Nosferatu

People who say this film is dreadful are missing the point. This a museum piece. It was not made with any thought to it still being seen 80 years later and cannot be viewed in comparison to modern films with complex CGI. When this film was made it was on a few years since the idea of moving pictures was tantamount to magic. Conveying a story with little more than dumb show and giving the audience an emotional experience took a level of skill that has almost been forgotten today, Film is an art form and each piece should be judged on its own merits - nobody would say a painting by Michelangelo was rubbish because it wasn't as lifelike as modern digital photography. The question should be: is it achieving what it set out to do within the constraints it is working in? In the case of this film the answer has to be yes. It must have been terrifying to a 1922 audience and although today it doesn't truly scare, the fact that, as many reviewers have stated, it retains the capacity to be creepy and unsettling is surely testament to the skill of Murnau and his cast. In Max Shreck we have one of the great performance of all time. His vampire has an air of malevolence that has never been achieved since. So strong is his performance that his presence is felt even when he is not on screen - most of the film in fact. The rest of the cast give good performances within the guidelines Murnau must have set out. Silent film acting is by its nature not subtle and German expressionism was aiming at even less subtlety. I have seen the film a number of times with various soundtracks some less successful than others. This time I was watching via the instant steaming service and the soundtrack was mostly orchestral with a bit of what sounded like twangy electric bass guitar. I've heard far worse than that. I must have been watching a different version to those who complained about synth noises. The print was Ok but what surprised me most was the writing of the English inter-titles. From the cast list at the beginning and throughout the film the characters were referred to by the names of the characters in Stoker's novel. So we actually had Count Dracula not Count Orlock. How can you write these without the knowledge that Murnau wanted to make Dracula but was denied the rights so he just changed the character names and carried on with production. That said the film in its own context is amazing.

A classic piece of German Expressionist cinema by the great director F W Murnau. The soundtrack is not great but it's a film that's watchable with the sound turned down. Full of iconic cinematic moments. Excellent!

I wanted to watch this for years and hoped I'd like it more. I didn't like the score and I couldn't get into the story easily.

I wasted an Hour and half of my life on this rubbish!.Yes it's an old film, but by god what a load of crap!!. I've recently made my own film, it's better, also the toilet paper i wiped my a** with is also alot better than this!!. BEWARE!.

I had to give up half way thru because the sound track was driving me crazy!....should have been silent! or had a better soundtrack added.