Friday, May 25, 2012

A Symphony of Horror

Guess what? Here's another "cultural significance" Anniversary review! But cut me some slack, it's not every day that the world's most famous rip-off turns 90.

Okay, that might be a bit harsh for one of the most influential silent films of all time. But it's the truth. F.W. Murnau wanted to make "Dracula", Bram Stoker's widow denied him the rights, and he simply filmed it anyway and changed the names. Thus, Nosferatu was born.

And let me tell you, Max Schreck's Count Olaf still freaks me the hell out to this day, which is about what I take away from the film when I see it. It's rather distracting.

But don't take my word for it. Since it did kind of violate copyright, all copies of the film were ordered burned shortly after release. Thanks to some bootlegs, it escaped destruction (so...yay piracy?) and is available for free here

2 comments:

  1. Wait...there was another character named Count Olaf in literature besides the dude from Series of Unfortunate Events?!?!

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  2. Oh my god, ORLOCK...I can't believe I missed that typo for so long.

    Olaf was most likely inspired by Orlock.

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