Went to a Pre-Halloween late night showing of the 1920's silent film classic, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrors, on Friday night. The showing we went to at Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg, Bklyn. was really great because the film was screened with a live band playing the score. The band was really the highlight of the experience - I never knew instruments could produce such spooky sounds!
Nosferatu was written as a film adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, but they did not have the film rights. Changes were thus made to plot line, locations, and character names, so as not to infringe of the Dracula story. In contrast to the Dracula character, Nosferatu's Orlok does not create other vampires, but kills his victims, causing the townfolk to blame the black plague for these mysterious deaths.
The film itself, while creepy, is also comical as well. The overacting necessary to hold a silent film together rings especially humorous when played out in the horror genre. The night time scenes that were clearly shot during the day and the prosthetic face coming apart at the edges, ruined the illusion just a bit. These elements of disillusionment made for a far less scary experience than was remembered from seeing the film in childhood - that's for sure!
I must make a side note about the venue however. Nitehawk (the semi-newish theater in W'burg) has a GREAT concept going - get served food and booze (yes, they now have there liquor license INSIDE the theaters) while watching a movie. Sounds like a dream come true. But this place seriously needs to get their act together if they want to survive. They were completely understaffed, confused and confusing. The prepubescent fetus of a bartender was not only incompetent behind the bar, but also incredibly rude to top it off. Concept alone is not enough to impress the harsh critics of NYC.
Get your shit together, Nitehawk, we're rooting for you!!!
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