Upon its initial release in Germany, F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu received high praise for technical quality and Max Schreck’s portrayal of Count Orlok, a powerful vampire. The film was nearly lost forever when Bram Stoker’s widow successfully sued the filmmaker for this unlicensed adaptation of her husband’s classic gothic novel, Dracula. In 1925, German courts ordered that all prints of the film be destroyed. Bootleg prints of this bone-chilling film began appearing worldwide in the late 1920s, and played to U.S. audiences in 1929. In 2007, Kino released a restored version of the film that beautifully reinstates Murnau’s original vision, complete with the haunting original score composed by Hans Erdmann.