Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens 1922

Critics score:
97 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: It's not just a great horror movie. It's a poem of horror, a symphony of dread, a film so rapt, mysterious and weirdly lovely it haunts the mind long after it's over. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Never mind that much of the story of this first important screen version of the Dracula legend seems corny and dated, for what counts is its atmosphere and its images, which are timeless in their power. Read more

Dennis Lim, Los Angeles Times: Less frightening than haunting, Murnau's film conjures a persistent atmosphere of dread and decay, thanks in part to Max Schreck's immortal performance as Orlok. Read more

Mordaunt Hall, New York Times: It is the sort of thing one could watch at midnight without its having much effect upon one's slumbering hours. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: The film shows Murnau's uncanny mixture of expressionism and location shooting at its finest. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: A masterpiece of the German silent cinema and easily the most effective version of Dracula on record. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: The metaphysical style is most vividly rendered by Murnau's obsessive use of point-of-view shots, which force a viewer to follow the characters into the abyss of their terrifying visions. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: As vampire movies go, few are more memorable than Nosferatu, which is not only the first screen version of Dracula, but, in some ways, remains the best. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It doesn't scare us, but it haunts us. It shows not that vampires can jump out of shadows, but that evil can grow there, nourished on death. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: So this is it: ground zero, the birth of horror cinema. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Murnau proved his directorial artistry in Sunrise for Fox about three years earlier, but in this picture he's a master artisan demonstrating not only a knowledge of the subtler side of directing but in photography. Read more