by Greg Nigro
A haunting silent film set in colorized black and white loosely tells the tale of Bram Stroker’s Dracula. This movie, to me, is one of the best horror movies ever made. Hell, maybe even the best. There is no gore. There is no shaky cam. There is no long dead Asian child walkin’ all herky-jerky, or shakin’ it’s head at some retarded ghost speed. This is suspense. This is monster movie at it’s best.
The feel of the movie is set in two amazing ways. First, and probably most obvious, is the visual. The warm orange colorizing really helps lull in the beautiful lifestyle of Hutter, the main character. He is in a beautiful landscape, among horses and mountains. His life is… well let’s just say it doesn’t suck. The first scene we see featuring Nosferatu, or Graf Orlok as he is named in the credits, sets an ominous visual with a deep blue/purple hue, and at one point the shot is even solarized or inverted giving an odd feeling.
This brings us to the other thing this film does so well, the music. The movie is, after all, called Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horrors. In the scene above, during Nosferatu’s first glimpse, we get the first change in the score the sound dips into a dark dreamlike lull. Accenting the oddity of the character. Throughout the movie the score plays a bigger and bigger part in the amazing suspense.
Nosferatu, as a character, is amazing. Everything about him is creepy: his weird, huge, spindly hands, his stiff body and walk, his creeping shadow, and most of all, that face. The misshapen, pointed, bald, head houses a row of pointed reptilian-like teeth. The ears help to define the shadow cast upon his victims. But to me, it’s the eyes. Deep sunken dark circles encapsulate the bright irises that surround the dead black pupils. The insanity is evident.
The only problem with the movie, in my opinion, is the middle. It’s way too drawn out. A lot of what happens is real weird and unneeded, a lot of weird science. I’m not going to give away any sort of ending. Cause I’m not like that. But the end scene is an amazing thing. Watch the death. That’s all I’m going to say about this. Just go watch it.
I give Nosferatu 4 real fucking vampires (none of that sparkly shit) out of 5
2 Comments
Very awesome. I agree good sir, one of the best horror movies ever and that picture is amazing!
I agree about that picture, and about the middle of the film. I became bored while I was watching this in a Classic Film Club I was in, at Mary Washington. The great thing that happened when I watched this, was that when the word “Hutter” came on screen, it looked like it said “Butter.” So, for the rest of the film I kept saying: “Butter, no!”; “”Watch out Butter!”; “Not Butter!” Everyone else joined in and made the experience much more enjoyable. They want to talk through the next film too, and that was unfortunate. I have to take responsibility for that one. Creepy movie though.