Nosferatu was one of the first horror movies ever filmed: it has set the bar and established precedent for over 90 years of sweaty palms and racing pulses. Over this time our threshold for being scared has evolved and the horror film industry has changed in tune with this standard of fear. Now scary movies generally follow a basic formula: an attractive person with a normal life does something and people around him/her begin to die. I am someone who greatly appreciates a good scary movie, but I find myself consistently disappointed whenever I go to theaters and see the same old plot repeated over and over again.
I’ve read the book version of Dracula and expected more from the movie. I didn’t dislike it, but I did not like it either. I was a little bit bored. But that was mainly due to the fact that it didn’t surprise me. However, as a classic scary movie I can imagine it was very surprising for the people who went to view it in 1922.
When I was discussing Nosferatu with other students, some people mentioned that it was ‘cliché.’ My response was: how can it be cliché if it was one of the first films of its genre? If anything, it set the standards for what a cliché scary movie would be and films today follow in its footsteps. We have all seen too many scary movies with similar plots and therefore could not objectively view Nosferatu. In the 1920’s this film was probably revolutionary and one of a kind. All of the special effects and lighting that we modern viewers consider ‘cheesy’ were technological marvels in the early 20th century.
What watching this film and subsequently hearing the opinions of my classmates reminded me of is my love for Alfred Hitchcock films. I own about half of the movies he ever directed and all of my favorite thrillers are his. But whenever I show “Psycho” or “North by Northwest” to someone my age that grew up with “The Grudge” and “Strangers” they are often unimpressed.
http://www.ghosthuntingtheories.com/2012/10/classic-horror-birds.html
Not to sound like a movie snob, but these days it doesn’t seem like we appreciate the psychology of and skilled actors in scary movies. We want the shock factor of someone popping out from behind a curtain in “When A Stranger Calls” and the gore of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
But when I watch a scary movie I don’t want to know the ending. I remember watching the movie “Prom Night” and being able to predict the entire plot line five minutes in. For me the ‘scary’ part of a scary movie is derived from true suspense in the script, not from the disposable friends of the main character being stabbed in closets.
http://robsmovievault.wordpress.com/page/55/
This is what I always loved about Alfred Hitchcock films. They play with more of our emotions than just fear: they go deeper than someone being chased through a basement by a masked man with a knife. I refer to these films as ‘psychological thrillers’ because each one is committed to manipulating our minds down one path and then taking a drastic twist in another direction. When his most infamous movie “Psycho” was released, Hitchcock bought all available copies of the book the film was based on so that no one would know the ending beforehand. He also closed the set during filming and had cast and crew-members sign a confidentiality agreement stating that they would not reveal the ending. This is taking surprise seriously.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/mar/29/psycho-body-double-marli-renfro
After watching dozens of movies with the same basic plot-line, Nosferatu did not seem very inventive. But for its time it was new and unexpected. I did not love the film, largely because I was able to guess the ending easily, but I can take a step back and appreciate that in 1922 I would have probably been on the edge of my seat.
You make a great point about how Nosferatu is perceived in its time compared to today. Nowadays it is not anything special and was not scary but for people in 1922, who have never seen anything like it, would be scared out of their wits by something like this. the shock value of seeing this on the big screen is what highlights the scariness of this movie. There were books about vampires at the time but seeing the movie was a whole new experience. The movie very clearly shows you what is going on.
Also I too grow tired of repetitive plots. Horror movies now seem to rely too much on shock value and special effects to carry the movie which makes the movie seem like it does not have substance. The repetitive plot lines show and I think they need to start varying them. Perhaps begin with something no one has done before instead of the perfect house with the perfect people doing all these perfect things.
I like the point you made about Nosferatu being one of the earlier horror films made. Taking that into consideration, it was a well-done film. The only qualm I’d have to say about it, and maybe the people who first viewed this film in 1922 thought this too, maybe not, was that it was too predictable. There was nothing unsuspected, from the warning of Harker to his wife to not read the book, to the reactions of the townspeople, to Harker’s mention of Orlock to the cut on his hand and Orlock’s reaction. But maybe I’m just jaded from all the horror films I’ve watched.
I also agree with what you’re saying about modern day horror films. They rely heavily on gore and special effects and don’t focus much on the plot-line whereas in Hitchcock’s films one had a difficult time predicting the ending (given that they had absolutely no prior knowledge of the storyline).
You aptly explained the problem with Nosferatu. Time has changed our conception of what is scary and what is funny. As a result, one cannot criticize Nosferatu on the basis of the lack of special effects. If we were to look at Nosferatu as the first of horror movies ever made, our perception of it will undeniably vary. In fact, we may be surprised by the plot and appearances of Count Dracula and Renfield. Looking at the movie from a modern perspective, however, will prompt us to criticize, as you said, the “cheesiness” of the acting and special effects. Since one needs to be open-minded with art, I think we should take the first approach rather than the latter. Watched without a point of comparison, Nosferatu is actually a decent movie with a plot that slightly lacks transition. Regardless, one is not completely lost at any point of the movie. In addition, for a movie made in 1922, I agree that Nosferatu set the bar high for later movies.