Nosferatu
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Movie Reviews of Nosferatu
Movie Review: Count Orlock: The Vermin King
Summary: 5 Stars
Having seen the marvelous "Shadow of the Vampire" a few nights ago, I went home and watched the Image DVD of F.W. Murnau's classic "Nosferatu". Ever wake up from a nightmare with the feeling that you were suffocating? Well, I have that feeling when I watch "Nosferatu". The film is not without its "shocks", such as the scene when Orlock rises up from his coffin aboard the doomed ship, like an erect, diseased male organ, but its power is in its overall creepy, almost stifling sense of doom. The camerawork is remarkable, free of the staginess that would undermine Tod Browning's "Dracula" ten years later. The staginess of Browning's film may have been due to the problems with early sound film, as well as laziness on Browning's part, where the film looks like "a filmed play", with the exception of the remarkable first scenes in Transylvania. But, back to "Nosferatu". The print quality is excellent, considering the fact that this film is 80 years old, and the organ score contributes to the nightmare on the screen. My only complaint about "Nosferatu" is the ridiculous overacting, but hey, this IS a silent film. And now, I have to put my own "spin" on the classic image of Max Schreck as Count Orlock. When something is created that is so incredibly frightening, it becomes a "classic image". Count Orlock looks like an incredibly thin, two-legged rat. Thomas Kuntz, a brilliant sculptor and model-kit designer, whose figure of Count Orlock is a masterpiece, says, "He puts the RAT in Nosferatu". Byron couldn't have said it more eloquently!Movie Review: Nosferatu...
Summary: 5 Stars
Count Orlock appears in silence, long of nail, sharp of tooth, pale of flesh, bald of head. Creeping forward, ghoulishly menacing, eyes shimmering in the darkness, plagueing his victims with fear & dread. There is no escaping the morbid spell of the nosferatu......... The wraith-like, captivating phantom played convincingly by Max Schreck, haunts one's visions & rememberance as probably the most horrific incarnation of vampiric evil the world has ever seen. A remake by the same name in Year VII A.S., & Stephen King's Salem's Lot, resurrected the eerie spechtre to re-terrify the world of the living.
The original 1922 version of NOSFERATU scared people out of their skins. In that time of puritanical virginity, those who dared to sit in a darkened theatre to witness this first of vampiric movies {up until then, there were only plays}, were in for a scare they were not prepared for.
NOSFERATU is based upon Bram Stoker's characterization of Dracula, but a few names have been modified here & there, which gave it a bit more of an original feel. The looming figure of Orlock still brings chills to the unprepared.
This is a good one to rent for vampire enthusiasts & archivists, who can still appreciate a horror classic. For those jaded, & seeking a new thrill, concentrate on how it must have been like to live in that era, when motion pictures were relatively new, & your life had been sheltered up to the point of walking into the theatre this night. The lights grow dim, let the horror start.........
Movie Review: Primitive Fears
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, like thousands of frightened and astounded fans before me, Nosferatu impresses as a German-Expressionistic masterpiece. Certainly it should be ranked in the best twenty films ever made. The date of this version is 1929, but in a recent film about the making of this first vampire movie, Shadow of the Vampire, 2000, they claim 1921, which seems to me from the sets, lady's make up, technology, and photography, that 1921 is the correct date.
The score of this release certainly is driving and enhancing. The amazing death carriage scene done in reverse negative is unforgettable. Max Schreck is a geeky, malformed vampire. He is so deformed that Shadow of the Vampire suggests that Max actually believed himself to be a vampire and that Murnau was willing to sacrifice actors and crew members to Max's cravings. Yes, it's a funny idea, but trust me readers, after seeing Max's vampire, I'm not sure he doesn't dine on cast blood.
German Expressionism is the juxtaposition of cubic forms on everyday scenes to enhance an underlying dread. This dread in Germany after WW1 expresses primitive fears of a society in a tailspin, starvation, poverty, a fear that God has forsaken you to the forces of evil. Although Stoker's vampire is of the 19th century, it is difficult to tell whether we are watching rural Germany of the 19th or 20th Century. F.W. Murnau is one of the greatest directors of all time.
Movie Review: Bela Who???
Summary: 5 Stars
That's the question you'll be asking yourself after viewing Max Shreck's performance as the titular character in Nosferatu. A film once nearly lost to us, Nosferatu is perhaps the film that best represents the creepiness and terror of Stoker's Dracula. Murnau successfully utilizes all the tools and techniques at his disposal to create a film thick with atmosphere. What he is unable to do with dialogue, he does with clever special effects and effectively framed shots and sequences.This DVD presentation of the film is very good. It offers two musical soundtracks. The first is a simple organ meant to show how the audience would have experienced the film 80 years ago. The second is a modern orchestral composition that I feel better serves the film. It has a haunting, gothic feel to it that fits the action on-screen like a glove. There is also a commentary track by noted film historian Lokke Heiss. While Heiss is clearly a very learned scholar, he is one dull commentator. Honestly, I have an appreciation of silent film but his droning on without the benefit of a musical backdrop nearly put me to sleep. Heiss also narrates a much shorter featurette on the present-day sites of the film that is a little easier to swallow.
I urge you if you are either a film enthusiast or a fan of the horror genre to pick up this well done presentations of one of the best films ever (silent or otherwise).
Movie Review: The sun'll come out tomorrow
Summary: 5 Stars
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There'll be sun!
This is a Chronicle of the great Death in Wishborg 1838
The original story is as old as the Carpathian Mountains. A real estate agent Knock (Alexander Granach) gets a mysterious request from a far-off land; Count Graf Orlok (Max Schreck) is in need of a new abode. He sends his best man Hutter (Gustav v. Wangenheim) to seal the deal. The mysterious being, Nosferatu, has nefarious purposes that will seal more than the deal and in the process is attracted to a tasty Mrs. Hutter (Greta Schroeder).
This is the 1922 F.W. Murnau's silent German classic adaption of Brahm Stoker's Dracula. The movie follows the book little closer than today's movies do. There were a few necessary changes. I believe that was the nature of movies around 1922. Max Schreck did an excellent job of playing the deviant snacker.
Although no variations can come close to this original film, many people think of Werner Herzog's 1978 film "Nosferatu the Vampyre" as a good variation, This also being my personal favorite as I am a fan of Klaus Kinski. I suggest that you look at some of the others and see what you think and who you consider the real Dracula.