100 years later, vampire classic NOSFERATU remains an immortal chiller

The first cinematic vampyre, Nosferatu celebrates its centenary this year, getting a re-release in UK cinemas. Bram Stoker’s widow had successfully sued to have all copies of this unofficial version of the novel Dracula destroyed – but some copies slipped through the net, leaving these indelible and still creepy images of Count Orlok (Dracula), played with unsettling grace by a disturbing Max Schreck. German expressionist director Murnau birthed horror cinema and a thousand copycats in this silent epic, packed with shadow and foreboding.

Following the story of the novel with names changed, Jonathan Harker’s stand-in Hutter (Gustav Von Wagenheim) is an estate agent sent by his wild-eyed and haired boss, Herr Knock, to Transylvania – to the master he is enslaved to and worships, Count Orlok, in a bid to secure a property for him in their home town of Wisborg. The townsfolk are petrified of Orlok, and who wouldn’t be? His ghoulish façade and shadow on the wall is disturbing enough. Add in some bloody thumb-sucking and this is a housing deal anyone would want to fall through. Differing from Dracula, however, Orlok ends up hypnotizing Hutter’s wife Ellen (Greta Schroder) leading to a downbeat finale.

Painstakingly restored to its finest tinted glory, blue hues washing the night, this still has the power to create a goosebump. Admittedly, the histrionic acting, excessive eyebrows and overwrought cards of description may provide some smiles, but there is no denying the power of the long-fingered, pointy rabbit-toothed, bald, big-eared Schreck lit with demonic aplomb. Instrumental and inspirational to generations of horror directors, Werner Herzog remade the film in 1979 with Klaus Kinski; Abel Ferrera owes a debt in The Addiction, as does Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, the droning score of which echoes the original orchestration by Hans Erdmann, now lovingly re-recorded to match the century-old visuals.

Talk of plague and cursed Earth, supplemented by alarming images of coffins going down nighttime streets, ruined castles, rats and other ghastliness still key into primal fears – as does Orlok’s inexplicable, unknowable reasons for doing what he does, being able to exert power over others for his own devilish means. Still capable of chills, this is a must-see for anyone interested in the roots of cinematic horror and an incredible feat of filmmaking from Murnau in the infancy of the medium. 100 years on, Nosferatu still has teeth.

Dir: F.W. Murnau (PG, 95 mins)

Opens Fri 4 Mar. Info here.

words KEIRON SELF