(1922)
Nosferatu is not only one of the very first horror films ever, but it is also one of the first movies ever. This silent film was released in 1922 and is based on Dracula by Bram Stoker. Because of director F. W. Murnau’s legal troubles with Bram Stoker’s widow, the film was forbidden to use the name “Dracula,” and eventually all known prints of the film were destroyed. It was later restored by foreign prints. This causes some prints to different names for many of the main characters.
Nosferatu begins in the home of Jonathon and Nina Harker (Hutter and Ellen). Nina plays with a kitten and Jonathon brings her a bouquet, and she scolds him for killing the flowers. Later, Jonathon rushes off to work and is stopped by a professor who tells him that “no one can escape his destiny.” The film shows Renfield (Knock), a real estate agent and explains that he is questionable man. Renfield, Jonathon’s employer, is reading a letter full of indecipherable hieroglyphics. He tells Jonathon that he must go to Count Dracula (Graf Orlok) in Europe because he wants to buy a house in England. He decides the house next to Jonathon and Nina’s is perfect.
Jonathon leaves for Transylvania and Nina stays with their friend Lucy (Annie) Harding and her husband. When Jonathon arrives, he attempts to travel to Dracula’s that night, but the townspeople stop him, telling him that at that time the “evil spirits” had been released for the night. He stays in a village inn, where he discovers The Book of the Vampire. He reads about the Nosferatu, a type of Supreme Vampire born every 400 years, and falls asleep.
The next day, he travels on to Dracula’s castle, against the wishes of the peasants. He meets this strange count and stays in his home several nights, during which he has terrible nightmares, and also finds two small markings on his neck. One night, Nina awakens in panic and screams to Jonathon to be careful. The doctor comes and dismisses it as a fever, but Jonathon wakes up to find Dracula, Nosferatu, about to bite him. The next day, he escapes the castle and falls into severe fever. Meanwhile, Nosferatu travels to England aboard the chartered ship Demeter. Back in England, Renfield, under Nosferatu’s hold, is institutionalized and continues to try to eat bugs and escape to meet his master.
Once Jonathon is well enough, he leaves to go to Nina. Meanwhile, the crew of the Demeter is gradually becoming ill and dying, and “the plague” seems to be traveling to every port city they stop in. Finally, with just the captain and the first mate left, the first mate goes into the cargo hold and discovers Nosferatu’s coffin and is killed. The captain, apparently to remain on board, ties himself to the wheel and also is killed. Nosferatu and Jonathon arrive in England at about the same time, and their city is closed by the Burgomaster because the dead captain had been found, a victim of “the plague.” People are sick and dying under Nosferatu’s curse.
Nina reads in the vampire book that the Nosferatu can be destroyed only by a woman who is pure of heart, who will stay with him “until the cock crows.” That night, she awakens in panic and Jonathon runs to get the doctor. Nosferatu enters the house, and she dodges him until the sun rises, which destroys Nosferatu and lifts his curse. The sick no longer die, and everything is well. The end.
