Nosferatu

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This article describes the 1922 silent film. For the 1979 remake, see . For other uses see Nosferatu (disambiguation).

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens ("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 Hutter/Jonathan Harker), Greta Schröder (as Ellen/Mina), and Alexander Granach (as Knock/Renfield).

Story

Count Orlok's move to Bremen brings the plague traceable to his dealings with the realtor Thomas Hutter, and the Count's obsession with Hutter's wife, Ellen the only one with the power to end the evil.

Production

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.

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).

Remakes

Remade in 1979 as as directed by Werner Herzog.

Legacy

• 1977– The narrative song "Nosferatu" closes the album Spectres by Blue Öyster Cult.
• 1979– Salem's Lot director Tobe Hooper chose a distinct Nosferatu look for the vampire Barlow.
• 1982– Clips from the film are included in British rock band Queen's (featuring David Bowie) Under Pressure video.
• 1987– The starship of Sabalom Glitz in the Doctor Who episode titled "Dragonfire" is called Nosferatu. Later Glitz acquires a Nosferatu II.
• 1988 U.K. based Gothic Rock band Nosferatu (band) is formed, heavily influenced by classic horror, vampires, and vampyre subculture.
• 1989 Houston, TX Metal band: HELSTAR recorded a whole concept album based on the legend of Nosferatu.
• 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.
• 1991– "Nosferatu Man" is the name of a song on the album Spiderland by Slint.
• 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.
• 1991 – In White Wolf, Inc.'s there exists a vampire clan of hideously deformed vampires known as the Nosferatu.
• 1991 – Millennium Publications releases a four-part comic series, 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.
• 1992 - The Bat Boy story of Weekly World News debuts, with the title character looking just like a young version of Nosferatu.
• 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)
• 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".
• 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).
• 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)."
• 1994–The film Killing Zoe used scenes from "Nosferatu" before, during and after two of the main characters made love.
• 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!"
• 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.
• 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.
• 1997– The video game featured an enemy named "Orlox" who resembles Orlock.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1999 - The Swedish Progressive Metal band Evergrey has a track on their 1999 album Solitude - Dominance - Tragedy appropriately entitled Nosferatu.
• 1999 - The videogame Final_Fantasy_VIII featured a demon, often summoned by a "caller", called Nosferatu.
• 2000 - The videogame featured a mutated creature called Nosferatu as a boss.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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".
• 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: [link])
• 2002 - Jill Tracy and The Malcontent Orchestra release the CD "Into the Land of Phantoms," selections from their acclaimed score to Nosferatu.
• 2002– Count Orlok also appears in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants in the episode titled "The Graveyard Shift."
• 2002– The movie Blade II introduces mutant vampires called Reapers that resemble Count Orlok.
• 2002 - The video game Disciples II (and its prequel) feature a character called a Nosferat, a general for the Undead Hordes.
• 2002- The Detroit based horror rap group Twiztid re-release their song called "Nosferatu" on the internet under the name Samhien Witch Killaz.
• 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)
• 2004- In the issue 14 of the Spectacular Spider-Man, Morbius the Living Vampire is drawn to look like Count Orlok.
• 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.
• 2005– General Grievous, a new Star Wars villain, is based on various aspects of Nosferatu. Rob Coleman (one of the top VFX workers on ) 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."
• 2005 - A dark magic spellbook that absorbs HP in the video game () was called Nosferatu. There was also a "Tower of Nosferatu" which was filled with the undead.
• 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.
• 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.

References

Movie: Running Scared (2006) movie director Wayne Kramer mentions this Nosferatu-looking monster in the making of documentary featured on the Running Scared DVD

External links

• [Nosferatu] at Google Video
• [Nosferatu] (The largest single book ever on the great German film Nosferatu )
• [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]
• [Nosferatu] at Movie Tome
• [Nosferatu movie web]
• [Nosferatu: A New Raging Operetta]

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
Der Knabe in Blau (1919) • Der Januskopf (1920) • Abend - Nacht - Morgen (1920) • Satanas (1920) • Sehnsucht (1920) • Der Gang in die Nacht (1920) • Der Bucklige und die Tänzerin (1920) • Schloß Vogelöd (1921) • Marizza (1922) • Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) • Phantom (1922) • Der Brennende Acker (1922) • Die Austreibung (1923) • Der Letzte Mann (1924) • Die Finanzen des Großherzogs (1924) • Herr Tartüff (1926) • Faust (1926) • Sunrise (1927) • Four Devils (1928) • City Girl (1930) • Tabu (1931)

Characters of Dracula
Dracula | Jonathan Harker | Mina Harker | Abraham Van Helsing | Lucy Westenra | Renfield |
Film Adaptations of Dracula
Nosferatu | Dracula (1931) | House of Dracula | Dracula (1958) | Count Dracula (1969) | Dracula (1979) | Bram Stoker's Dracula | |

 

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