end of the film, he vanishes in the sunlight. It must also be noted that some of the camera shots seem to make Max Schreck's character bigger and stronger than he really is. In the one scene when the vampire walks through an arched doorway, he suddenly looks like an 8-foot-tall giant! Indeed, such simple cinematic tricks were astounding achievements back in the 1920's. Other important moments happen when Johnathan rests in an inn; as he starts reading the pages of the Book of Vampires, the film repeatedly cuts to stock footage of horses running out of a field and a ravenous hyena climbing down a hill. Such scenes provide an omen that was commonly used since the works of Shakespeare; beasts sense a danger that's ignored by men.
If you are interested in early cinematic horror, I recommend you purchase this DVD as well as "Phantom of the Opera" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari."

Rating:
Summary: Simply near to the perfection...
Review: I buy this edition from Italy,because here doesn't exist a DVD edition of this masterpiece...
I am really impressed by the realisation of the disc,wich content interesting extra materials and the movie restored in exceptional way with two very interesting audio-tracks more adapted to the movie atmosphere and a very nice animated menus...Really gourgeus edition...

Rating:
Summary: Eine Symphonie Des Grauens
Review: (This review is for the Eureka version available in Australia)

A horror film nowadays is a genre film, generally not meant to be taken seriously. That is fine. But "Nosferatu" is a quite different type of film.
The film exudes German Expressionist style. While not, perhaps, as breathtaking as the bizzare imagery in Lang's "Metropolis", "Nosferatu"'s imagery is quite unforgettable, and often unsettling.
My favourite scene is not among the famous scenes on board the ship. It is the scene where Hutter/Harker looks out of the door of his room, and sees Nosferatu standing there, stark and stiff, at the other end of the room outside. At first the audience cringes at the sight of Nosferatu unmasked; but the touch of genius is that the frame fades into a zoomed-in version of the same image - and Nosferatu IS STILL STANDING THERE...I think this is the only scene in any vampire film (admittedly I haven't seen many) where it is made symbolically clear that a vampirew is in fact an undead corpse. Nosferatu' stiff movements as he advances on Hutter also make him seem "dead".
There's also, of course, the most famous shot in the film, in which Nosferatu rises from his coffin like a stiff, dry Egyptian mummy. Again Nosferatu is emphasised to be really, really dead, and this is horrifying.
The reactions of Nosferatu's victims are also telling. My favourite is the scene where the captain ties himself to his tiller - then in a closeup we see his reaction to his first dight of Nosferatu. His terror is very underplayed, but since we have already seen the wildly hysterical reaction of his crewman, it is all the more horrible. Then there is the reaction of Hutter/Harker to the vampire, in which he literally grins with fear, then crawls into bed, completely paralysed with horror, looking like a frightened mouse or rabbit.

The "supernatural" quickness or jerkiness assoiated with the vampire is also effective, and somehow works better than the modern special effects in Coppola's film. Everyone knows about the freaky fast carriage that Count Orlok drives - a very very primitive special effect that is still eerie. The jerkiness of the carriage makes it seem, not merely fast, but possessed. There's also the scene where a jerky, superfast Orlok piles up coffins in his cart, then gets into one himself, then causes the coffin lid to jump on top of the coffin. Again, the primitive undercranking/stop motion makes the image jump unnaturally, producing a strange effect.

Nosferatu is a film with many memorable or disturbing images, which seem so original, even by todays standards, that it is no wonder the film is still so famous.

THE DVD - The Eureka edition of the DVD is both good and bad.
Good: The soundtrack by Art Zoyd is modern; but it is much better than it could have been. Admittedly I am not sure about the rap-style music that plays when Nosferatu is carrying his coffin around Wisborg; but aside from that the music is very appropriate, with whining electronic sounds, windy noises, slams, and organ music. The music when Nosferatu is advancing on Hutter is particularly good; the howling, screaming voices when Nosferatu's carriage turns into a "negative image" is also wonderful.
The intertitles are well-translated, though they could be less corny. I would not have translated one intertitle as "it is creepy on the other side of the river"...but who can forget the description of Mr Knock? "He paid his people well...!"

