Nostferatu

What the hell? I have a classic movie and it's a Horror film? Well that can't be right. So this request occurred a month ago and my slow ass finally am getting around to that inquiry. A tale of a loathsome, lonely creature doomed to roam the night and feed on blood. No not Dracula. This is the tale told in silent film format. This is the 1922 silent film classic story of Count Orlok. This is Nostferatu.

Ho boy, think the mushrooms kicked in.

 Based on Bram Stoker's Dracula and written by novelist Henrik Galeen (The Golem, Nosferatu, Dangerous Paths, Waxworks, Zigano, The Man Who Cheated Life, The Big Bluff, A Daughter of Destiny and The Lady with the Mask) a noblity known as Count Graf Orlok (Max Schreck of Der zeugende Tod, The Jew of Mestri, The Street, The Mysteries of a Hairdresser's Shop, Finances of the Grand Duke) is looking for some new digs and gets in touch with real estate agent Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim of Homunculus, 1. Teil, Passionels Tagebuch, Die Erzkokette, Kitsch, Der Tempel der Liebe, Romeo and Juliet in the Snow, Das Haus zum Mond and Das Feurschiff) in the German town of Wisborg. I'm told that is a fictitious city.

Drafted by his boss, Knock (Alexander Granach of Wood Love, Torments of the Night, Svengali, The Last Fort, Pavement Butterfly, The Legionaire, The Last Company and Danton) so Hunter makes arrangements for his wife Ellen (Greta Schroder of Nosferatu, Paganini, Victoria the Great, Queen of Destiny, Melody of a Great City, Kolberg and Stars Over Colombo) to his friend Harding (Georg H. Schnell of In the Employ of the Secret Service, Emil und die Detektive, Tannenberg, The Legend of William Tell, Die bunte Platte, The Champion of Pontresina, Die Insel and The Riders of German East Africa) and his sister Annie.

Not too sure about this Anne Rice.

It's a long way to Tipperary...or in this case Transylvania. Hutter stops for dinner at the local tavern and they're shocked at the mere mention of Orlok that they warn Hutter to not go to the mountains at this time of night due to a werewolf prowling the woods. With the locals on the verge of getting ugly (and brother that wouldn't take much) , Hutter waits until morning for a horse drawn carriage (or coach if you prefer) and the coachman refuses to cross the bridge because he won't make it back before nightfall. That's called foreshadow.

A black shrouded coach collects Hutter to cross the bridge and brings him to the castle. Hutter feasts before going to bed (Bad on the digestion tract, buddy) and eerie sounds occur from the woods surrounding the castle. Hey this all sounds familiar. For those playing the home game, yes this has been clearly made from Stoker's book.

Prana Film was a silent era German film that went bankrupt fending off the copyright lawsuits via Bram Stoker's widow, Florence Balcombe. She established they made an unauthorized film based on the novel and well she is correct. The studio intended to create a whole series of paranormal and supernatural themed films but aforementioned bankruptcy made that impossible.

Tense dear? You need a massage. Bow chicka wew wew!!

Let's talk about atmosphere. With it's organ music and orchestral soundtrack being there without actual dialogue, it does set the tone for every scene. From a purely artistic standpoint, the film is eerie, praying on the audience's fears of the unknown and making Orlok a proper visual of this creature that bumps in the night, feasting blood of young helpless women. That being said, Orlok seems damned to his role. Never to know love in its truest forms nor life and the joys it can bring. More of a tragic character than a monster to me. From his elongated fingers with claws to his disturbing eyes and front two teeth made fangs, he does embody a look of aberrant if not ghoulish appearance.

Favorite scene is the Renfield like character just strolling about with a coffin under his arm. Y'know the every day scene of a vampire's thrall going on about his day. Oh if I had a nickel for every time I have seen that...wait, I'd still have a nickel. WTF, movie?? That coffin alone would be almost 200 lbs, then add a body of at least an additional 150 to 200 lbs. Saaaaaay, that doesn't add up at all. Maybe he's related to the Tall Man via Phantasm.

Think of the impact this one film has had on our society too. 1977, Blue Oyster Cult created Nostferatu for the album Spectres. Hell, the Tobe Hooper/Stephen King 1979 miniseries Salem's Lot; our villainous vampire Kurt Barlow with Reggie Nalder looks almost identical to Orlok. 1995 the composer/writer Bernard J. Taylor (Neighbors And Lovers, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice and Make Me a Musical) adapted the film into Nostferatu the Vampire as a musical. It's kinda his bag really. Lastly the 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire, which is a fictional account of the issues with the film, one of which Willem Dafoe plays Max Schreck, an actor so method even Brando would have had issues.

The first face of evil personified is Count Orlok, regardless of his tragic story, the masses deem him a monster. What I took away from this (Aside from sick to death of organ music. Blame Carnival of Souls for that one) is a first attempt at bringing some true Horror to the screen with an audience deemed too timid or gentile to venture into this genre. So do I feel it has created an impact? Without a doubt. That being said, my copy was quite grainy and courtesy of my old nemesis, Mill Creek Entertainment.

We will see more vampire reviews during the next month. Count on it. See what I did? I did that one thing. Forget it.

Toss me some more rats. I'm hungry.