Nosferatu
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens ("Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror" in
German) is a
German Expressionist film shot in
1922 by
F.W. Murnau. He had wanted to film a version of
Bram Stoker's
Dracula, but his studio was unable to obtain the rights to the story. Murnau decided to film his own version and made only slight changes to the story. The resultant movie has many similarities to Stoker's original tale. "Dracula" became "Nosferatu" and the names of the characters changed, with
Count Dracula changed to
Count Orlok. The role of the
vampire was played by
Max Schreck. Other major actors in the film were
Gustav von Wangenheim (as Thomas Hutter/Jonathan Harker),
Greta Schröder (as Ellen Hutter/Mina Harker), and
Alexander Granach (as Knock/R. M. Renfield).
Count Orlok's move to Bremen brings the plague traceable to his dealings with the realtor Thomas Hutter. While hope in the city sinks, Hutter's wife Ellen, with whom Count's obsessed, turns out to be the only one with the power to end the evil.
Stylistically,
Nosferatu is similar to
Dracula, although the first official version of the story would not be made until
1931. Nosferatu leaves the core characters (John and Mina Harker, the Count, Dr. Seward, etc.) but weeds out many of the secondary players, such as Lucy. All the characters' names were changed as well, although in some versions of this film the
Dracula names have been reinserted.
The ending is also substantially different from that of
Dracula. Count Orlock (Dracula) is ultimately destroyed when the 'Mina' character sacrifices herself to him. In the book (and many later versions of the story) Dracula is destroyed physically. The timeframe of the story is also set back significantly: according to the logbook of the ship captain, it takes place in
1838, while
Dracula takes place in the
1890s.
Influences
This was the first film of the production company Prana-Film GmbH; it was also the last as they declared bankruptcy after Bram Stoker's estate—acting for his widow,
Florence Stoker—sued for
copyright infringement (
plagiarism) and won. The court ordered all existing prints of
Nosferatu destroyed, but a number of copies of the film had already been distributed around the world. These prints were then copied over the years, resulting in
Nosferatu gaining a reputation as one of the greatest movie adaptations of the vampire legend.
With the influence of producer and production designer,
Albin Grau, the film established one of two main lines of vampire depiction in movies. The "Nosferatu-type" is a living corpse with
rodent features (especially elongated
fingernails and
incisors), associated with
rats and
plague, and neither charming nor erotic but totally repugnant. The victims usually die and are not turned into vampires themselves. The more common other line is the "Dracula-type" (established by
Bela Lugosi's version of Dracula and perpetuated by
Christopher Lee), a charming aristocrat adept at seduction and turning his victims into new vampires.
Parts of the film allegedly showing
Transylvania were filmed in
Slovakia. Nosferatu's castle, for instance, is
Orava Castle in northern Slovakia, and other locations are in the
High Tatras and on the
Váh River around Strečno Castle.
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The shadow of the vampire is seen climbing stairs in this famous scene from the movie |
Murnau's
Nosferatu is in the
public domain, and copies of the movie are widely available on video—usually as poorly transferred, faded, scratched video copies that are often scorned by enthusiasts. However, pristine
restored editions of the film have also been made available, and are also readily accessible to the public.
Origins of the name
The original meaning of the word
nosferatu is difficult to determine. There is no doubt that it achieved popular currency through
Bram Stoker's 1897 novel
Dracula, and Stoker identified his source for the term as the 19th-century British author and speaker
Emily Gerard. Gerard introduced the word into print in a book chapter ("Transylvanian Superstitions" - 1885) and in her travelogue
the Land Beyond the Forest (1888) ("land beyond the forest" is literally what
Transylvania means in
Latin).
The word itself, does not mean "the undead" or "vampire", as is popularly thought. Actually, "Nosferatu" means "plague-carrier" and derives from
Greek nosophoros (
νοσοφορος, "disease-bearing").
Remade in 1979 as
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht as directed by
Werner Herzog.
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1977– The narrative song "Nosferatu" closes the album
Spectres by
Blue Öyster Cult.
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1979–
Salem's Lot director Tobe Hooper chose a distinct Nosferatu look for the vampire Barlow.
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1982– Clips from the film are included in British rock band
Queen's (featuring David Bowie)
Under Pressure video.
