F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu is 89 years old.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Next year, one of the first horror films ever made will celebrate it’s 90th anniversary.  Ninety.  And the best part?  It still holds up incredibly well almost a century later.

I had the pleasure of experiencing the German Expressionistic Nosferatu for the first time back in 2003, during one of my early university film courses.  I had watched several silent films prior, but besides Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, I wasn’t too keen on the silent era.  However, Murnau’s vampire tale absolutely hooked me, allowing myself to realize the potential in imagery devoid of spoken words.  The film is haunting, poetic, and despite a vampire that resembles more of a rat-man, the vampire Nosferatu definitely gets under your skin.

The story of Nosferatu (or, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, in its native German) and its development is notable for the difficulties endured.  The film was originally planned to be an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but the rights were officially denied during pre-production.  Instead of scrapping the idea, Murnau simply renamed each character, such as Count Dracula to Count Orlok, Jonathan Harker to Thomas Hutter, or Renfield to Knock.  Max Schreck’s performance as the vampire Nosferatu was also incredibly nuanced, to the point where he spent most of his waking moments either in character or studying them alone.

A silent film can live or die by its accompanying music, and thankfully Nosferatu excels magnificently in this department as well.  The orchestral score can seem a bit out of place at times, but the melodies and general composition is memorable to this day.  If you can, listen to the re-recorded arrangement of the 1922 score by the Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra, which can be found on the Kino International Ultimate Edition DVD.

Nosferatu continues to live as a defining horror film almost 90 years later.  Its influence can be felt in many contemporary directors such as Werner Herzog or Francis Ford Coppola.  The movie still creeps me out years later, and the haunting poetry of many of the film’s title cards will stay with you for days after.  If you consider yourself a film-buff or fanatic of the format in any way, you owe it to yourself to experience one of the oldest yet greatest of them all.

Tomorrow’s film, Shadow of the Vampire, also makes a great double-feature when paired with Nosferatu.  I highly recommend watching them both, but I’ll save my thoughts on that for next time.