DIRECTOR: FW Murnau
PRODUCERS: Enrico Dieckmann, Albin Grau
PRODUCTION CO: Prana Film
SCREENPLAY: Henrik Galeen, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker
PHOTOGRAPHY: Fritz Arno Wagner, Günther Krampf
WITH: Max Schreck (Count Orlok), Gustav von Wangenheim (Thomas Hutter), Greta Schröder (Ellen), Georg H Schnell (Harding), Ruth Landshoff (Ruth), Gustav Botz (Professor Sievers), Alexander Granach (Knock), John Gottowt (Professor Bulwer)

REVIEWS

“Nosferatu is the original Dracula movie and still, after 80 years, the scariest. If the film is not called ‘Dracula’, that is simply because Murnau and his screenwriter, Henrik Galeen, having failed to obtain the rights to Bram Stoker’s novel from his widow, calmly pinched the whole plot and changed the characters’ names. The resultant lawsuit rumbled on for years. Still, this piece of sharp practice can perhaps be forgiven, since it resulted in one of the greatest horror movies, not just of the silent screen, but of all time.
The special effects, of course, have long since been surpassed… But none of this matters in the face of what makes this a masterpiece: Murnau’s visionary direction and the chilling performance of Max Schreck in the title role…

The Nosferatu of Max Schreck is unforgettably grotesque from his very first appearance… Tall, cadaverous, bald, bat-eared and rabbit-toothed, he moves with short jerky steps, taloned hands close to his sides, as if still holding the shape of his daytime coffin. The effect is all but ludicrous, at once terrifying and pitiable: the creature’s need for blood, for living warmth, is palpable to the point of agony. Murnau, one senses, identified with his monster; Nosferatu is by far the most vividly portrayed character in the film.”

— Philip Kemp, British Film Institute 
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FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS*

Nelson 
Wednesday, 03 June, 6.00pm

​Palmerston North
Wednesday, 17 June, 6.00pm

Queenstown
​Tuesday, 30 June, 8.00pm

Bigger Picture Ōamaru
​Tuesday, 28 July, 7.00pm

Dunedin  
Wednesday, 12 August, 7.30pm

Auckland  
Monday, 24 August, 6.15pm

​*Non-members welcome by donation (notes only please)​
GERMAN CINEMA >>
German Cinema selection presented in
co-operation with the Goethe-Institut