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1987– The starship of
Sabalom Glitz in the
Doctor Who episode titled "Dragonfire" is called
Nosferatu. Later Glitz acquires a
Nosferatu II.
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1988 U.K. based
Gothic Rock band
Nosferatu (band) is formed, heavily influenced by classic horror, vampires, and
vampyre subculture.
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1989 Houston, TX Metal band: HELSTAR recorded a whole concept album based on the legend of Nosferatu.
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1990-
2005 – Various entries in the
Fire Emblem series of videogames feature a magic spell called "Nosferatu", which allows the caster to absorb the hit points of another unit.
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1991– "Nosferatu Man" is the name of a song on the album
Spiderland by
Slint.
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1991– The vampire Radu from the
Subspecies series of films has visual cues from Nosferatu, including the grotesque white face, and over-long fingers and nails.
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1991 – In
White Wolf, Inc.'s
Vampire: The Masquerade there exists a vampire clan of hideously deformed vampires known as the
Nosferatu.
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1991 – Millennium Publications releases a four-part comic series,
Nosferatu: Plague of Terror written by
Mark Ellis with art by Rik Levins that provides an origin for Orlock separate and distinct from Dracula. The series also portrays his career after the events of the Murnau film.
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1992 - The
Bat Boy story of
Weekly World News debuts, with the title character looking just like a young version of Nosferatu.
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1993 - A Nosferatu mask was used in the creation of
Mortal Kombat character,
Baraka. (the characters of the games were in fact actors that performed their martial arts moves in front of a blue/green screen)
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1993– From Swedish doom metal band The 3rd and the Mortal, you hear mention of Nosferatu in the song "Salva Me", on their album "Tears Laid in Earth". The Lyrics of mention are: "Cold winds chant Nosferatu".
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1993– Clips from a
Nosferatu re-make appear and he jumps off of the screen in an episode of
Are You Afraid of the Dark? called "The Tale of the Midnight Madness" (Season 2, Episode 2).
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1994– Metal band
Type O Negative referred to "a date at midnight with Nosferatu" in the lyrics to "Black No.1 (Little Miss Scare-All)."
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1994–The film
Killing Zoe used scenes from "Nosferatu" before, during and after two of the main characters made love.
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1994-
2000– A spoof Nosferatu-type character appears in the British sketch-comedy program
The Fast Show. He is seen terrorising a young woman in bed, but he offers betting tips and says "Monster, Monster!"
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1996- The Detroit based horror rap group
House of Krazees release a song called "Nosferatu." As you may have guessed the song was, in fact, about the vampire Nosferatu itself.
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1997- The popular slasher movie
Scream 2 includes a character watching a scene from
Nosferatu. On an interesting note, that character is played by
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who also plays
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
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1997– The video game
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night featured an enemy named "Orlox" who resembles Orlock.
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1997 –
The Master, the villain throughout the first season of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was visually based on Nosferatu, having long nails, large bat-like ears, and a bald white head. In the
Angel episode "
Why We Fight" there is also a Nosferatu-looking vampire on board a submarine, though it is implied he is actually supposed to be Count Orlok. Also in the seventh and final season of Buffy, the protagonists fight a race of ubervampires called the
Turok-Han who are also very reminiscent of Nosferatu.
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1998 – German experimental
krautrock band
Faust (band) realeases
Faust Wakes Nosferatu, an accompaniment or alternative soundtrack to the film. The vinyl and CD editions of the record, however, contain completely different music.
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1999–
Jean-Marc Lofficier wrote a trilogy of
graphic novels based on German expressionist film, the second of which was titled
Batman: Nosferatu.
Batman's costume was remodeled to resemble Orlok's, but most of the plot came from an equally renown German expressionist film,
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
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1999 - The Swedish Progressive Metal band
Evergrey has a track on their 1999 album Solitude - Dominance - Tragedy appropriately entitled Nosferatu.
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1999 - The videogame
Final_Fantasy_VIII featured a demon, often summoned by a "caller", called Nosferatu.
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2000 - The videogame
Resident Evil Code: Veronica featured a mutated creature called Nosferatu as a boss.
