Nosferatu (1922)

So, the quest for a horror movie that actually scares me continues.  I heard many great things about this movie. I was even lured in by the Netflix description which states, "the scariest Dracula adapation ever". No, it's not. It's not bad, it's just not scary.  I don't want a film with gore; I'm in the hospital regularly and seeing blood doesn't bother me. Jump scares are cheap. They're meant to startle, not scare.  I'm just so disappointed with every horror film I see.

Here's Count Orlok. He looks like Count Chocula. He makes me really want chocolately breakfast cereal.

Note that he's not named Count Dracula, because that would be copying the book.  The director did try to change a few things so he wouldn't be sued. But he got sued anyway.  At least he didn't do anything unforgivable like make the vampires sparkle.


Like I said, I watched this on Netflix, but instead of the original soundtrack, they replaced with some really awful music. So, as usual when I watch silent films, I turn on Pandora. And it was awesome. The best part was when Count Orlok is on the ship, and the sailors start dying off. One of the sailors goes down to the hull to check things out. Then, the song "Sail" by AWOLNATION came on.  The entire song matched flawlessly with the tempo of the film. That just turned up the viewing experience to 11.

I was a little perturbed by this scene. Ellen is waiting for her husband to come home from Transylvania, and goes to relax at the beach. That sounds fine. But why are there crosses everywhere? Is this a graveyard beach? What is going on here? And why, throughout the movie, does she keep have the psychic moments where her eyes get really huge? Is it Nosferatu's hold on her? Because this is not explained whatsoever in the film. There were a lot of things not explained. It's as if the filmmakers expected us to read Dracula and at the same time accept this as a different story. Not happening. I'm giving this film a 4/10.