Vertigo
A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.
Cast
Our Take
Nosferatu exists because of a legal loophole, and that history is almost as interesting as the film itself. German studio Prana Film adapted Bram Stoker's Dracula without securing the rights, renaming the count "Orlok" and shifting a few plot details in a doomed attempt to dodge a lawsuit. Stoker's widow sued anyway, won, and a court ordered every copy destroyed. A handful of prints survived in other countries, and because of how the original copyright was never properly enforced internationally, the film is now in the public domain in the US — free to watch precisely because someone once tried to erase it.
Visually, it's still startling more than a century later. Director F.W. Murnau leaned on expressionist shadow-play rather than makeup or special effects — Count Orlok's silhouette climbing a staircase is one of the most copied images in horror cinema, referenced everywhere from Salem's Lot to SpongeBob. If you've only seen modern vampire films, this is the blueprint they're all quietly borrowing from.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Nosferatu (1922) really public domain and legal to download?+
Yes. Due to how its original copyright was handled internationally after a lawsuit from Bram Stoker's estate, Nosferatu is recognized as public domain in the United States, meaning it can be freely and legally downloaded and shared.
Is Nosferatu the same story as Dracula?+
It's an unauthorized adaptation of Stoker's Dracula with the character names and some plot points changed — Count Dracula becomes Count Orlok, for example — after the studio failed to secure the rights.
Why did the film almost get completely destroyed?+
A court ordered all prints destroyed after Bram Stoker's widow successfully sued for copyright infringement. Only a small number of copies that had already been distributed abroad survived.
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