German director F.W. Murnau's 1922 version remains a definitive adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Created when German silent films were at the forefront of visual technique and experimentation, Murnau's classic is remarkable for its creation of mood and setting, and for the unforgettably creepy performance of Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a.k.a. the blood-sucking predator Nosferatu. With his rodent-like features and long, bony-fingered hands, Schreck's vampire is an icon of screen horror, bringing pestilence and death to the town of Bremen in 1838. (These changes of story detail were made necessary when Murnau could not secure a copyright agreement with Stoker's estate.) Using negative film, double-exposures, and a variety of other in-camera special effects, Murnau created a vampire classic that still holds a powerful influence on the horror genre. (Werner Herzog's 1978 film Nosferatu the Vampyre is both a remake and a tribute, and Francis Coppola adopted many of Murnau's visual techniques for Bram Stoker's Dracula.) Seen today, Murnau's film is more of a fascinating curiosity, but its frightening images remain effectively eerie. DVD Special Features -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All new restored print with newly translated intertiltes in English and German Accompanied by a new recording of Hans Ermann's original 1922 score in 5.1 surround sound The Language of Shadows: The Early Years and Nosferatu: a 52 minute documentary on the film Nosferatu: An Historic Film meets Digital Restoration: a 3 minute documentary on the restoration Lengthy excerpts form Murnau's other films: Journey into the Nght (1920); The Haunted Castle (1921); Phantom (1922); The Finances of the Grand Duke (1924); The Last Laugh (1924); Tartuffe (1925); Faust (1926); Tabu (1931). Insert Essay by Peter Otto, Lecturer in English Literary Studies at the University of Melbourne. Image Gallery Audio Commentary by Saige Walton, Lecturer in Cinema Studies at the University of Melbourne, and Martyn Pedler, Melbourne writer and cultural critic.