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Review: Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) ★★★½

&NewLine;<p><em>Nosferatu&colon; A Symphony of Horror<&sol;em> &lpar;1922&rpar; was the earliest screen adaptation of Bram Stoker’s <em>Dracula<&sol;em>&period; Though the filmmakers never had the rights to Bram Stoker’s work&comma; it follows the same story&comma; with very few deviations&period; At the start of the film&comma; the protagonist&comma; young man named Hutter&comma; travels to a distant castle on business&period; Upon his arrival&comma; he quickly discovers that the owner of the estate is a blood-sucking vampire named Count Orlock&period; After Hutter reveals the Count’s true identity&comma; the remainder of <em>Nosferatu&colon; A Symphony of Horror<&sol;em> focuses on Count Orlock’s journey to Hutter’s hometown of Wisborg&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Nosferatu<&sol;em> displays many technical devices that were characteristic of the silent era and German Expressionism&period; The camera does not move at all&period; Instead&comma; it stays immobile during each shot&period; This technique allows &lpar;or forces&rpar; the actors to move around the fixed space and stylized sets&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Though the director uses a few close-ups to capture character emotion and focus on important objects&comma; the majority of the film is composed of medium-long shots at eye-level&period; Even though it is a black-and-white film&comma; color is put to good use to convey different times of day &lpar;blue for nighttime&comma; sepia for daytime&comma; and red for twilight&rpar;&period; Fade transitions help signal both the passage of time and change of locales&period; Though this may seem like a standard&comma; even basic technique by modern standards&comma; it reflected the influence of German Expressionist art on future films&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><meta charset&equals;"utf-8">e narrative&comma; <em>Nosferatu&colon; A Symphony of Horror<&sol;em> has a somewhat unsteady flow&period; Due to the lack of sound and rare intertitles&comma; character motivation is not always clear&period; Even though the actors are very theatrical to make up for the lack of spoken dialogue&comma; the film frequently leaves audiences in the dark&period; Clever editing techniques direct the audience to points of interest in the frame&comma; but it only serves to make sense of individual moments&period; The story as a whole feels a bit muddled&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"wp-block-image wp-image-674"><figure class&equals;"aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;nosferatu10&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Nosferatu&colon; A Symphony of Horror &lpar;1922&rpar;" class&equals;"wp-image-674" width&equals;"1200"&sol;><figcaption>Lighting and shadows create suspense as Count Orlock stalks his victims&period; <em>Nosferatu&colon; A Symphony of Horror<&sol;em> &lpar;1922&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In defense of the film&comma; the makeup and costumes are very impressive for the time&period; Count Orlock looks just as frightening as a vampire in any 21st-century horror film&comma; if not more so&period; Special effects help make Orlock seem even more supernatural&period; For example&comma; when Orlock first emerges from his coffin&comma; he seems to rise up as if by magic&period; No strings are visible&period; It never feels cheap in any way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>However&comma; the most impressive aspect of the film is the lighting&period; While many of the shots were probably filmed in broad daylight&comma; most scenes with Orlock are dark&period; His scenes are dark to the point of making him difficult to see&period; This lighting method helps make him seem even more creepy and sinister&period; Minimal backlighting and harsh key lighting create Orlock’s shadow as he creeps over his victims&period; Additionally&comma; fixed lights on Orlock&&num;8217&semi;s face give him a shocking&comma; pale visage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Overall&comma; the film is technically proficient and innovative for its time&period; Unfortunately&comma; <em>Nosferatu&colon; A Symphony of Horror<&sol;em> could have been much more entertaining &lpar;especially for modern audiences&rpar; with a more coherent narrative&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s difficult to maintain interest when the story meanders and many scenes go on for far too long&period; Moreover&comma; the character motivations and plot lack cohesion&comma; making it an especially hard sell for viewers who are skeptical of silent films in general&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon;&nbsp&semi;&starf;&starf;&starf;&half; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you&&num;8217&semi;d like to watch <em>Nosferatu&colon; A Symphony of Horror <&sol;em>&lpar;1922&rpar;&comma; it is currently available to rent or purchase via Amazon <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B001O96JC4&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B001O96JC4&amp&semi;linkId&equals;4e54850a222229899489fa07716d7678">here<&sol;a>&period; And if you&&num;8217&semi;d like to read more film reviews like this one&comma; consult the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;">Philosophy in Film Homepage<&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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