Bad: The CGI intertitles are too technologically slick for the disc, looking too contrived.
The tinting is nice; but for some reason all the scenes have been tinted sepia; the original British cinema release on which this is based had proper tinting, as well as the Art Zoyd soundtrack.
Furthermore this is not a perfect transfer. I admit, Nosferatu will probably never look perfect, thanks to problems with the loss of the negative; but there must be better transfers than this grainy, spotted one.

Overall the Eureka release is OK, and since it's the only version available in AUstralia, I suppose we have no real choice here!

Rating:
Summary: Cinema's First Vampire in Expressionist/Romanticist Allegory
Review: A real estate agent (Alexander Granach) in the town of Wisborg, Germany receives a letter from a foreign aristocrat, Count Orlok, expressing an interest in purchasing a home in the town. The real estate agent dispatches his clerk, Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to Transylvania to offer the Count a suitable house. Hutter bids his disappointed young wife farewell and eagerly sets out to make the sale of his career. He reaches Transylvania at the same time a mysterious disease is ravaging the countryside and finds the locals to be inviting but oddly superstitious. He also finds his host, Count Orlok (Max Schreck), to be an imposing and frightening figure. He finally senses that his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroder), may be in grave danger and makes haste to return home. Meanwhile, Count Orlok is also headed for Wisborg, where he plans to occupy his new home.

"Nosferatu" was directed by F.W. Murnau in 1922. It was written by Henrik Galeen and is a loose adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel "Dracula", faithful to the novel's themes but not to its story. The cinematography is by Gunther Kramph. This version of the film's score (Image Entertainment DVD) was composed and performed in 1991by The Silent Orchestra and Timothy Howard, who sought out music by 19th century composers who would have been contemporary to Murnau's youth when creating the score. Like many films of the era, "Nosferatu" was filmed in black and white but then tinted so that the final product is a colored film. Murnau uses no fewer than 5 colors in "Nosferatu". The colors are especially important in this film since they are used not only to convey mood but also to represent the passage of time: Sepia for daylight or indoor light, blue for night, mauve for dawn and dusk. When we see the color change, we feel time slipping past. Much of the movie was filmed outdoors in bright sunlight, which it seems was too much for the film stock to handle. Highlights in the film are terribly overexposed, which annoyed me almost immediately. Unlike many of his expressionist contemporaries, F.W. Murnau didn't like to shoot indoors in front of sets. His love of nature is commendable, and it distinguished his work, but super-contrasty scenes with no detail in the highlights are the inevitable result. "Nosferatu" is so replete with symbolism that you will have to watch it several times to catch it all. Count Orlok commands attention whenever he is on screen. He is fascinating. But the narrative itself is weak. If you're just watching this movie for the story and its terror-inducing properties, as I did the first time I saw it, I think you will find your attention waning during scenes which don't contain Count Orlok. The film is best viewed as allegory. Seen as Freudian, Christian, pagan, expressionist, romanticist, and/or social allegory, the story develops so many facets and implications that the viewer can't keep up with them all. Taken literally, the narrative seems sloppy and nonsensical in places but is saved by Orlok's strong presence. I recommend numerous viewings, including one with the audio commentary enabled. Intertitles in English only.

The DVD (This refers to the Image Entertainment Special Edition DVD only.): Bonus features include an audio commentary by film historian Lokke Heiss, a tour of the film's locations, an essay explaining the phantom carriage ride scene, and a gallery of still photos and drawings with explanations. The audio commentary by Lokke Heiss is excellent. He discusses the romantic and expressionist influences in the film, as well as its structure, symbolism, technique, and allegorical implications. I highly recommend listening to the audio commentary on a second viewing. The tour of locations is also interesting. The condition of the print from which this DVD was made is reasonably good. There are some visual noise and imperfections, but not enough to be distracting.

Rating:
Summary: Spooky as hell
Review: Great to watch in a dark room on halloween. Very scary.