Gothic Horror -> Nosferatu 1922

Nosferatu 

The eeriness of the black and white actually added to the film to make it gothic and come across more scary, as did the flickering of the old film, as things often became blurred. At times it was difficult to immediately make out what was going on, due to the lack of clarity in the scenes, which made it come across as more scary, as the fear of the unknown and things that are different are often found scary and induce fear into most people. This is often associated with gothic horror. 

---

Black and white have often been used in things for gothic horror to help show the contrast of the pale and dark and to make a clear distinction between the bad and good characters. This is the case in Nosferatu. Count Orlock is dressed in black and all though it is a black and white film you can tell the clothes Hutter wears are of a slightly lighter colour to show that he is meant to be the good character. These obvious clues to what the characters are like often make people side with a character immediately so this will have added an emotional connection between the audience and the character. Emotional bonds are often used in gothic horror to help create tension and fear in places were it is needed. 

---

The bad characters, such as Knock and Count Orlock, always had over dramatic make up and clothing to make them stand out. This helped to add horror to the film as they looked disfigured and unnatural, which is a key aspect of Gothic horror. With out the make up and clothing the film wouldn't have been the same as the vampire would have just come across as just a normal person and this would have dulled the audiences reaction to the characters and to the film over all; and the point of any horror is to get a reaction from the audience. 

---

The theme of the paranormal has always been seen as scary as its unknown and unexplainable; this film shows the character finding out about the paranormal and being afraid of it. This is a key aspect of Gothic Horror and through the power of facial expressions and body language the film is able to get fear across to the audience without the need for sound effects. And in fact the lack of sound effects sort of emphasises the fear these characters are feeling as the audience is having to work hard to get to them on an emotional level with out sound effects and dialogue, so as the audience is trying to put themselves in the place of the characters and what is happening to them they are getting more immersed into the film and so will feel the emotions the characters are feeling more. So this is adding to the Gothic aspect of the film as fear is playing a major part in film.