Nosferatu portrayed Bram Stoker’s Dracula pretty well in my opinion. The black and white movie gave me an overall impression of a Tim Burton film, particularly The Corpse Bride.Burton intentionally gives utilizes the black and white, dull coloring to give the ominous feel just as Nosferatu gave off. I think it captures the entire aura of Stoker’s novel. It gives off a frightening and dismal vibe. Aside from the coloring, Nosferatu’s character’s resembled Tim Burton’s characters. Their features are over dramatized and they give off a creepy vibe.
Another thing about the movie that struck me was the castle of Orlok. It resembled the picture I had formulated in my head as Count Dracula’s castle. It was noticeably becoming a ruin but still standing in an overpowering way. It reflects the personality of Orlok, time does not interfere with his invincibility.
The music also gave off the intended vibe. I have to say overall, I was a little creeped out. Considering we are people of the 21st century we’re used to hearing dialogue and watching vibrant colors on the screen. The only sound in the movie was the music. It was unsettling (as well as a tad bit annoying) not being able to hear the conversation between characters. But I guess the cards that appeared on the screen helped select only the information that would be important and maybe not fully understood by the audience through the actors actions. I also noticed the actors actions were overdone, so as to make sure the audience understood what was happening. They relied on the visuals to convey the plot of the movie. Setting the mood rested solely on the visuals and audio, which, even though they were limited in the 1920’s in comparison to now, were really successful in the movie.
Nowadays “scary” movies are marked by sound effect, suspense, and especially special visual effects. They’re usually about possession and involve A LOT of goriness and blood. Nosferatu, though not exactly heart pounding scary, was able to achieve creepiness without all the technologies of today.
I put on the movie expecting to be bored out of my mind. While this turned out to be slightly true at times I found myself enjoying the movie as a whole. It takes so much for producers to create a successful film, but this film was refreshingly simple. It was fun creating the thoughts of the characters based on their physical reactions.
What you said about Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride is a really valid point, and I hadn’t thought of that at all. That movie definitely gives off an ominous vibe, particularly because of this detail. It’s really interesting that you compared this to a Tim Burton movie, because now that I think about it, I can definitely see similarities between the two. I agree with your point about the music and what we’re used to seeing in movies. I also wrote about my expectation about not being entertained, and while it did somewhat exceed this expectation, the movie for me still wasn’t great.