F.W. Murnau, meet Thom Yorke. Radiohead’s mind-blowing “Kid A” (2000) and “Amnesiac” (2001) albums breathe new life into the first great vampire movie.
The first, albeit unofficial, adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, this film differs from subsequent versions in its vivid portrait of the vampire as a ghoulish fiend, bald, with rodent-like teeth, digits and ears. He preys in the shadows and merges with the darkness. If this is a creature of the Expressionist imagination, Nosferatu stands out for Murnau’s decision to film on location in medieval Baltic towns; the horror derives its special frisson from placing the supernatural within the natural world.
Radiohead’s music may have emerged 80 years after the images, yet the combination proves weirdly effective. Throw out your organs!
F.W. Murnau
Max Schreck
Germany
1922
No Dialogue
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Credits
Screenwriter
Henrik Galeen
Cinematography
Fritz Arno Wagner
Art Director
Albin Grau
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