F. W. Murnau's classic German Expressionist symphony of horror, "Nosferatu" is my 20th favorite film of all time, my favorite film of the 20s, and my favorite film of 1922. The film is based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" except it was an unauthorized film adaptation, so "vampire" became "nosferatu" and "Count Dracula" became "Count Orlok." Film theorists, critics, and historians regard the film as a masterpiece of German Expressionism, for which F.W. Murnau and his contemporary Fritz Lang were known for. Noted film critic, Roger Ebert, had this to say about the film: it is not a horror film in the modern sense that it is designed to scare the crap out of you and mess with your emotions. But it will however haunt you because of its artistry in creating a mood and atmosphere that sticks with you for years after an initial viewing.
The film's foreboding atmosphere is created ingeniously using tricks of the trade such as negative exposures, stop-motion animation, and the typical flares of German Expressionism: deep dark shadows, dark characters, and dark plots. The music of the film is absolutely perfect. The original score was produced by Hans Erdmann and was played during projections of the film in the 20s. When Nosferatu is on the prowl, the music is enough to give you goose bumps for long periods of time.
My favorite scene is when Nosferatu first attacks the protagonist, Hutter. He first appears to be far away down a hall-way. Then suddenly he appears at Hutter's door. It's really quite fantastic. The film was extremely influential to film noir and suspense genres. Orson Welles, in particular, made explicit use of the low camera angles found in "Nosferatu" in his first film "Citizen Kane." And, of course, Alfred Hitchcock would be inspired by Murnau's use of combining the everyday and horror to create many films which did just that.
*It just so happens that as of the publication of this review, "Nosferatu" is streaming on Netflix!
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