Nosferatu

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NOSFERATU
Prana-Film, 1922

The creepiest of all vampire films -- the one that can paralyze a viewer with dread -- is, remarkably, also one of the earliest.  F.W. Murnau's silent adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula doesn't gussy up its bloodsucking antihero in a tux and hari pomade, a la Bela Lugosi.   Instead, Count Oriok (Max Schreck) is a bald, ratlike, cadaverous monster -- and still he exerts an unnerving erotic pull.  Unfolding with the inarguability of a dream, Nosferatu presents Death as the ultimate lover with high style and no illusions:  In a very real way, it's the missing link between 19th-century gothic and late-20th-century Goth.

PRINCIPAL CAST Gustzv Botz, Max Schreck
DIRECTOR F. W. Murnau
PRODUCER Enrico Dieckmann, Albin Grau
SCREENWRITERS Henrik Galeen
nosferatu.jpg (5930 bytes)

This film ranked 80
on the EW Top 100.