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2000– A
Hollywood movie called
Shadow of the Vampire told a fictional story of the making of the silent version of
Nosferatu, imagining that actor Max Schreck (
Willem Dafoe) was himself a vampire, and that director F. W. Murnau (
John Malkovich) was complicit in hiring the creature for the purposes of realism.
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2000– Several episodes of
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command feature the recurring villain
NOS-4-A2, a robot that feeds off of the energy of anything mechanical.
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2001 - In the vampire anime
Hellsing a member of the Iscariot Organization refers to the main character Alucard as "Nosferatu Alucard" in reference to his despicable demeanor and his occult supernatural powers which are far greater than any normal bitten vampire. As well Incognito, the Vampire towards the end of the series, are referred to as a "true Nosferatu".
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2002 - The music video to
Farin Urlaubs second single, "Sumisu" is shot in the style of the movie and features Urlaub playing a character bearing strong resemblance to Count Orlok. (photo: [
1])
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2002 -
Jill Tracy and The Malcontent Orchestra release the CD "Into the Land of Phantoms," selections from their acclaimed score to Nosferatu.
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2002– Count Orlok also appears in an episode of
SpongeBob SquarePants in the episode titled "
The Graveyard Shift."
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2002– The movie
Blade II introduces mutant vampires called Reapers that resemble Count Orlok.
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2002 - The video game
Disciples II (and its prequel) feature a character called a Nosferat, a general for the Undead Hordes.
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2002- The Detroit based horror rap group
Twiztid re-release their song called "Nosferatu" on the internet under the name
Samhien Witch Killaz.
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2003- A energy weapon in the online multiplayer game Eve Online is called a Nosferatu, it steals energy from another ship and transfers it to your own (also called energy vampires)
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2004- In the issue 14 of the
Spectacular Spider-Man,
Morbius the Living Vampire is drawn to look like Count Orlok.
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2004-
Jim Carrey plays the role of Count Olaf in
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. The likeness of Olaf appears to be modelled on a likeness of Nosferatu.
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2005"
General Grievous, a new
Star Wars villain, is based on various aspects of Nosferatu. Rob Coleman (one of the top VFX workers on
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith) when speaking about movements for the character is quoted as saying, "In fact, we talked about
Fagin as well as classic vampire movies, including
Nosferatu."
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2005 - A dark magic spellbook that absorbs HP in the video game (
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones) was called Nosferatu. There was also a "Tower of Nosferatu" which was filled with the undead.
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2005"
2006-
Dracula vs. King Arthur, a
comic book mini-series seeing Count Dracula transported to Arthurian era Camelot and invading the lands, with many underling vampires resembling the rat-faced look of Orlok.
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2006" The character Uta Refson (
Erica Cerra) [
Nosferatu backwards] is introduced in the series
The L Word (episode 31) at table 13 of a speed dating session, as a Vampirologist (not a Vampire mythologist) certified by Dartmill University (the certificate being 13 lines long), teacher of a course on the queer vampire in literature & film in a seminar called "Demon Desire" about the vampire as a lesbian predator, and as an appropriately overwhelming love interest for the core character of Alice Pieszecki (
Leisha Hailey). Uta Refson is shown to have a bony figure, very intense eyes, long sharp fangs and finger-nails, a casual avoidance of being seen in mirrors, exceptional stamina, a preference to only go out at night, an aversion to discussing religion and far greater strength than her body suggests.2006- In the movie Running Scared, a Nosferatu-type monster is in the background of the bathroom of the pedophiles' house.
2006- In the Base Set of Wizkid's Games Horrorclix Battleing Mininatures game, there is a figure named Nosferatu.
Movie: Running Scared (2006)movie director Wayne Kramer mentions this Nosferatu-looking monster in the making of documentary featured on the Running Scared DVD
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Nosferatu at
Google Video*
Nosferatu (The largest single book ever on the great German film Nosferatu )
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Download Nosferatu from the
Internet Archive*
A comparison of Nosferatu DVD releases*
Another DVD comparison*
A comparison of the two leading North American DVD releases*
A similar comparison of three leading European releases*
A long discussion of Nosferatu's restoration, along with another comparison of DVD releases*
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Nosferatu movie web*
Nosferatu: A New Raging Operetta
