Nosferatu: Symphony of Horrors

Wednesday 12 August at 7.30pm [NB: showing at the Rialto]

FW Murnau | Germany | 1922 | 94 mins | DCP, B&W, Silent | M violence | German intertitles with English subtitles

Murnau’s unauthorised adaptation of Dracula is an icon of German Expressionism, with Max Schreck embodying horror as the monstrous, terrifying Count. ​

“A visual and emotional treat” – Empire

“Nosferatu is the original Dracula movie and still, after 80 years, the scariest. If the film is not called ‘Dracula’, that is simply because Murnau and his screenwriter, Henrik Galeen, having failed to obtain the rights to Bram Stoker’s novel from his widow, calmly pinched the whole plot and changed the characters’ names. The resultant lawsuit rumbled on for years. Still, this piece of sharp practice can perhaps be forgiven, since it resulted in one of the greatest horror movies, not just of the silent screen, but of all time.
The special effects, of course, have long since been surpassed… But none of this matters in the face of what makes this a masterpiece: Murnau’s visionary direction and the chilling performance of Max Schreck in the title role…

The Nosferatu of Max Schreck is unforgettably grotesque from his very first appearance… Tall, cadaverous, bald, bat-eared and rabbit-toothed, he moves with short jerky steps, taloned hands close to his sides, as if still holding the shape of his daytime coffin. The effect is all but ludicrous, at once terrifying and pitiable: the creature’s need for blood, for living warmth, is palpable to the point of agony. Murnau, one senses, identified with his monster; Nosferatu is by far the most vividly portrayed character in the film.”

— Philip Kemp, British Film Institute