Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Iconic Horror Scene: Nosferatu (1922)



This scene is from the 1922 silent film Nosferatu, which is probably the most well-known horror film of the silent era. It is basically an adaptation of Dracula, except instead of being called Dracula, he is Count Orlok. This is my favorite scene in the whole movie and it is also one of the creepier scenes.

It starts out with the famous image of him creeping up the stairs. This movie does a great job with the use of shadow.

It then cuts to the girl being startled and another image of Count Orlock in shadow. This shot really emphasizes his exhaggerated features, especially his long fingers.

We don't see him open the door to her room, instead we just see her frightened reaction as he enters her room. We then see the shadow of his hand reach for her heart.
It is fantastic because throughout this sequence you only see Count Orlok in shadow, and that is what makes it so dark and creepy. Black and white films, especially the ones during the silent era used shadows a lot in horror films, and I think that they are very effective. You can read more about that HERE. You see inspiration from this film in a lot of movies, but the one that does a great job with it is the 1992 version of Dracula.

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