10. The concept in popular culture that sunlight is lethal to vampires is based on this film, which depicted such a death for the very first time in film history. F.W. Murnau knew that he would be sued for borrowing heavily from Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula without permission, so he changed the ending so that he could say this film and Dracula were not exactly the same
9. Shadow of the Vampire is a fictionalized depiction of the events surrounding the film’s production based on the urban legend that Max Schreck was in actuality a vampire. Schrek was played by Willem Dafoe in that film.
8. Werner Herzog told Terry Gross in 1998 that he feels this is the greatest German film ever made. Herzog, of course, directed the remake Nosferatu the Vampyre
7. Ruth Landshoff, the actress who played the hero’s sister once described a scene in which she fled the vampire, running along a beach. That scene is not in any version of the film, nor in the original script.
6. The creature that they say is a werewolf, during the scene at the Inn, is actually a Hyena.
5. Count Orlok is only seen blinking one time on screen
4. The character of Nosferatu is only seen on screen for a bit less than nine minutes in total throughout the whole film.
3. All known prints and negatives were destroyed under the terms of settlement of a lawsuit by Bram Stoker’s widow. However, the film would subsequently surface in other countries.
2. Many scenes featuring Graf Orlok were filmed during the day, and when viewed in black and white, this becomes extremely obvious. This potential blooper is corrected when the “official” versions of the movie are tinted blue to represent night.
1. After 85 years, virtually all of the exteriors are left intact in the cities of Wismar and Lubeck.
