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Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens is one of those horror films that most people will not at least try to watch because it is 'being too old and not scary enough' so-called. I mean, the older horror films are the scariest whereas most of the horror films out today don't feel half as scary and just feel over the top with violence! Nosferatu is the one horror film that just goes to show that horror and suspense comes out amazingly without hardly any violence involved at all. What was so special about this film was that despite it being a silent film and there wasn't any talking involved at all, it was just so scary and tense! Personally, I think the silence (besides the music) made the film even more terrifying.
Count Orloc moves from his ruined castle to the city of Wisborg, after the visit of one Jonathan Harker. Once there he becomes involved with Jonathan's fiancée Nina, who alone holds the power to destroy him. Max Schreck was absolutely AMAZING as Count Orlok! I would say he was almost as creepy as Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Orlok is actually a vampire but poses as a nobleman from the Carpathian Mountains who moves to Wiscom, Germany. He lives in a vast castle high in the mountains, which is badly neglected and has a highly sinister feel to it. Local townsfolk refuse to go anywhere near his castle. Orlok is visited by the film's protagonist, the young Thomas Hutter, the assistant of a Wisborg estate agent, who travels to his castle to show properties for sale in Wisborg. And from then on to the end, it becomes more suspenseful and terrifying than ever. What will the consequences be? What I loved about Schreck's performance in this film was that you only have to look at him to be terrified (like Hopkins in The Silence Of The Lambs). You know what the odd thing is? The Nosferatu character is on screen for only a bit less then 9 minutes out of the 84 minute duration. So that just goes to show that the character may not have appeared that much, it was still a terrifying piece of cinema.
F.W. Maurau has accomplished perhaps his best feature film and one of the best horror films of all time! Maurau gave the audience the option to just switch off the film but I feel and I am sure that many people thought that it was too gripping, tense and just too amazing to turn off! Filming commenced in August 1921 and it ended in October of that same year. Director F.W. Murnau found Max Schreck "strikingly ugly" in real life and decided the vampire makeup would suffice with just pointy ears and false teeth. There is one scene where there is very clearly a Hyena but in the film, it is a werewolf. The music was breathtaking as well. I would say that the music in silent films and old cartoon programmes (like Tom And Jerry) always have the best music within.
Overall, Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens is a terrifying, suspenseful classic that I loved from the start right until the very end! There aren't many films that terrify me now but this one certainly did (in a good way, if you get me). It has now become one of my favourite classics as well as one of my favourite horror/thrillers.
9/10
