Nosferatu in 1922, 1979, and 2000

The first movie version of Dracula came in 1922 as F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu. He couldn't convince Stroker's estate to give him the rights to the Dracula story, so Murnau just changed the name and embellished a little bit, and out comes Nosferatu. It's a choppy, silent, black and white film of around an hour and a half. And yet it manages to have some of the most unsettling, creepy moments in a vampire film to date.

Max Shreck, who played Nosferatu, is simply terrifying, with no need for speech. He has this rat-like appearance, with long creepy claws and two small fangs towards the center of his mouth, rather than the popularized Dracula appearance that everyone knows today.

But, truth be told, Bram Stroker's description of Dracula is nothing like this at all: "...a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache...his face was strong--a very strong--aquiline, with high bride of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forhead, and hair growing scantily round the temples, but profuse elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose (almost a unibrow), and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over the lips..."

So really, Dracula isn't all that scary. And that just wouldn't do for the movie business, so they created Nosferatu and Dracula as we all now know him. And it worked out for them. For instance, a old man with a mustache couldn't make this scene from Nosferatu scary, only a pale, clawed, rat-like thing could:





This, among other scenes in the original Nosferatu, were used (or stolen, or "homaged") in many other Dracula/Nosferatu films to follow. But you cannot match the level of creepy that this first one had. Maybe it's because of the black and white, silent choppiness. Maybe it's because this Nosferatu just looks so scary. I'm not sure. Roger Ebert explains it like this: "The film is in awe of its material. It seems to really believe in vampires."

There was another version of this film done in 1979 by Wernor Herzog, one of my new favorite directors, called Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht. Klaus Kinski, the brilliant and regular actor in Herzog's films, plays the Count. Since the original Nosferatu was German, Herzog (being also German) felt like this movie should be redone as soon as Dracula entered public domain. The film is very similiar to the original Nosferatu, and manages to enhance the story without diminishing the power of the original.

Kinski is fantastic, as he always is, as the count. He's creepy, rat like, a very sad character, and completely believable as a several-hundred year old vampire who's well past his prime. The use of sound and dialogue is very well done, and the story has more of a coherency to it that the original Nosferatu didn't have. Or maybe that's just my closer relationship with films with dialogue over silent films.

The scenes when Harker is held prisoner in the count's castle, and especially when he cuts himself and Kinski dives for the cut, claiming that the knife may have been dirty and the wound must be sucked to ensure no blood poisoning, is very scary. The movie even made me jump a couple of times, which none of these vampire films have done to me yet. Herzog is also a very good filmmaker, and there are creepy scenes with thousands of gray rats roaming the streets, spreading the plague. And Renfield, Harker's boss and as it turns out the Count's servant, has this laugh that is unbelievable in it's creep factor.

And finally, as it seems with anything vampire related, there is also a strange comedy/horror hybrid that deals with Nosferatu, called Shadow of the Vampire. I want to thank Hatrack.com forum members for letting me know about this one. It stars Willem Dafoe who plays Nosferatu, who plays Max Shreck. Now, no, that's not a mistake. The movie plays with the idea that the person who played Nosferatu in F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu really was a real vampire, and that Max Shreck was just a made up name to cover his true identity. And they cover his appearance by stating that Max Shreck is a character actor who completely immerses himself in the character. Sounds bizarre and conveluted, right? A movie about the making of a vampire movie where Dafoe plays the part of a vampire who's playing the part of an actor who is supposed to be playing the part of a vampire. And bizarre it is, and ipso facto must have John Malkovich, who plays the director F.W. Murnau. Much of the movie is tounge and cheek. It's a ridiculous premise, but they make the most of it.

And, just like Buffy, the comedy seems to heighten the serious moments. Dafoe has a scene where some of the crew asks him about the book Dracula, and if it was factually accurate, since he is apparently so deep into his role that he should know about vampires. And his response is quite unsettling:

Shrek: It made me sad.
Albin: Why sad?
Shrek: Because Dracula had no servants.
Albin: I think you missed the point of the book, Count Orlock.
Shrek: Dracula hasn't had servants in 400 years and then a man comes to his ancestral home, and he must convince him that he... that he is like the man. He has to feed him, when he himself hasn't eaten food in centuries. Can he even remember how to buy bread? How to select cheese and wine? And then he remembers the rest of it. How to prepare a meal, how to make a bed. He remembers his first glory, his armies, his retainers, and what he is reduced to. The loneliest part of the book comes... when the man accidentally sees Dracula setting his table.

(...and then he grabs a bat out of the air and eats it.)

Dafoe does a great job, which is good since the part was specifically written for him. Malkovich is weird and unsettling, but convincing as the obsessed and crazy director.



So here ends the first post relating to my vampire extravaganza. There are others coming soon, which will walk through the other vampire films (Oh yes, don't worry. There are plenty more vampire films) before I conclude with Buffy.