The recently released Shadow of the Vampire is a mischievous and highly entertaining speculation on the making of F W. Murnau’s classic vampire movie. Here is a chance to see the original Nosferatu in a beautifully restored print that includes the colour tints. The most poetic of horror films, Murnau’s eerie masterpiece combines expressionist imagery, location filming and purely cinematic devices to conjure up a dream world in which the extraordinary figure of the Count (played by the remarkable Max Schreck, who’s fitted with elongated fingers, pointed ears and a skeletal face to appear half human, half animal) represents a threat not only to bourgeois society but also to the marriage of the young Harker couple who are the prime target of his blood lust. A film of striking imagery and subtle undercurrents, Nosferatu deserves its status as a classic. It was based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but the title and character names had to changed when copyright clearance was refused.

Germany, 1922.
Black and white, with colour tints.
Silent.
90 mins.