Nosferatu: Performed by David “Waz” Wasik and Joe Rozler

F. W. Murnau's landmark vampire film Nosferatu isn't merely a variation on Bram Stoker's Dracula: it's a direct steal, so much so that Stoker's widow went to court, demanding in vain that the Murnau film be suppressed and destroyed. The character names have been changed to protect the guilty (in the original German prints, at least), but devotees of Stoker will have little trouble recognizing their Dracula counterparts.

The film begins in the Carpathian mountains, where real estate agent Hutter (Gustav von Wagenheim) has arrived to close a sale with the reclusive Herr Orlok (Max Schreck). Despite the feverish warnings of the local peasants, Hutter insists upon completing his journey to Orlok's sinister castle. While enjoying his host's hospitality, Hutter accidently cuts his finger-whereupon Orlok tips his hand by staring intently at the bloody digit, licking his lips. Hutter catches on that Orlok is no ordinary mortal when he witnesses the vampiric nobleman loading himself into a coffin in preparation for his journey to Bremen. By the time the ship bearing Orlok arrives at its destination, the captain and crew have all been killed-and partially devoured. There follows a wave of mysterious deaths in Bremen, which the local authorities attribute to a plague of some sort. But Ellen, Hutter's wife, knows better.

Armed with the knowledge that a vampire will perish upon exposure to the rays of the sun, Ellen offers herself to Orlok, deliberately keeping him "entertained" until sunrise. At the cost of her own life, Ellen ends Orlok's reign of terror once and for all. Rumors still persist that Max Schreck, the actor playing Nosferatu, was actually another, better-known performer in disguise. Whatever the case, Schreck's natural countenance was buried under one of the most repulsive facial makeups in cinema history-one that was copied to even greater effect by Klaus Kinski in Werner Herzog's 1979 remake - Nosferatu the Vampyre. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi.

As improvising musicians, their performance is a reaction to what is going on around them. In the instance of creating a live soundtrack to a silent film, however, Waz & Roz are not reacting to other musicians, but rather the images on the screen in real time in front of a live audience. Those images depict the eerie Max Schreck in the classic silent horror film Nosferatu. Using an array of instruments and sound effects, the duo of Waz and Roz create an unforgettable, in the moment soundtrack to the classic horror film Nosferatu based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Fall at the Burchfield Penney sees the start of Ideas Prime, a series of screenings, lectures and conversations which create a forum for an exchange of ideas designed to understand how the cultural, local and global issues are interrelated. Programs are free with galley admission.