Score One for the Undead — ‘Nosferatu’ Finds New Life in Live Performance at Southampton Playhouse as Part of HIFF

Though F.W. Murnau’s film “Nosferatu” dates back to 1922, it still remains one of the most acclaimed and influential horror films of all time. It features ghastly visuals of Count Orlok, cinema’s first vampire, creeping through corridors and ominously lurking in windows. By today’s horror film standards, that might not sound very frightening, especially considering “Nosferatu” is a silent film from the 1920s — but there’s a secret weapon in its pocket: the music. The score for “Nosferatu” amplifies the creeping dread toward the audience, partly because it would be performed live back in the day.

Next weekend, as part of the Hamptons International Film Festival, the recently renovated and reopened Southampton Playhouse will give film fans a chance to live that experience for themselves.

Kicking off the second weekend of this year’s HIFF at the Southampton Playhouse on Thursday, October 9, at 6 p.m. is “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.” The 1922 classic will be presented in all its original German Expressionist glory with a score performed live by the band Invincible Czars. That means you can hear haunting piano keys, spooky guitars and grand strings right in front of you as Max Schreck, the actor who portrayed Count Orlok in the film, creeps closer and closer to the screen.

The event, and the film festival itself, is the first partnership between the Playhouse and HIFF since the former Southampton Cinema reopened back in February of this year. Eric Kohn, the Playhouse’s artistic director, said the event is meant to bridge the gap between cinema styles of the past and the present.

“I believe deeply in the power of silent cinema to be presented as close as possible to the way in which it was originally presented,” Kohn said in an interview last week. “With our cinema, we’re trying to cultivate a real dialogue between the past and present of the medium. While this isn’t a traditional kind of HIFF screening, it very much aligns with what we’re trying to do, which is bring the past and present into the same room.”

Based out of Austin, Texas, Invincible Czars have spent over 20 years playing live scores of classic silent films during screenings. They’re currently on tour doing the live score for screenings of 1925’s “The Phantom of the Opera.” The band started performing music for “Nosferatu” in 2015 and have been doing it live during screenings in a variety of theaters over the years.

Josh Robins, who started the band back in 2002, said they weren’t the only ones trying to add terror to Count Orlok’s ways back in the day.

“In Austin, there were already three other bands that were doing [“Nosferatu”],” Robins said in a recent phone interview. “There are so many alternate scores for ‘Nosferatu’ — orchestral, heavy metal, dance, ambient noise, jazz. I thought, ‘What have we got to add to this? We should just sound how we’re gonna sound with the instrumentation that we’ve got.’”

Back in 2015, when the band recorded their “Nosferatu EP,” that instrumentation didn’t even include drums. Robins said it was just a bass guitar, a flute, some violins and an array of sound effects. Though seemingly minimal, Robins said the goal was to make music that sounded “actually scary” and could “help tell the story.” Ten years later, that music is composed by a guitar that sounds like thunder strikes, whispering sound effects and a synth sound that Robins said “sounds like a screech” whenever Count Orlok strikes. The upcoming performance will see Invincible Czars as a five-piece band (with drums!) but, like Count Orlock himself, the same self-made spirit lives on.

“We definitely come from that DIY realm of music: punk rock, heavy metal, that kind of thing,” Robins added. “But we have a flute, violin and piano. You know, a classical side to use as well. That all kinda came together and was just a blend of what we had.”

Another key component to the performance is audience participation. Invincible Czars often ask audiences to make their own sound effects for certain scenes. One minute the crowd can howl along with wolves of the Transylvanian night, and the next will see them encouraged to scream at just the right moment in a scene. It’s an element that makes screenings like this incredibly unique, but one that Robins said required patience.

“At first we were silent, we’d just play our music,” Robins explained. “We noticed that audiences were laughing at the same thing every night, sometimes at things we were supposed to make spooky. We just started joining in and giving them permission. The very first thing that we do with audience participation is a werewolf howl, and that’s a pretty easy one. If the audience doesn’t do that one, we won’t play up some of the other stuff. If they’re howling loud, we’ll do some more. We’ve had nights where I thought the audience was going to rush the stage.”

Kohn, a former critic and editor for IndieWire, has many happy memories attending and covering HIFF over the years. With his new position at the Playhouse, he hopes that the “Nosferatu” screening is something of a gateway, not only to the silent film era, but also to horror films in general. So much so that he’s working on a program celebrating horror films at the Playhouse he hopes to roll out later this month.

“I’ve been doing a lot of research into how silent film is working these days,” he added. “The truth is, not everyone is going to take a risk on a silent film. They’re not used to watching movies that old, so this is a way in, to bring people closer to that art form and era of storytelling and get them excited about it. At the same time, we really want to create an audience for horror movies. I think horror is a really important genre for people with adventurous sensibilities.”

It’s a cause for celebration since the Playhouse itself represents a rebirth of cinematic history in Southampton Village. The theater first opened in 1932 and for years had been home to numerous HIFF screenings (along with the latest blockbusters year round) before it closed its doors in March 2020 due to the pandemic. Two years later, the property was bought for $8 million by Aby Rosen and his son Charlie Rosen of RFR Holding, in partnership with Alex Black, CEO of Lyrical Media. After renovating its interior and exterior spaces (including the facade), the beloved building reopened as the Southampton Playhouse in February as a nonprofit organization.

Kohn said he was brought in to advise the Playhouse on early ideas to make the cinema truly for the community before its reopening. All programs the Playhouse hosts can take place in one of its three screenings rooms and a state-of-the-art IMAX theater. As for the HIFF collaboration, Kohn said he’s known David Nugent, Chief Creative Officer of HamptonsFilm, HIFF’s parent organization, for many years and hosting festival screenings at the Playhouse was “a no brainer.”

“The Playhouse is a nonprofit for a reason,” Kohn added. “We’re trying to build a real community resource across the East End of Long Island. We can be a repertory, we can do special events, we can do conversations, we can do events outside in our parking lot. We can continue to build on our starting point as a movie theater to become more and more resonant for everyone across this end of Long Island.”

So, with all of the plans and excitement for the future, why start with a movie that’s over 100 years old?

“I think that people appreciate that it’s the first vampire,” Robins said. “It had its place in history. When you watch it, even if it’s a little campy to us, it has some really spooky imagery. That very first time it cuts to Count Orlok standing in the doorway, that’s pretty scary. The cinematography of it, the dark, use of the shadows, the way they shot it, the way they presented it, it’s a good movie for the era. There’s a reason it’s still studied in film classes today that other movies aren’t.”

“[“Nosferatu”] is very much driven by mood and by looks and movement,” Kohn added. “There’s Max Schreck himself, which is almost the greatest special effect you could ask for. The face of that actor playing Count Orlok is so surreal. He looks like a creature from another dimension. There’s so much about it when you watch a film like that, it doesn’t feel like it’s a century old, it just feels like it’s living in front of you as a great work of art.”

I“Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” with music by Invincible Czars will screen at Southampton Playhouse on Thursday, October 9, at 6 p.m. as part of the Hamptons International Film Festival. For tickets, visit hamptonsfilmfest.org. Southampton Playhouse is at 43 Hill Street in Southampton.