Nosferatu Essay, Research Paper

Title: Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens Year: 1922

Director: F.W. Murnau Starring: Max Schreck, Greta Schr?der, Gustav Van Wagenheim

Plot:

The story begins in Bremen, Germany. A little real estate agent, assigns his employee to visit the remote castle of Count Orlok, who wishes to buy a house in town. During the trip to Orlok’s lair in the Carpathian Mountains, images foretell doom. In an inn, all of the customers fall silent when the employee mentions Orlok’s name. Outside, horses bolt and run, and a hyena snarls before slinking away. The employee’s hired coach refuses to take him onto Orlok’s estate. The count sends his own coach, which travels in fast-motion, as does his servant, who scurries like a rat. The employee is still laughing at warnings of vampirism, but his laugh fades at dinner, when he cuts himself with a bread knife and the count seems unhealthily interested in the wound. Later, after the employee realizes his danger, he escapes from the castle and races back to Bremen by coach, while Orlok travels by sea. Crew members sicken and die. A brave mate goes below with a hatchet to open a coffin, and rats tumble out. Then Count Orlok rises straight up, stiff and eerie from one of the coffins. The ship arrives in port with its crew dead, and the hatch opens by itself. The employee’s wife learns that the only way to stop a vampire is for a good woman to distract him so that he stays out past the first cock’s crow. Her sacrifice saves the city.

Film making Opinion: One of the only things I did not really like about the film-making was the fact, that the usual story of Dracula is that he only come out at night. In this film he is seen in the daylight, that just seems strange. I liked the fast motion walking and movement, it gave the film an eerie feeling. Overall the film was made quite well.