Victorian Horror and 1920'S Style Breed a Moder
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Tory Long Appreciating Film Critical Film Analysis October 28, 2014 Nosferatu: Victorian Horror and 1920’s Style Breed a Modern Masterpiece Despite its prominence in the consciousness of contemporary popular culture, the legend of the vampire is by no means a product of the modern imagination. Legends of vampires have been around nearly as long as humans have told stories of supernatural marvels and produced legends of fearsome creatures. This is perhaps part of the reason Bram Stoker’s horror story Dracula, originally published in 1897 has since achieved the status of a timeless modern classic and remains in print over a century later. But while Dracula’s popularity with audiences at the turn of the century was unprecedented for a horror tale and doubtlessly cemented European folklore’s villainous bloodsuckers in the imaginations of horror audiences, it is impossible to overstate the impact that the myriad cinematic interpretations of Stoker’s antagonist had on the modern vampire as we know it today. And if any films within the budding artistic medium of early 1900’s cinema had an influence on vampire fiction, German filmmaker F.W. Murnau’s 1922 film Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie Des Grauens is certainly among the most important and lasting depictions. The movie acknowledges its source of inspiration directly despite many significant changes to characters and plot of Dracula. However, despite these artistic liberties the picture is nonetheless a moody and visually authentic homage to its gothic horror inspiration that captures the dark fantasy of Dracula’s tale in a way that is wholly unique to the visual medium of film and laid the foundation for decades of subsequent horror movies. Nosferatu is not just a landmark adaptation of Dracula, but is also a seminal work of early horror cinema in its own right. The movie appeared in 1922, when the medium of film itself was young and the genre of horror films even more so. Murnau’s adaption was the first proper feature length Dracula movie (of many to come after), and in terms of the popular elements of style, format, and tropes pioneered by the film it could also be argued as one of if not the very first proper entry in the genre that today is contemporary horror cinema. The lasting impact the movie had on the subsequent development of the horror genre especially within the subgenres of vampire fiction, fantasy and gothic horror are easy to detect in the visuals and mood, themes and tropes, and Schreck’s performance as the monster. But the film must also be viewed in light of its contemporaries at the time of its release. Nosferatu, in style and tone bears a resemblance to other iconic early horror/fantasy films that have come to be classified as part of the German Expressionist movement. The stark shadows and bleak, moody fantasies characteristic of 1920s expressionism have been the subject of much analysis and speculation, with some critics pointing to Germany’s political climate as a possible catalyst for the artistic movement. In the essay “Nosferatu Meets the Zeitgeist,” Lane Roth states that these expressionist films were typically “steeped in the traditional German Romanticism of love and death” (Roth, 311). She further explains that these Schauerfilme, or German horror movies, which include titles such as Das Kabinett Des Doktor Caligari (1919) and Der Golem (1920) were common during the post-WWI political instability of the early Weimar Republic. The fantastical elements that can be seen in Nosferatu and other films of the movement are what cause critics to associate them with an attempt to “get away from actuality […] through fantasy and dramatized mysticism” (Roth, 311). In large part, it is this emphasis on elements of mysticism and romanticism as well as the potent visual influences of the overall Expressionist movement that make Nosferatu such a powerful and enduring interpretation of its source, and what lend it its unique tone that inspired horror films for decades to come. It is largely in this mastery of the visual medium that Murnau demonstrates through which Nosferatu manages to be truly captivating. Before Murnau’s reimagining, audiences were left to construct the looming castles and dark woods of the Count’s home of Transylvania described by the novel solely in their own minds, but with the emergence of film as a storytelling medium audiences near the turn of the century were suddenly thrust into vivid fictional worlds through the ability of film to invoke powerful and convincing imagery. This allowed Murnau to provide horror with its most shockingly memorable retelling of a decades-old classic. His use of stark shadows, contrast, and lighting effects invokes the work of his German expressionist contemporaries while giving his homage a visually captivating atmosphere that comfortably suits the tone of Stoker’s dark novel. Images