Nosferatu

1922 ‘Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens’ Directed by F.W. Murnau

A symphony of horror

Vampire Count Orlok is interested in a new residence and in his real estate agent’s young wife. F. W. Murnau’s unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”

Max Schreck Gustav von Wangenheim Greta Schröder Alexander Granach Georg H. Schnell Ruth Landshoff Gustav Botz John Gottowt Max Nemetz Wolfgang Heinz Albert Venohr Eric van Viele Karl Etlinger Hardy von Francois Guido Herzfeld Fanny Schreck Heinrich Witte Hans Lanser-Rudolf Loni Nest Josef Sareny

Alternative Titles

Die zwölfte Stunde - Eine Nacht des Grauens, Nosferatu le vampire, Upír Nosferatu, Das kostbare Blut, Pagina 17, Pest, Schatten der Nacht, Nosferatu el vampiro, Nosferatu, una simfonia del terror, Nosferatu il vampiro, 노스페라투, Nosferatu - symfonia grozy, Nosferatu, o Vampiro, Nosferatu, El Vampiro, Nosferatu the Vampire, Nosferatu: Kino Ultimate Edition

fantasy horror drama

94 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Gunnar Larson ★★★★½ 8

I only watched this to understand the Spongebob reference
Review by Sarah Jane 🔪 ★★★★ 15

I cannot EVEN imagine what the audiences thought of this film in 1922. Max Schrek is horrifying. I have to believe more than one person ran out of the theatre screaming. Hell, people were barely used to watching films let alone see this fucking freak looking at you. Yeeesh!
I love this film. This is always a go-to for showing on one of the television screens at a Halloween party.
Review by DirkH ★★★★★ 5

I've had the very rare opportunity of seeing this film at a screening in a neo-Gothic church with live organ music. This really enhanced the innate eeriness and visual dramatics in Murnau's film and made me appreciate it even more. Schreck's mimicry is just fantastic and his appearance has rightfully become iconic.
A Classic in every sense of the word.
Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★★

Godard tells us "All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun." I love Godard, but this isn't true. All you need to make a movie is light and shadow.
Review by san ★★★★½ 3

The calligraphy in Nosferatu is pure art. The whole “symphony of Dracula” premise already sold me, but F. W. Murnau’s sinister and twisted shots of nature are still impressive to this day. I can’t wait to see Robert Eggers’ modern take on this iconic masterpiece.
Review by kailey ★★★ 27

so, fun fact about me time! this movie actually determined where i would go to college. i was a young whipper-snapper, a wet-behind-the-ears 17 year old who was trying to decide between two different universities. and so, i had dragged my father to an admitted students day (he later begrudgingly admitted he had fun).
part of this day was sitting in on mock classes. my dad and i had actually gotten lost, so we arrived huffing and puffing to the classroom completely unaware of what actual class was being held! (we had meant to sit in on an English class, because i wanted that to be my major at the time). it turned out to be a partial lecture from…
Review by CinemaClown ★★★★

An unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula but also the most influential amongst all vampire films ever made, Nosferatu is an eerie, creepy, gothic & haunting cinema that may not look frightening enough from today's standards but its chilling atmosphere can still rival the best of what modern film industry has to offer in the genre of horror.
Set in the fictitious German city of Wisborg, the story of Nosferatu concerns Hutter; a real estate agent, who travels to Transylvania to meet his new client only to find his journey full of strange occurrences & later discovers that he just sold a new residence to not a human but a vampire who after arriving to the new place expresses an interest in…
Review by siobhan ★★★★ 4

ladies when we say we like guys who look pale and sleep-deprived this is what we mean 😍
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 1

Part 2 of my Hoop-Tober Challenge
88/100
Nosferatu transforms idyllic daylight and structured staircases into alluring mysteries of the dark, contrasting innocence with unspeakable evil. It's the quintessential Silent horror film, and one that soothes the heart while simultaneously activating a massive amount of goosebumps. Iconic filmmaking.
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★★ 4

The greatest horror films find ways to seep into the subconscious of their audience, creating a connection to something locked deep away in the viewer. These films tie themselves to a nightmare, a desire, or a fear through their imagery, narrative, or tone, affixing themselves effectively and hauntingly to those who witness them. F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu" does this. Through its story, visual metaphors, and overt grotesqueness, it lashes itself to the collective and personal nightmares of its audience.
In tinted, silent frames, "Nosferatu" tells a story recognizable to anyone familiar with Bram Stoker's novel, "Dracula." Though Murnau and company change character names and settings because of contemporaneous legal issues, "Nosferatu" does not try to hide its literary inspiration. A man,…
Review by Wes ★★★★½

light and shadow, sun and night, love and loss; the clash between these things is always an infinitely scary because they occur daily. the homoerotic vampirism and gothic organ chic is just a bonus.
Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★★

