An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, NOSFERATU is the quintessential silent vampire film, crafted by legendary German director F. W. Murnau.
Rather than depicting Dracula as a shape shifting monster or debonair gentleman, Murnau's Graf Orlok (as portrayed by Max Schreck) is a nightmarish, spidery creature of bulbous head and taloned claws -- perhaps the most genuinly disturbing incarnation of vampirism yet envisioned.