Nosferatu

Running time: N/A

Quite possibly the most terrifying film ever made, Murnau?s Nosferatu continues to influence filmmakers today. Originally released in 1922, and based on Bram Stoker?s Dracula (character names were changed in a failed attempt to escape copyright issues), the story was a natural for the surreal, haunting world of Expressionism and its themes of death and madness, shadow and light. With his bald pate, rat-like visage and long, bony fingers, Nosferatu?s Count Orlac (Max Schreck) is a monstrous parasite sustained by the blood of the living. He lurches and creeps around, his hunched form terrifying even in shadow. This vampire is no handsome, romantic undead leading man, although he does crave the blood of a virtuous young woman.

The vampire has evolved into something quite different than what audiences saw some 90 years ago, but Nosferatu continues to be the stuff nightmares are made of.

We will be screening a 35mm color tinted restoration by the F.W. Murnau Foundation.