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is a masterpiece of German expressionism. It's an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula and it gives emphasis to low angled camera shots with some thoughtful juxtapositions to create and develop a dreamlike atmosphere in the construction of a frighteningly contorted world. F. W. Murnau directs the film and disseminates it with a chilling disposition and cinematographer Fritz Wagner evolves the eerieness of the environments and locations for vampire Count Orlok (Max Schreck) to emote within marvellously.
Orlok is a wholly iconic and memorable character who moves with observable nonhuman behaviour, accentuated by Schreck’s physically spindly appearance and his more than average height to help intensify many outstanding scenes, such as him arising from his…

Recent reviews

Review by river ★★★★

orlok carrying his coffin through city it's my all-time mood
Review by Angry Ghost Kid ★★★★

September horror 2020
29. Watch a cult classic that you haven't watched yet (hopefully you guys haven't seen them ALL)
I hope this counts as a cult classic. I feel like the imagery and the name "Nosferatu" come up all the time, so I think it counts. I hope anyhow.
I figured since I chose to watch the remake of this movie back on the remake challenge, that it was only fitting that I finally get around to watching this one as well.
While it is a retelling of the Dracula story, it changed a few things around to try and avoid being sued by the Stoker family (which they apparently still managed to do). I thought it was an…
Review by Devin Kendall Ward ★★★

That shot with the shadowy hand grabbing her heart. Dope.
Review by Cody ★★★★★

Nosferatu is a film for the ages. Nearly a century old, the chills still continue to go down the spines of those who watch it, showing how powerful composition and lighting can be when paired with a truly unforgettable performance. It’s hard to not know anyone who hasn’t at least heard the name Nosferatu, and it’s cultural impact is one that is still felt to this day. I cannot wait to have the chance to watch this film again, as it has left me utterly speechless.
Review by Colton Butcher ★★★★

First time viewing
A classic in every sense. The look of Nosferatu has become iconic and for good reason. It’s very freaky.
The shadow shots at the end are so good. I can only imagine how freaked out audiences would have been watching this is the 20’s.
Review by Gzilla1954 ★★★★

It had a great first hour, but the last 30 minutes of the movies stumbles in a few too many places. While I loved the slowly paced build up leading up to the castle, and the slow realization of the plans of Count Orlok, the pacing of the last third is slow but too slow. It’s not an engaging, slow burn sort of slow. It’s more a “okay hurry it up” kind of slow. Which is really unfortunate, because like I said the first hour is a lot of that slow burn build up, and I loved that. It gave plenty of time to flesh out the ideas, and portray them in an engaging way for the audience. And on…
Review by ava lau ★★★★

a fun and sexy classic, a must see, truly raised my appreciation for film in general to see the style and technique of it in the 20s, what am i supposed to do? give a vampire movie from the 20s a bad review? no 💖 i loved it
Review by MoVieManKev ★★★★★

V is for Vampire like the one in Nosferatu (1922) on Prime Video
One of the extremely few times an unauthorized adaption actually winds up being better. This genre classic is a nightmare-inducing mesmerizing masterpiece.
#FilmAlphabet V33
Review by einareottosson ★★½

Can't say this movie was extremely enjoyable but it certainly is very technically good and innovative for it's time.
Review by Genevieve Villarreal ★★★★

So good and creepy!
Review by Gabopher_Nolan ★★★★★

First I would like to get the only bad thing in this movie that I didn't appreciate, Very Very loud music! so loud that I couldn't hear the dialogue which made the film hard to follow. :/ Now back to reviewing this influential masterpiece that started the vampire horror genre.
The music, Lack of color and dialogue made it all more terrifying to watch, more terrifying than most horror (poor spooky comedies) films made today. The fast pace of scenes and amount of them really builds the film attracting my attention to every single second, The acting for Count Orlok (Dracula) was enough to keep me up at night and almost gave the impression that they really kidnapped a real vampire to film this movie 10/10. If you are a diehard fan of the horror genre this is a MUST.
Review by Travis Harty ★★★★½

Watched 2012 Kino Restoration with Hans Erdmann’s restored original musical score
Well, I’ve finally seen “Nosferatu.” I have to say that I felt my thorough knowledge of the *ahem* ‘source material’ (thank you, Actors Theater of Louisville) hindered my viewing a little bit. As I was spending a lot of time trying to piece together who represents whom from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” However, this just means that it will be even better the next time around. Because... wow.
The high points here are Hans Erdmann’s score, Murnau’s direction, the cinematography for the time, and Max Schreck’s pitch-perfect performance as the bird of death: Count Orlok. I will not spoil the ending, but the final culmination of events, the final images, and the final swell and fade of Erdmann’s darkly gorgeous score gave me chills from both beauty and fear.
Well done (once again), German expressionist cinema!