such as the iconic shot of Count Orlok’s (as the film originally dubs its antagonist) shadow creeping upward along a wall as he ascends a staircase just off the screen not only serve to establish this mood, but simultaneously lend a sense of overwhelming suspense to every scene the villainous vampire appears in. It is important to note when evaluating Nosferatu as an adaption that, as Saviour Catania acknowledges in the article “Absent Presences in Liminal Places,” Stoker’s Dracula is depicted in the novel as being completely shadowless, whereas Orlok’s shadow is clearly and unmistakably seen in the film. However, Catania goes on to argue that this alteration does not serve to make Murnau’s vampire less wraith-like than his Stokerean counterpart, but rather that “it is because of the shadow he casts that Nosferatu comes to embody the disembodiment of his shadowless counterpart. Nosferatu as shadow is, in fact, one of Murnau’s ingenious ways of incarnating in visual images Stoker’s verbal descriptions of what is visible but incorporeal” (Catania, 230). It is in this way that Murnau utilizes the medium’s ability to capture dark and light contrast and repurposes the shadowy and mood-inducing imagery of his German contemporaries to craft his phantom-esque homage to Stoker’s character. However another strong component of the film’s visual power that allowed it to captivate audiences in 1922 and modern viewers alike lies largely in its ability to bring to life the dark gothic horror aesthetic that is essential to a dark fantasy tale such as Dracula. This is accomplished by elements of the film’s visual design such as its menacing set-pieces, including the silhouetted towers of Count Orlok’s imposing mountaintop castle as well as the sharp arches and steep staircases of the gothic lair’s interior. The imagery of Orlok’s homeland in Transylvania (described ominously in the film’s inter-titles as the “land of thieves and phantoms”) not only gives insight into the Count’s villainous nature, but also appears in stark contrast to the brightly lit establishing shots, beautiful Victorian architecture, and verdant gardens of Hutter’s hometown of Wisborg before the arrival of the nosferatu and the “plague” of deaths he brings in his wake. However one of the most important, or at the very least, most iconic and culturally significant aspects of the movie’s visual horror design is the on-screen appearance of the count himself. Max Schreck’s unforgettable villain is a near-skeletal husk of a man, gaunt and lanky but still physically imposing thanks to his towering stature. In contrast to many more contemporary vampires, he is by no means a human-esque or physically appealing antagonist due to his sharp features, oft visible fangs, long talon-like claws, and a stiff, almost corpse-like demeanor visible in Schreck’s shambling movements and the way his form springs upright out of his coffin, invoking imagery of a lifeless body afflicted with rigor mortis. It is Murnau’s horrific vision of Dracula as a grotesque inhuman predator and his moody, expressionistic design that firmly solidify the film’s stature as an enduring icon of vampire fiction and horror cinema alike. Nosferatu is a beautiful and deeply foreboding reimagining of Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula. However, in its stylistic approach and distinct visual flair Murnau’s film surpasses the classification of novel adapted to screen and achieves the status of a classic in its own right. Outside of being among the most memorable homages to Dracula and entries in the genre of vampire fiction, Murnau creates a dark, brooding fantasy that still feels poetically captivating and deeply unsettling even today. Schreck’s haunting silent physical performance not only manages to bring to life Stoker’s iconic villain, but is a chilling representation of a legendary inhuman predator that feeds on human blood. The movie captures a dreamlike mysticism in its atmosphere and direction, but Schreck gives terrifying form to the legend of the wraith-like vampire in a performance whose influence can still be felt in more contemporary horror cinema. Even today, Nosferatu functions as both a beautifully realized love letter to classic Victorian gothic horror and a haunting visual masterpiece of its own. Works Cited Catania, Saviour. “Absent Presences in Liminal Spaces: Nosferatu and the Otherworlds of Stoker’s Dracula.” Literature Film Quarterly 32.3 (2004): 229-236. Web. 27 October 2014. Hensley, Wayne, E. “The Contribution of F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu to the Evolution of Dracula.” Literature Film Quarterly 30.1 (2002): 59-64. Web. 27 October 2014. Murnau, F. W. dir. Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie Des Grauens. Perf. Max Schreck, Greta Schroder, Gustav von Wangenheim, Alexander Granach. Prana, 1922. Film. Roth, Lane. “Dracula Meets the Zeitgeist: Nosferatu (1922) as Film Adaption.” Literature Film Quarterly 7.4 (1979): 309-313.