Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List
Spoiler-free premise
Vampire Count Orlok is interested in a new residence and in real estate agent Hutter's young wife.
Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free+
Estate agent Thomas Hutter travels from Wisborg to Transylvania to arrange Count Orlok's purchase of a house opposite his own. Orlok's interest in Hutter's wife Ellen and his coffins' journey west bring plague-like death toward the town.
Why it belongs
Through real locations, negative images, elongated shadow, and Max Schreck's uncanny body, Nosferatu makes plague and vampirism inseparable.
Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case+
Arched doors, bare landscapes, fast-motion coaches, coffins, rats, tinted night, and Orlok's shadow on stairs create terror from graphic silhouette and physical intrusion; Max Schreck moves like a creature outside human cadence.
Major award wins
No verified wins in this six-institution crosswalk.
Awards are reference metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Good for
Film Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.
Institutional reference ranks
Sight & Sound196IMDb Top 250—AFI 100—
Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score
Great Cinema Master List scores
Greatness9.1
Engagement8.4
Ease8.0
German · Not Rated Silent Feature Mood: Dark & Intense
