Playing fast and loose with the facts behind the making of
1922’s Nosferatu – German director F.W. Murnau’s silent adaptation of Dracula – Shadow of the Vampire posits that the movie’s otherworldly star, Max Schreck, was a bloodsucker in real life. Aided by a bravura title performance from Willem Dafoe – his Schreck is a tragic clown at heart – the movie evokes enough humor and pathos to make film history fun.
