Nosferatu (1922)

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror! Brandon, Marc, Jesse, and I discuss the seminal, influential first cinematic telling of Bram Stoker's masterpiece of Gothic Horror, Dracula! The great F.W. Murnau directs Nosferatu! Murnau also brought us Sunrise (1927), Faust (1926), and The Last Laugh (1924). Dracula, here named Graf Orlok, is brought to death by Max Schreck. The look for Orlok, Dracula, is arguably just as influential as Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula! Reinfeld is named Knock. Harker is named Hutter. Mina is Ellen. Renaming the characters from Stoker's vampire novel is, of course, due to rights issues. Films were very new at the time. Obtaining movie rights for novels was also very new and murky. Stoker's widow, Florence, went after the film over this copywrite issue and had the film destroyed. Luckily for us, not all prints were destroyed!

Over the one hundred-plus years since this masterpiece of German Expressionist cinema debuted, there has been one remake, Nosferatu the Vamprye (1979) directed by Werner Herzog, and many films inspired by it, such as Shadow of the Vampire (2000) starring Willem Dafoe, John Malkovich, and Udo Kier. Stephen King's Salem's Lot has also drawn inspiration from Nosferatu. 2024 brings us a new version of Nosferatu directed by Robert Eggers!

This one-hundred-plus-year-old film will continue to inspire horror for many more years to come. Here is to Bram Stoker and all the people he has inspired with his Gothic Horror Vampire tale! Christopher Lee, Bela Lugosi, Max Schreck, Gary Oldman to name just a very few who have brought Count Dracula to life before our very eyes! Dracula will always be there to remind us that monsters are moving in the darkness just beneath our sightline!

Plot: Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.

A Symphony of Horror