The Story Behind Nosferatu

Dracula, the father of the modern movie Vampires! Now over the decades many people have played Dracula over the years, including people such as, Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight), Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man), and even Bela Lugosi (Bride Of The Monster)!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] Bela Lugosi as, 'Count Dracula' in Universal Pictures 1931 classic, Dracula![/caption]

And speaking of Bela Lugosi. Bela Lugosi can be said to be the father of the modern movie vampire due to his role as a Dracula in Universal's 1931 classic of the same name, and due to the legendary popularity of Lugosi's portayal of the legendary, 'Count', since then an entire industry was created with in the world of movies!

Now some people might think that Bela Lugosi's Dracula was the first Dracula movie that was ever released... Well Dracula (1931) may have been the first movie to have the name, 'Dracula', but it wasn't the first movie to have a story based on Bram Stokers classic 19th century novel of the same name!

The movie of course that I am speaking of is, Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)!

This movie which is most recognizably known as just, 'Nosferatu', was directed by: F.W. Murnau (Faust) and starred Max Schreck (Peer Gynt) in the role of the famous, 'Count', and had been filmed for the German production company, 'Prana Film' (As a matter of fact, it is the only movie that Prana Film ever made!)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Max Schreck as, 'Count Orlok' in F.W. Murnau's cult classic, Nosferatu: eine Symphony des Grauens  (1922)[/caption]

Prana Film when it was in pre-production for this movie went to the Stoker estate to try and gain the legal rights to make the movie based on Stoker's book (Dracula)! Unfortunately his estate would not grant the request to use Bram Stoker's original story.

So alot of key segments of the movie had been changed including, the fact that alot of the second string characters in the original novel had been taken out. The principle characters had been kept in this new movie, including, 'Count Dracula', (although the names of the characters had been changed.)

Also the locations and dates were changed from, Britain in the 1890s to Germany in the 1830s.

The last thing that I thought that I would mention here that I thought that you guys might find to be rather interesting is the fact that in Bram Stoker's original novel, that Dracula could be in daylight, but is weakened when he is in sun light. In Nosferatu, the count (who in this movie is called, 'Count Orlok') needs to sleep away from the day light.

The particular fact that in Nosferatu, that Count Orlok has to sleep away from the day light could be said to be the most prolific contribution to Vampire movies that Nosferatu could have made, due to the fact that since Nosferatu was released on March 15th, 1922, that having Vampires having to sleep away from the day light has been a common theme in both, 'Dracula' movies as well as, 'Vampire' movies as a whole!

For more information on this movie I thought that you guys would enjoy this trailer for, Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens:

http://youtu.be/N-DrKgjit4I

The Crimson Cult (1968) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

Unfortunately it is tragic that the mainstream movie studios generally (not always, but generally) tend to over look the extremely talented men and women who have made their way in the world thanks to the wonderful world of horror movies!

Like I mentioned though, that is not always the case… And is most certainly not the case with actor Christopher Lee (Dracula Has Risen From The Grave)!

Christopher Lee… I mean what can I say about this man that hasn't already been said? Whether he is a fallen Jedi (as is his role as Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequel movies,) or as the fallen wizard in the, ‘Lord Of The Rings’ movies, Christopher Lee has always brought that deep voice, and an old school professionalism that he brought to the craft that hasn't really been seen since the trailblazers of horror, (like Vincent Price (Theatre Of Blood), Bela Lugosi (Dracula), and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein) were around!

And speaking of Boris Karloff…

One of types of movies that I have found out recently that I have really enjoyed is those old school horror movies that have one or more horror movie legends starring in them, (such as is the case with Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff in, The Crimson Cult (1968)).

Written by: Mervyn Haisman (Doctor Who), Henry Lincoln (The Saint) and Directed by: Vernon Sewell (Ghost Ship). Starring Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Mark Eden (Séance On A Wet Afternoon), Barbara Steele (The Pit And The Pendulum), Michael Gough (Batman) and Virginia Wetherell (Bram Stoker’s Dracula).

The Crimson Cult tells the story of how an antique dealer by the name of Robert Manning (Eden) gets a strange message from his brother (who happens to be on an antique buying venture in a small country village by the name of, Graymarsh.) Now Graymarsh does have some significance to Robert as it turns out that Graymarsh is Robert and his brother’s home town!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Robert Manning (Mark Eden) and Eve (Virginia Wetherell) in, 'The Crimson Cult' (1968)[/caption]

So Robert heads to his home town, a town where most of the townspeople seem to be partying as they prepare to celebrate the day when the townsfolk centuries before hand, had burned a witch by the name of Lavina Morley (Steele) at the stake!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="360"] Lavinia Morley (Barbara Steele) as she is working on one of her demonic spells![/caption]

But one of Lavina’s descendants, by the name of, J.D. Morley (Lee) has another date that he is using to worship his fallen ancestor, and this actually involves Robert!

So as Robert begins his investigation in to his brother’s disappearance in earnest, Robert Manning will find out a secret about his family and the connections to the Morley family that Robert never would have expected!

Now besides that fact that it is pretty awesome that actor, ‘Michael Gough’ would go on to play, ‘Alfred’ in pretty much all of the Batman movies, (from Michael Keaton’s time as Batman, all the way through to the time George Clooney played the role of the caped crusader), I also have to admit that it is pretty awesome to see what I believe to be the inspiration for the movie, ‘The Wicker Man’ (1973) in this movie as well!

As a side note, this was Boris Karloff's last movie...

Anyway folks, if your looking for a fun one to enjoy, you might try this one, it is a good one!

http://youtu.be/r6PI13Tus8U