2022 brings the centenary of the most influential horror film of all time, Nosferatu.
The turning point in the career of legendary director F.W. Murnau (Sunrise, The Last Laugh), the screen’s first, albeit unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (which itself celebrates its 125th Anniversary this year) features Max Schreck’s unforgettable performance as the vampire Count Orlok, the most chilling portrayal of cadaverous evil in film history. Although a court order to destroy the film was successfully brought by Stoker’s widow, some copies escaped, and subsequently gave the 20th century some of its defining images of supernatural terror and dread. A decades-long search for the best surviving material and a re-recording of the original score by Hans Erdmann now allows us to see the film exactly as it premiered 100 years ago.
A towering masterpiece whose legacy is truly incalculable, Nosferatu remains as mesmerising – and haunting – as ever.