Nosferatu

I downloaded a copy of F W Murnau's Nosferatu this weekend. My first encounter with this classic was in a high school film class. It seemed only appropriate to be watching the oldest vampire movie ever made at this time of the year. It was directed by a German immigrant named Friedrich Wilhelm Plump Murnau and based on Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. Murnau's studio never received rights use Bram Stoker's Dracula so he changed the names and much of the story's ending in hopes of calling it his own. The similarities are striking.
It is the oldest known film adapation of the book. It amazes me how Murnau unfolds the tale of Count Dracula in a silent format. He used techniques like having the protagonist write letters to his beloved on screen to help convey emotions and to move the storyline.
It still raises the hairs on the back of my neck when I see shadows of the wicked Count Orlock.