A Symphony Of Horror: The Legacy Of F.W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU
Released in December 2024, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu has been a break-out hit, garnering not only art-house critical acclaim but also strong box office – where it has made over $90 million in the U.S. and more than $140 million worldwide. The success of this latest incarnation of Nosferatu starring Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård Willem Dafoe and Aaron Taylor-Johnson means that it’s a good time to take a look at F.W. Murnau’s original film – and it’s lasting legacy.
Released in 1922, Nosferatu (aka Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror aka Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens) was the first (unofficial) screen telling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The silent film sees Max Shreck’s, grotesque Transylvanian Count, Orlock develop a deep vampiric fascination with Ellen Hutter (Greta Schröder), the wife of Gustav von Wangenheim’s German estate agent, Thomas.
The estate of Bram Stoker wasn’t happy with Nosferatu‘s, blatant theft from the author’s novel and it sued the film’s makers. While the names of the characters have been changed, and the word ‘vampire’ has been replaced by ‘Nosferatu’, the core story of Stoker’s text remains the same. Most of the film’s prints were destroyed following the legal action, but enough survived to help Murnau’s film become a classic. The influence of Nosferatu on the horror genre simply cannot be overhyped and its strong visuals and eerie tone have become a byword for expressionist horror.
In the 21st Century it is difficult for a silent film to create an edge-of-your-seat tension. Nosferatu manages to do this. The pacing for the film is well timed, while the sinister tone permeates through the entire film – even when Shreck’s Orlock is not on the screen. The look of Orlock is striking, his misshaped head and ears and elongated fingers add an otherworldly quality to the character. If vampires did exist then surely they would look like this. Todd Browning’s official adaptation of Dracula in 1931 may have introduced us to Bela Lugosi’s suave Transylvanian Count and Christopher Lee may have continued that tradition in the Hammer movies, but, Murnau’s film and Shreck’s Orlock are just as iconic and infinitely more terrifying.
Werner Herzog first remade the film in 1979 with Klaus Kinski , while a fictionalised account of the film’s making was made as Shadow of the Vampire in 2000 (with Willem Dafoe as Orlock). The name Max Shreck was used for Christopher Walken’s character in Batman Returns (1992), a movie highly influenced by German expressionist cinema. Every frame in Nosferatu is an absorbing image, many of which have become iconic in their own right. Even if you haven’t seen the film, it’s a fair bet that you have seen something that has used its visuals for inspiration.
Even Douglas Schulz, a friend of Movies In Focus, tackled the material in Mimesis: Nosferatu – which blends the high school elements of the teen slasher flick with the iconic expressionist visual stylings of Murnau’s film. The plot sees a Dramatic Arts school mounting a stage performance of Nosferatu, but unbeknown to them, a group of Count Orlock-inspired cult members (led by Lance Henriksen’s ‘Auteur’) have a few bite-sized surprises in store. Filmmaker David Lee Fisher – no stranger to updating having made a version of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari – released a low budget green screen remake of Nosferatu in 2023. The style of Count Orlock continues to resonate – and both the 1979 and 2024 versions of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot use the character’s look as the template for the character of Kurt Barlow.
The enduring legacy of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu continues – and if you’ve never seen it, then check out the full film below:
