31 Days of Horror 3: Nosferatu

DAY 31

Happy Halloween! We did it, another 31 horror movies and I end this year with F.W. Murnau's silent German horror classic - Nosferatu.

One of the most grotesque looking vampires haunts this movie that borrows heavily on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula. The movie starts off when a real estate agent, Hutter (Gustav Von Wangenheim) begins conducting business with Count Orlok (Max Schreck). The Count soon goes on a rampage and becomes obsessed with Hutter's wife (Greta Schroder).

Yeah it sounds a lot like Dracula, because it is basically Dracula. Yet, Murnau didn't have permission from Stoker to use material so he was sued by Stoker's widow, which led to all known prints and negatives to be destroyed under the terms of settlement. The movie would survive this and start resurfacing in other countries.

Now, before the lawsuit, while they were filming, Murnau knew that he must change his ending so it wouldn't completely copy Dracula. So, what he did is he made the vampire be killed by sunlight at the end of the film.

This is where we get the legend that vampires can be killed by sunlight, it came from this movie and has carried on into vampire stories for years.

After all these years Nosferatu still proves to be frightening. It went beyond the simple chills that most horror movies had gave into and went it did its own thing.

It's a masterpiece of German cinema and definitely the most creepy version of Dracula ever created.

I would like to thank everyone who followed the list this year. It's been three years of putting together lists of horror movies. After this year I have listed 93 horror movies between the three lists. Every film I've mentioned is worth checking out, even if your not a fan of horror.