Nosferatu (m. recorded soundtrack)

Over 100 years after its premiere, 'Nosferatu' remains one of the most iconic and evocative horror films in film history: plague, eroticism, death and gothic paranoia in pure expressionist form. F.W. Murnau's silent films contributed greatly to seeing movies as mood-bearing art rather than mere entertainment -- and ushered in the horror genre as a place of existential themes.

The film tells the story of Count Orlok, a vampire-like figure who spreads illness and death as he travels from Transylvania to the fictional North German town of Wisborg. Murnau's version is an unofficial film adaptation of Bram Stoker's' Dracula ', but it stands out by its visual style: Obliquely composed images, long shadows and distorted angles turn the physical landscape into a psychic ditto. Max Schreck's portrait of the deathly pale, fanged Count Orlok is icy and eerily alien — not a romantic bloodsucker, but a nightmare in human form. Max Schreck is so wild in his expression that rumors went on that the actor himself was a vampire.

'Nosferatu' set the standard for horror film aesthetics and mood-building and became a key reference for later vampire films—from Universal horror in the '30s to Werner Herzog's 1979 remake and right up to modern horror. In other words, a movie to watch before you die. And also, if one does not.

The film copy is kindly lent by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung (www.murnau-stiftung.de) in Wiesbaden.

Directed by F.W. Murnau
Starring: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim, Georg H. Schnell
Country/year: Germany, 1922
Running time: 95 min.
Formato: DCP
Language: English subtitles
Age limit: Allowed for children over 15
Original title: Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens

Part of the series: The Monsters Who Changed Us
The monsters always come back. Maybe because they've never really left us. In collaboration with Golden Days, Cinemateket invites you to take an idea-historical journey through the most fascinating creatures and nightmares in film history.