Speaking of black-and-white films, perhaps few people will set their sights on horror films. In fact, as one of the earliest genre films, horror movies have been on the stage of history as early as the nineteenth century. In 1890, Georges Mérieux filmed "Devil's Castle" which combined elements such as witches, demons, and Dr. Crazy, which was even better than the recognized world's first film "Factory Gate" (the other said, "The Train Pit Stop ") is five years too early. Although it is a pity that the film of this film was destroyed by Mérieux, it has both commercial interest and psychological panic characteristics and laid the basic model for later horror films.
However, to say that the in-depth exploration and exploration of horror must be attributed to the Germans who are known for their rationality. Stellan Rye and Paul Wigner directed "The College Students in Prague" in 1913, and later the famous "Clayman Brothers" series. However, the works that really made the horror movie come into the room are the two masterpieces of German expressionism-Robert Wein’s "Dr. Caligari's Cabin" and FW Murnau's "Nosferatu". The former opened the branch of horror and suspense, while the latter was the beginning of the era of vampires in later generations.
As a vampire monster with supernatural power, the vampire legend can be traced back thousands of years. The establishment of the image in the modern sense mainly originated from the folk tales of Eastern Europe in the 18th century. But if you want to talk about the vampire template of current popular culture, you have to mention the gothic novel "Dracula" by Irish writer Bram Stoker. Later vampire movies are almost all based on this work. . In addition to Mornau’s “Nosferatu”, Todd Browning’s “Dracula” and Werner Herzog’s “Nosferatu: Night "Ghost" and Francis Coppola's "Four Hundred Years of Frightening Love".
Of course, in terms of seniority, Mornau's "Nosferatu" is the undisputed originator of the mountain. The name "Nosferatu" was used because Mornau could not solve the copyright issue and had to change the name in an attempt to hide the truth. Persevering, the lawsuit still came to him. After 20 years of relentless appeals by Stoke's widow, the court finally ruled that all copies of the film should be destroyed. Fortunately, there are so many fans of vampire movies. Like many banned books in ancient times, there are always people secretly maintaining collections, so that we can now see the true nature of this movie.
Due to the copyright issues mentioned above, coupled with the limitations of the silent film era. Murnau not only changed the name of the vampire, but also played down or even eliminated the scenes of other characters except the vampire and the hero and heroine, such as the love triangle between them and the vampire hunter Van Helsing, etc., which manifested as a very direct opposition between good and evil. In the first half of the film, the actor Hart travels to Transylvania to visit Nosferatu for real estate matters. The second half is the vampire invading the small town of Wiesburg, spreading plague and panic until he died in the sun.
Although "Nosferatu" is an expressionist film, except for the absurd content and the slightly exaggerated performance, Mornau has basically done realistic treatment on the set and video, and it does not appear frequently in expressionist films. The subjective lens of the upside-down, distorted, frantic. Whether it’s the old castle in the mountains or the street scenes of small towns, under the director’s arrangement, there is a gloomy and eerie atmosphere. One of the professors also used the predation methods of Venus flytraps and hydras to "scientific" analogy to vampires. .
As one of the most influential works in the silent film era, the greatest significance of "Nosferatu" is to create the first blood-sucking demon in film history: a thin, haggard face, mouse-like front teeth, hook-shaped nose and ear tips. , Ridiculously long nails. This is the image of a vampire that is close to the original, which is very different from the handsome niches who are elegant and graceful in later generations. At the same time, in this old vampire ancestor, there are much more primitive, instinctive, and animal aspects than the latecomers. From this perspective, the subsequent horror movies with mixed themes of humans and animals, such as the images of werewolves and flymen, are all extensions of this film.
In addition, we must not forget the contribution of this early black and white film to the film industry. On the one hand, Murnau experimented with deep focus photography, showing infinite potential in image composition. On the other hand, he prepared the storyboard before shooting, which not only shortened the shooting cycle, but also greatly enhanced the completion of the film lens, making it more in line with the original intention of the director.
More importantly, "Nosferatu" and "Dr. Caligari's Cabin" let Hollywood on the other side of the Atlantic smell an unprecedented commercial atmosphere, pushing them to change the narrative of the film while at the same time fully recruiting film talents. Among them, the representative who tasted the sweetness is Universal Pictures, which accepted and reused Paul Lenny, who was persecuted by the Nazis. Under his auspices, Universal gradually took the top spot in Hollywood at the time, and this studio also laid down the genes of horror movies. If you talk about the monster movie universe in the world today, I am afraid that its source is in Murnau and his "Nosferatu".
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