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The Silent Classic ‘Nosferatu’ (1922) Creeps Underneath Your Skin
One hundred years later, and he’s still lurking.
This article contains light spoilers.
When we think of vampires, it’s either the charming and suave 1958 Dracula or the sparkling pretty boys of Twilight. But there is one vampire who predates them. A century later, he still haunts and mystifies audiences.
That vampire is Count Orlok from the 1922 German silent film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (based on the book Dracula by Bram Stoker). Given the period and that it’s a silent film, Orlok’s appearance is terrifying. The director, F. W. Murnau, played on Slavic vampire roots for Orlok.
He’s tall, bald, sunken-eyed, with long fingers and sharp teeth. 20th-century audiences lost it when they saw him.
Nosferatu follows the Dracula novel verbatim. The only difference is the names. Murnau changed them to names German audiences were familiar with. However, even with the change, Bram Stoker’s widow, Florence, sued Murnau’s production company, Prana Film, for copyright infringement.
She won and wanted all copies of the movie destroyed. Of course, a few prints survived. Count Orlok will not be remembered if none survived.