Ten Spooky Days Of Classic Horror

Vampires, wolves, and goblins are ever present this time of the year. I’ve been thinking about what to write about and have come up picking ten “good” classic horror films you must see. I will cover this topic for the next ten days.

Do you remember, back in the day when you sat around your television set on a Saturday night to watch the old classic horror films? Man did I love those nights. My mom would turn off all the lights, get some popcorn, and we were in heaven. I remember being scared stiff too. When I watch those same movies today they don’t really frighten me as much as those days. But we have to hand it to old Hollywood for the colorful and many times scary images they brought to life and right into our living rooms.

My picks will not scare you as they did when you first saw them, but they are good nonetheless. Old Hollywood did not have to show gore, blood, maiming, and such to make a movie scary. All it took was a good plot, and a lot of imagination. I still enjoy these movies not so much because they will scare me, but because I enjoy seeing the pioneers of Horror film. The characters they portrayed will forever be memorable.

Nosferatu, A Symphony of Terror (1922)

Plot: Count Orlok, the first vampire to appear on the big screen, eerily played by Max Schreck moves from his ruined castle to the city of Wisborg. When he arrives he gets obsessed with the realtor’s wife Helen Hutter played by Greta Schroder. Only he doesn’t know she holds the power to end his evil.

Review: “Set in the sleepy German town of Bremen, the 1922 German silent film “Nosferatu” is based on the Bram Stoker novel, “Dracula.” The film company was unable to obtain the rights to the story, so the names of the Stoker’s main characters were changed to avoid legal complications. Bram Stoker’s widow sued anyway, and won. All existing copies of the film were ordered to be destroyed by the court handling the case, but since many copies were already in circulation, “Nosferatu” was not lost.

In this version of the vampire legend, a young married man, Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) is commissioned by the peculiar, repulsive Knock (Alexander Granach) to visit Count Orlock in Transylvania. Count Orlock, apparently wants to buy a house in Bremen, and Knock tells Hutter to travel to Transylvania and make the necessary arrangements with the Count. Knock tells his employee not to pay any attention to the stories of phantoms–it’s all nonsense. Hutter, who imagines that he’s hit the big time with this commission, travels to Transylvania leaving his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder) behind in the care of friends.

The trip to Transylvania builds up the suspense as Hutter travels closer and closer to the lair of the Count. Locals at an inn near the castle are full of dread, but Hutter laughs off their horror by blaming the rumours he’s been warned about. Even when he’s taken by coach to the castle, and dropped some way off because the coachmen fear to go closer, Hutter still proceeds on his journey. The Count’s nightmare castle is incredibly atmospheric, but it isn’t until Hutter slices his finger while eating dinner that it begins to dawn on him that there’s something wrong with this situation. The Count–who doesn’t look human–expresses an inordinate amount of interest in Hutter’s blood.

While Hutter becomes the Count’s next meal, his wife back in Bremen experiences horrible nightmares. Meanwhile the Count travels back to Bremen via his coffin in the cargo hold of a ship. The people back in Bremen begin to read newspaper accounts of the plague spreading throughout the region, and after Nosferatu’s coffin arrives, residents are found dead in their beds. Naturally the blame falls on the plague–a disease shrouded in mystery. Fearful residents in Bremen stay isolated in their homes, but death still finds them.

The element of sexuality always evident in later vampire films also exists in the symbolic surrender of a victim as she presents her neck to Nosferatu while collapsing on her bed. While the film is of great interest to anyone who likes silent film or German Expressionism, it’s also fascinating to watch the film and see how the Dracula legend mutated over the years with various versions. Modern versions of Dracula tend to portray him as an accomplished, enigmatic seducer. Nosferatu–on the other hand–looks like a ghoul.

F.W. Murnau’s film is a masterpiece of the imagination. Nosferatu is a nightmarish figure–a ghoul who rises from his coffin to relentlessly seek his food. The film–devoid of the special effects that dominate today’s cinema is gripping, and the scenes of the rats pouring out of the coffin are unforgettable.” (Source Amazon.com)

Nosferatu Links: nosteratumovie.com, wikipedia.org