Nosferatu— Analysis of Vampire Character

Nosferatu is a first horror film depicting the vampire in the film history in 1922.  It is the German expressionist film by F.W. Murnau which shows a distinctive personal style. This famous film shapes the classical or the original image of vampire, and also provides inspiration for the later vampire films.

In this film, the main character Thomas Hutter is a secretary of an auction company lives in the fictitious German city of Wisborg. His employer sends him to Transylvania to visit a new client named Count Orlok. Hutter’s travel to Orlok’s castle is filled with evil sign which makes him frightened. When he arrives at the destination and sees Orlok, he finds Orlok is also very strange both in appearance and behaviors. He has long slender fingers, pale face and less hair. He also sleeps in the coffin in a crypt. When he discovers that Orlok is a vampire and returns to the hometown, he finds people there are already in danger. The town is stricken with panic and plague caused by Orlok.

Although finally the evil Orlok is killed by clever people, and the last scene in the film shows Count Orlok's ruined castle in the Carpathian Mountains, which symbolize the end of Count Orlok's reign of terror, still the whole film gives me an impressive feeling of fear because of the strange scene and gruesome atmosphere it created. I think the biggest highlight in this film is the fear effect, which shows the evil and violent characteristic of vampire, and also the film is successful because of creativity.