Director F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, made in 1921, right after the devastating Spanish Flu pandemic, has become the ultimate cult classic among horror film buffs around the world. For years there was much speculation about the production background, the filmmakers, and their star, the German actor Max Schreck. This book tells the complete story drawing on rare sources. This book tells the complete story, drawing on rare sources. The trail leads to a group of occultists with a plan to establish a leading film company that would produce a momentous series of horror movies. Along the way, the author touches upon other classic German fantasy silents, such as The Golem, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Metropolis.

Table of Contents


Introduction: 100 Years After World War I

It Came from Max Reinhardt

Paul Wegener and Hanns Heinz Ewers: The Godfathers of German Film Fantasy

Conrad Veidt and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Dr. Jekyll, Murnau and Dracula

Dracula in Germany: Henrik Galeen and the Screenplay for Nosferatu

The Storyline

Casting a Man Named "Shock"

Shooting Nosferatu in Kafka's Castle

Premiere and Contemporary Reviews

Frater Pacitius, Aleister Crowley's Berlin Disciple

Great Plans and Nightly Hallucinations: The ­Ill-­Fated Prana Film Company

Fritz Lang Hits It Big-And Murnau Carries On

The Vampire Jew and the Curse of ­Anti-­Semitism

How the Golem Came Into the World and Fought the Nazis

The Revival of Nosferatu

Christopher Lee vs. Klaus Kinski

Shadow of the Vampire: The Legacy

Appendix: Bios of the Crew and Cast of Nosferatu

The Nosferatu Filmography

Filmography II: The Silent Era of German Expressionist, Fantasy and Alchemical Films

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Index

Rolf Giesen, a former visiting professor at the Animation School of the Communication University of China in Beijing, has compiled a special effects collection for Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin and has co-written several animation features. He is president of the Jilin Animation, Comics and Games Museum in Changchun, China.