canon

Director: F. W. Murnau
Year: 1922
Country: Germany
Runtime: 94 min

Also released as

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens
Nosferatu the Vampire
Die zwölfte Stunde - Eine Nacht des Grauens
Nosferatu el vampiro
Nosferatu, o Vampiro
Nosferatu, una simfonia del terror
Nosferatu: Kino Ultimate Edition
Schatten der Nacht
Das kostbare Blut
Nosferatu, El Vampiro
吸血鬼
Носферату, Симфонія жаху
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrors
Носферату: Симфонија ужаса
Носферату, симфония ужаса
Nosferatu
Nosferatu: Uma Sinfonia de Terror
Nosferatu, una sinfonía de terror
Nosferatu, Samphony e Vahshat
Léleklátó
Nosferatu - Drakula
Nosferatu: Mia Symfonia Tromou
Nosferatu - kauhun sinfonia
Upír Nosferatu
Носферату - симфония на ужаса
Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens
Terror of Dracula
Nosferatu, šausmu simfonija
노스페라투
Νοσφεράτου: Μια Συμφωνία Τρόμου
Dracula
F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu
Νοσφεράτου
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror
Nosferatu, Bir Dehşet Senfonisi

Filed under

Nosferatu

Name: Nosferatu
Director: F. W. Murnau
Genre: Horror, Gothic, Vampire
Released: 1922
Duration: 94 min

An illegal Dracula that survived a court order to burn it. Still the best-looking vampire film.

Murnau made this without buying the rights. Stoker's widow sued, won, and had the negatives ordered destroyed; prints had already escaped, which is the only reason the most influential vampire film ever made still exists.

Max Schreck plays Orlok as vermin rather than aristocracy: bald, clawed, rat-toothed, moving like something that has never had to pass for human. The rules everyone now takes as vampire canon are largely invented here, including sunlight being fatal, which is nowhere in the novel.

The shadow on the staircase is the single most copied image in horror. It still works.