20 Best Performances In Horror Movies

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror may be approaching its one hundredth birthday, but Max Schreck's portrayal of the discomforting vampire Count Orlock - based partially on Bram Stoker's Dracula - still feels as fresh and disturbing now as it did when the film first stunned audiences all those years ago.

What makes Schreck's performance so memorably bloodcurdling is the fact that Nosferatu is a silent film, and all the movie's palpable tension is created by eerie music that amplifies Schreck's twisted mannerisms. He was tall, and looks even more imposing on camera, and the make-up and wardrobe effects only accentuate his more noticeable and creepy features.

Every shadow, head tilt and hand gesture is perfectly placed by F. W. Murnau's direction, allowing Schreck to lean into the more physically disturbing attributes of fiction's most famous bloodsucker.

The fact that Nosferatu still scares today just goes to show how masterful the film is, and how incredibly petrifying Schreck's game-changing performance remains.

On that note, it's worth giving a shout-out to the indispensable Willem Dafoe, who portrays Schreck as an actual creature of the night in the brilliant Shadow of the Vampire, a film that hinges on the idea that Max Schreck was so good in the role, he surely couldn't be human...