Hi,
My name is George, and my wife recently gave me the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" 5th edition, by Steven Jay Schneider. For almost a year now, I have been acquiring these movies, and organizing them in Movienizer, so at this point have over 1000 movies. Here is a review of one of my favorites:


Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie Des Grauens
Nosferatu, A Symphony of Terror

1922 - 94m Silent BW

Genre:Horror
Country: Germany
Director: F.W.Murnau
Writers: Henrik Galeen
Cast: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schroder

I have been a fan of what I call the "real" vampire story, Dracula written by Bram Stoker. I have seen all of the movies that have stayed truest to the original, and my three favorites are Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht by Werner Herzog and Murnau's classic.

At the time that Murnau originally started on the project, Stoker had died, and his widow refused to give permission to Murnau to use the story. So Henrik Galeen wrote a screenplay that followed the story closely, but all of the character's names were changed, and the setting was moved from London to Berlin. Max Schreck is wonderfully eerie as Count Orlock (Dracula) and Gustav von Wangenheim plays Hutter (the Harker character).

As any fans of the story know, Hutter is sent to the castle of Count Orlock on a real estate deal, and signs of Orlock's nature manifest during his time there. There is a famous scene where Hutter cuts his finger while slicing a piece of bread, and Orlock, seeing the blood, jumps to Hutter's side and sucks the blood from the finger under the pretense of helping the wound to heal. Hutter quickly pulls away with a look of fear and horror on his face.

A deal is sealed and Orlock becomes the new owner of a property in Germany. He travels by sea, carrying with him several coffins filled with earth from his home country. He moves in, and begins to inflict his horrible nature on his new city, mostly among those close to Hutter, including his wife, Ellen, played by Greta Schroder.

Nosferatu is a shining example of early horror, using special effects like dissolves, superimposition to bring to life the story of the vampire, and give life to the vampire legends that permeate our culture today.

George LeBlanc