Critical Essay
One brave, surviving sailor goes down to the basement of a ship in search for the cause of an unknown epidemic. Suddenly a number of rats come out from a cargo. Baffled by them, he hesitates and stands still. Then, from beside, a coffin opens and a pale looking man rises straight up. Feared by this abnormal creature standing in front of him, the sailor runs away outside and jumps into the sea. Nosferatu (1922), directed by F.W. Murnau, was the first expressionistic vampire movie. At that time, German filmmakers refused realism, but instead focused on abstract and symbolic aspects to express the idea of social confusion and unrest. Because of its artistic style, Nosferatu not only draws people’s attention by creating fear, it gains a reputation as a horror movie for its artistic style of the images. Murnau’s expressionistic approach of this movie links to a social condition in 1920s and does well in successfully creating suspense. Each detail of the objects has implications showing the reality of individual’s lives in 1920s. In a scene of the crew entering a captain’s room, the camera cuts from the captain’s room to the sailors’ room. Whereas the sailors’ room ha...