I read Nosferatu by Bram Stoker when I was in tenth grade and it was easily my favorite piece we read all year. I enjoyed so much of the writing style, how the story was presented in first person with an effective usage of diaries and the retelling of the events was awesome. The movie that I watched I got generally the same sense of perspective, with the usage of words like “I” when the characters were relaying what is happening. I enjoyed that greatly but one thing I did not like about the movie was the fact it was a silent film. The reason I did not like the silent aspect of the film is not because I am uncultured and need them to speak, but because I am not used to such dramatic expressions to convey their feelings and emotions. I am used to looking at a film and studying the finer points of acting, the subtlety of their eyes, the movement of their hands. In comparison, to have a scene where the actor sits like this for a few seconds that kind of freaks me out.

I don’t even know what the actor was trying to portray. Is this intense happiness or psychopathy? Is he going to murder her or hug her?

Alright good its just a hug. But can you see why I think that this cannot be taken seriously at points? How can I put myself in their shoes and truly fear for them as if it were myself(something I always try to do in scary movies to amplify the thrill) when I can’t even imagine myself making the silly faces they constantly make. I can’t put myself in the situation and it is causing a major disconnect for me personally by having thee film be silent, ergo, silly.

There are many scenes in the movie and the book that I recall as being particularly disturbing. My personal favorite scene from the movie was when the count first revealed himself. He is so creepy and eerie it makes me physically uncomfortable to watch. I did not accurately imagine how creepy the count would be when reading the novel, when I read the novel I thought he looked somewhat normal and just a little pale. However in the movie he is so ridiculously scary looking and acting I can barely look at him when he is on screen. I am pretty sure his face when John cut himself accidentally with the knife when they first met will haunt me for life.

However, in the book, the scene that stuck with me was the ship scene. Although they did a great job in the movie of presenting the scene, when I read it originally my mind went crazy imagining the devastation and pure fear that must have been felt by the sailors; I feel the movie didn’t necessarily do it justice. The movie showed the scene, exactly how it was written, but I still feel it was enough. They didn’t accurately capture the pure fear I had when I was reading the book.

All in all I really liked the movie, the acting was sub-par at times, (due to the over reactions) and  and the music was not exactly my taste, but it did freak me out at times and it told the story very effectively with very primitive tools.