Nosferatu

Not my first silent film but certainly one of the most effective.

Nosferatu deserves a lot of credit and a lot of respect in the horror genre, not only did it truly bring to life vampires in cinema but is such an eerie film that I can pinpoint to many different reasons. The plot is a loose adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula mainly changing the names of characters, and it's honestly a miracle this film even exists because Bram Stoker's widow sued the filmmakers and almost every print was destroyed. Sure London After Midnight is the holy grail of lost horror films, but I don't think people appreciate fully that we have this movie at all. There's many versions of this movie, it fell into the public domain which makes all of 3 horror films I know of that you can watch straight on YouTube, and the quality I got on there was good with the proper color tinting but the runtime didn't reach 90 minutes, I can fullheartedly say you should buy the Kino version because it looks outstanding and is at a pretty good price for a DVD. F.W. Murnau was a monumental director and did such a good job with this, the shots can be pretty and can also be skin crawling, and while I watched it with an organ accompaniment I feel the only true way is to watch it with zero audio. But not only that, the performance from Max Schreck is for my money the scariest vampire in cinema. His physicality can never be forgot and the strange unearthly way he moves in tandem with the rest of the cast is excellent. Silent cinema of the 1920s is never represented better than in the horror genre, I mean seriously how many silent black and white films can you name that aren't outright horror movies? I can name a few but that's because I enjoy that type of movie, especially with Lon Chaney as the star but an average person points to Nosferatu, The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, and The Phantom Of The Opera. This movie is nearly a century old and having that context makes it such a strange curiosity further engrossing the uncanny and creepy visuals. Bottom line, it's a classic for a reason. 4 stars, 7.5/10! But there's only one way to ever watch it, in the middle of the night ,when you are alone, edging towards sleep, with nothing but the silence and glow of your TV as company. And as you make your way to your bedroom in almost pitch black, you don't dare look behind you and hope that the sun rises a little quicker than usual.