Where Can You Stream the Original ‘Nosferatu’?
The new Nosferatu adaptation, starring Willem Dafoe and Bill Skarsgard, is the rare modern-day film whose original inspiration is over 100 years old. The original film, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, is a German silent movie that was released in 1922, and is considered one of the earliest and most important horror films ever made.
There’s no telling how close the new film with hew to the original Nosferatu, which told the story of a monstrous vampire murdering peasants in a small German village. But if you want to be able to compare it to the original before you see it — or if you just want to catch up on some vampire history before braving the crowds to see the new film — you have plenty of free streaming options.
Courtesy Everett Collection
Amazon Prime members can stream a colorized version of the film, but if you’re not a member, don’t worry — the film is streaming for free with ads on Tubi and Plex.
The traditional black and white version of the film can be found for free with ads on Pluto, the Roku Channel, Crackle and Philo. You can also watch it on Fandango at Home for free, although you’ll need to create an account before accessing it.
An unlicensed adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Nosferatu is notable for breaking with how the book — and many subsequent films and books — portrayed vampires. While Dracula is aristocratic and alluring, Nosferatu‘s vampire, Count Orlok, is a misshapen ghoul with pointed ears, incredibly long fingers, and no hair.
The film also created the convention of a vampire dying from exposure to sunlight — in Stoker’s book, vampires are simply made physically uncomfortable by exposure to the sun.
Nosferatu has been singled out as one of the most important films of all time by everyone from Roger Ebert to the Vatican — quite a set of honors for a wordless film made over 100 years ago.
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