Raven Cassidey (Rated 18): Halloween Countdown (Day 7: A Date At Midnight With Nosferatu)

It was nothing short of a miracle that I managed to post up a blog entry for Day 6 today. So I'm surprised that I'm actually writing this, which would keep me up to schedule. But to be fair, this is going to end up more of an opinion piece, and I'm currently a quarter of the way into watching the chosen film on my laptop. I have spent most of the day in bed, and the movie is in the public domain, so I don't really need to purchase a copy. I also thought it would be interesting to include one of the earliest horror movies in existence; Nosferatu.

Oh yes, there will be.....hmm, come to think of it, this will be a spoiler free review from the looks of it.

Released in 1922, this early adaptation of Dracula is one of the most well known movies of the German Expressionist movement, and is one of the most iconic screen portrayals of the Bram Stoker story (despite the fact the film makers couldn't get the rights to the book, hence the change in names from "vampire" to "nosferatu", and "Count Dracula" to "Count Orlok"). The look of the vamp.....I mean, Nosferatu, is identifiable, and classic scenes such as his shadow, have been referenced many times over the years.

However, there's one problem I have with the movie.....it's a silent film.

Now before you shout "no shit Sherlock", what I mean by that statement is, for all its praise and significance to the horror genre, it is still a silent film, made at a time when movie making technology is still in its infancy. Sure people can go on about how the actors emote without using words, in a time before the "talkies", but at the same time, it's still annoying to watch cue cards interspersed with moving images, all while listening to an annoying soundtrack, of which makes the film even more dated.

As for that last point, below is the full movie posted on YouTube. Stick it on for five minutes or so, and listen to the music.

Now, I know this film was released 90 years ago, and I understand what with the limitations at the time, this was how they were produced. That's fine. But at the same time, what with the advancement of technology over the years, the only purpose this film would have these days are those who are interested in the history of cinema, whether it be students, lecturers, or film aficionados. Or those who are interested in the origins of the horror genre.

That's all well and good, but what about the movie itself. Well, herein lies the problem. The story itself has been replicated and improved in the world of cinema, so watching this by itself is really just one small step from reading the actual book. And I'm not even sure if it's a step forward or backwards. I probably should read the book to get a better opinion.

As for the format of the movie, it's hard enough to watch these types of films with no audio, but the music is just woeful. Again, limitations and all, and movie scores have improved greatly, not because of the music itself, but in the way it's been used as a whole. If you ever noticed classic movies such as "Gone With The Wind", the music itself can be distracting. I guess it's just teething problems from a time when all movies had was just the music.

Incase anybody asks, no, I have never seen "The Artist". Maybe it's a good movie, I don't know, but I'm in no hurry to find out. It's bad enough that I'm intolerant when it comes to silent films in general, but the hype surrounding the movie just put me off. I was annoyed by people going on about how it harkens back to a long forgotten era of cinema, and that these movies were better than watching a 3D movie, and so forth.

What, was everyone gonna start watching Charlie Chaplin movies? Were people really going to argue that advancements in technology were overrated? To hell with that, as far as I'm concerned, "The Artist" is just a gimmick that's lauded by snooty critics, another example of a movie with questionable "Oscar buzz", and some performing dog. That's IT!

Rant over.

Okay, WHY did you pick this movie?

As you can tell, I've been hammering on about the soundtrack issue, and there's a reason for that.

Years ago, I was in college during a film studies lecture, where we watched Battleship Potemkin, as part of a class on Russian Propaganda Cinema, and talked about topics such as its use of a montage in cinema (and now the word has a new meaning thanks to Trey Parker and Matt Stone). At the time, I was still tired from another "cheap drink/student night" on Thursdays, so while watching the film, the music was driving me nuts.

So I put on my headphones, and stuck on "Pigs Of The Roman Empire" by Melvins & Lustmord. No reason, just wanted to listen to something other than the movie. It's not like I needed to know about the score anyway. Funnily enough, not only did the album help me concentrate on what was happening, I could have sworn it fitted perfectly with the visuals onscreen. Forget Dark Side Of The Rainbow, this was the ultimate album/movie mashup.

This album is awesome. Buy it, borrow it, download it, whatever, just listen to it.

And what has this got to do with "Nosferatu"? Well, if I was to sit down and watch a silent movie for whatever reason, the music better be to my liking. Now, I can't remember how I stumbled onto this, but I found out that there was a version of "Nosferatu" released that had an introduction from David "Bill" Carradine, for whatever reason. But what caught my attention was the music used throughout the film. The soundtrack consisted of songs from one of my favourite rock bands, Type O Negative.

Unfortunately the movie was sold only in the States, and it seems rare enough to purchase, with some high asking prices last time I checked. So I looked to see if I can watch it online somewhere, which did prove difficult, as despite the movie being in the public domain, the soundtrack, consisting of tracks from the Drab Four's first three albums, would have resulted in being taken off the likes of YouTube.

So it was a miracle that I managed to find it, on MySpace of all places. Granted the picture quality is poor, the sound can be slightly low, and it's broken into seven parts, but at least I was able to satisfy my curiosity. Not to mention the fact that I was able to watch it from start to finish. Sure the music at times may not have worked perfectly with the visuals onscreen, and I was still unimpressed with the film as a viewing experience, but at least it made the viewing experience more tolerable.

For a long form music video of Type O Negative, it was impressive. Hmm, that reminds me, I still have to watch that After Dark DVD I bought in England.