The story begins with a man named Thomas Hutter, who is sent by his employer to Count Orlok's castle. Count Orlok is deemed a potential costumer to an abandoned home directly across from that of Hutter's. After warnings from locals at the inn where he spent the night, Hutter continues to Orlok's castle. When his coachmen declines to take him any closer to the castle, a coach draped in black appears to take Hutter the rest of the way.
After being dropped off by the mysterious coach, Hutter comes face to face with Count Orlok. Immediately from his appearance we may recognize that something is not normal here. This land (far removed from Hutter's hometown) and its occupant are representations of the uncanny, strange, and horrible. Hutter's visit to Count Orlok's castle inevitably brings the normal world and the uncanny together.
At dinner, Hutter cuts his thumb while eating food. The Count tries to suck the blood from Hutter's thumb, not wanting it to be wasted, but Hutter refuses. After waking up to puncture wounds on his neck, Hutter goes over the contract with Orlok. While going over the contract for the deserted home, The Count sees a picture of Hutter's wife, Ellen, and decides to purchase the home ("What a beautifully long neck she has," says Orlok.) That night, Hutter reads over a book he found at the inn about the "bird of death" (aka Nosferatu). Suspecting Orlok, he stays awake in his room until Orlok arrives in the middle of the night, revealing his true nature. Hutter falls unconscious at the sight of Orlok.
This is where we see the disgusting figure of Orlok fully for the first time. The shape of his body symbolizes that which is horrible. His sharp, beak-shaped nose, dark eyes, bald, pointed head, and grotesque fingers are all unnatural. The Count's exaggerated features mark the film as an example of German expressionism, which used unrealistic, exaggerated visuals to express feelings of horror, fear, and threat.
The true horror occurs when Orlok enters the world of the normal. The next day, Hutter awakens to find the Count sleeping in his coffin. In the evening Hutter watches in horror as Orlok stacks up coffins at an unnatural speed to be shipped to Hutter's home town. The under cranking is used effectively to give Orlok a super-human ability (speed). Hutter hurries home at the sight.
The coffins are transferred from raft to ship. A crew member pries open one coffin, allowing rats (a symbol of disease!) to pour into the ship. Soon after this, crew members are picked off one by one. One of the final crew members investigates and finds Orlok, who kills him and the captain of the ship. When the ship arrives, nothing is found but the rats and an old ship log, so the deaths are attributed to a plague. Meanwhile, we see Orlok carry his coffin to his newly purchased home.
Ellen awakens one night to find Orlok staring at her from across the way. She discovers that the only way to kill him is to expose him to sunlight, and he must be distracted by a beautiful woman for this to occur. After her first attempt her husband leaves, and Orlok makes his way to Ellen's bedroom. We see Orlock's shadow as he ascends the steps to Ellen's bed-- fear and death making its way into normalcy.
Orlok is distracted until sunrise, and dies in a puff of smoke. Hutter makes it back just before Ellen dies. We then see Orlok's castle crumble to the ground.
As an example of expressionism, Nosferatu serves to capture feelings of dread and horror, transporting them into the normal world. Unfortunately, this film hasn't aged all too well, and drags in many moments. While the key moments are exciting, the rest of the film makes them fall flat.
