Nosferatu is the avatar of Count Dracula as depicted in the famous silent move of that name by the German director F.W. Murnau in 1922. The title role was played by Max Schreck, and is probably the scariest looking vampire you will ever see. There was a remake in 1979, starring Klaus Kinsky, whose rendition was faithful to the original.
The term `Nosferatu' itself is a modernization of a Slavonic term, nosufuratu (sometimes spelled `nesufuratu'), which is itself a `modernization' of the Greek `nosophoros,' or `plague carrier.' ... Nosferatu is set in 1838 Bremen, the year an actual plague broke out that killed numerous citizens. In the film, Nosferatu is constantly accompanied by rats (which are actual plague carriers), looks like a rat himself, and symbolizes the arrival of an unknown epidemic ... Bremen is shot in a way suggesting the expressionistic distortions of contemporaneous German silent films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Orlock's new home looks almost as decrepit as his Transylvanian one. ... Many images, such as Orlock standing on deck of the ship taking him to Bremen, will be forever burned into your mind.
-- M.A.Rogers (IMDb)
Links: Ebert's Movie Review | Carlos Garza | Murnau Page
