In the day time, everything is fine, but as soon as the sun sets, you’d better watch your back. During the Halloween season, the perfect movie to send shivers down your spine and have you looking over your shoulder for hours after it’s over, no matter your age is here: Nosferatu. With chilling cinematography, eerie music, and incredible actors, Nosferatu is the perfect movie for a night of frights. As the first-ever vampire film, it will change the way that you look at vampires forever. 

Nosferatu was published in 1922 and was directed by  F.W. Murnau. Starring Max Schreck and Gustav von Wangenheim, this groundbreaking fantasy film would set the stage for the many supernatural films that would follow. This is the thrilling tale of a vampire and the effect that he has on society. The different elements that make up a vampire, including the mannerisms and the way of living of the vampires that we see in this movie can be seen in all of the vampire lore and literature that came after it.

We meet Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim), assigned a job by his boss to go to Transylvania to meet with Count Orlok about selling him a property. The Count, however, may not be as human as he seems, and though Hutter is warned about the “Phantoms” that live in Transylvania, he still ventures into the unknown, and the result may be devastating. In an attempt to avoid the wrath of the suspected phantom, Hutter travels home, and the darkness that follows could destroy his town and life as he knows it. 

Having known that this film was a silent film, I was a bit skeptical going into it about how scary it might be. But make no mistake, Nosferatu was certainly a very creepy movie and the fact that it was silent only added to the fear. The music that played the movie was perfectly dramatic, and it sent a shiver down my spine more than once. And, due to the silence, the actors had to exaggerate their actions, to the point where it was almost scary. We see Hutter’s wife, Ellen (Greta Schröder) is seen many times throughout the movie with a look of great terror on her face, be it because of nightmares, or Count Orlock himself. The silence of the film requires her to really play up the fear, which adds to the fear that this incredible movie sparks inside the hearts of anyone that watches it. We are also able to see our own fear reflected in the eyes of the townsfolk in Hutter’s hometown, and in Transylvania, and through their incredible acting, we are able to see the true terror that the presence of a nosferatu can inspire in the population. This story isn’t that of the vampires of today, but of the Nosferatu of our lore, and the fact that it is a silent film only emphasized the eeriness of it.

I loved this film, and would recommend it to any adult or teen who is looking to fear dark corners, and have a hard time sleeping. There were shots in this film where the camera stayed on a stretch of land or a part of the set for an extended amount of time, and these images have truly been burned into my mind. The creepy feeling that this movie gives you will have you leaving your lights on at night, and it’s absolutely perfect for this time of year. Nosferatu adds a whole new layer of information to the children of the night that we grew up with, and I truly believe that I will not forget this film.