You've got to be kidding me - 8.0? I gave it 4, mainly due to the terrible ending. He just vanished when the sun came up? Didn't he know about the sun? Wtf?
Just because a movie is old, it doesn't mean it's a classic. This movie was awful, I'm really disappointed. Nothing really happened, it was very very slow.
Movies like Interview With a Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Near Dark, etc are all way better than this.
And to top it off, they forgot to record any sound!!!!
That's just sloppy film marking!!!!
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It's not just one of the best horror films ever made, it's one of the best films in general ever made. Period. I don't know what people expect, nonstop action? That's not really the case with neither Dracula or Frankenstein, a whole decade later instead it would take the genre two decades to speed that up.
shareI love the movie but I can see why people wouldn't. No offense, but I don't think silent horror movies (or any horror movie made before the '60s) are right for you. Most of them are very slow paced compared to more recent horror films, and don't really have a lot of onscreen violence because obviously they didn't show bloody, graphic acts of perversion onscreen back then. Horror movies and films in general were so different back then that I can see why it would be hard to enjoy if you're not used to them. But since I watch old movies regularly I like this one a lot.
Burn, witch! Burn, witch! Burn! Burn! Burn!
I enjoyed Frankenstein more than this, it's just that this movie was a bit stupid at times. Like I said about the ending, the sun came up and he just died, didn't he know not to get burnt by the sun?
And I love old comedy like Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy, so I don't have anything against old movies. I've seen most of the classics, so don't judge me on this one movie that I didn't enjoy.
Mr. Laurio, never trust a beautiful woman. Especially one who's interested in you.
i think you missed something.
Hutter received a book about vampires on his trip. he brought that book back with him.
the Count wanted Ellen more than anyone while she was fighting it as hard as she could throughout the movie. When the Count came to town and started piling up dead bodies, she was slowly being drawn to him. But sometime in that process Ellen found the book about vampires, learning all her own that if "an innocent maidan" could fend his influence off long enough to draw him out by morning, sacrificing herself, the vampire could be killed.
They show the page, the paragraph, and her reading it twice.
She knew all along that she was going to die, she was just waiting as long as she could and hoped to make it till morning. The Count knew he could die but he was getting tired of waiting for her invitation, for her to beg for him, so when the moment was right she gave up, opened her windows to him, and he just couldn't help himself.
how many characters do you know of that go down because they were too busy thinking with their... fangs?
Ellen is the heroine of the movie. Not only does she save the day in the end when she saves everyone, but it was a bravely followed through plan as well.
Ah yes, I did miss that part. That makes sense, thanks.
Mr. Laurio, never trust a beautiful woman. Especially one who's interested in you.
no worries.
as for it being slow, well, i think that's a matter of both time and opinion. movies were different back then. ideas about film and especially horror were different too. i think if you can forgive those ideas and put yourself in the shoes of the audience member this type of film requires you to be, then maybe the slow pace and minimal monster screen time might allow you to better appreciate the ideas behind the heavy atmosphere and creepy villain lurking mostly in the shadow.
but i'm speaking more in a general sense and not, like, just to you, OP. if you were bored, you were bored, no need to bother again. though, maybe now that you understand such a pivotal aspect to the ending, and how the pieces came together to make it happen, i might suggest you revisit it one day, this fall, when you're already in the mood for a silent. it might just work then. or maybe you're respect for the latter day vampire films that came after this is too resilient to let this dracula rip-off effect you. either way, know this...NOSFERATU started the myth that vampires are murdered by sunlight. every vampire film or story after that has used it owes thanks to this film.
so, it's a smarter film than i think you're giving it credit for. if you were bored, i can't blame you for not paying attention to the movie. i can blame you for blaming the movie for your ignorance though. not saying you're stupid, just that this movie isn't.
chaplin and keaton rule, all the way to LIMELIGHT.
The one thing I'm curious about is that the vampire can only be destroyed by "an innocent woman". It would seem that that would imply a virgin, especially back in those days, which Ellen, being a married woman, would not be. Oh well, I can take it with a grain of salt as "pure of soul". The film is slowly paced, and I suppose not particularly scary, but for such an old movie it did give my spine a tingle or two in the scenes at Orlok's castle and on the ship, mostly due to the wonderfully macabre atmosphere the film is drenched in throughout. Also, Alexander Granach was very memorable as Orlok's follower, Knock, in a terrific performance; not to mention the spectacularly made-up Max Schreck.
shareI believe I have read that one of the reasons Max Schreck was chosen for Orlock was that there was not much in the way of make-up needed for him to look like Orlock.
shareMy favorite vampire is Lugosi's Dracula. But this vampire scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. Just out of curiosity, have you ever read Dracula by Bram Stoker on which this movies is based? This movie follows more closely to the book than Bella Lugosi's version. The book is slow paced. Not much happens along the way. Perhaps the film maker could have added more suspense and used more scenic shots.
"I hear this place is restricted, Wang, so don't tell 'em you're Jewish, okay?"
I wil try watching it again but after my first watch i score it 4\10. Nosferatu himself had a good look very sinister and evil
Rob Zombie is one of the greatest directors today