Last week I got the nicest post-show comment I've received in awhile.
On Thursday, Oct. 15, after accompanying a screening of 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927) at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine, a woman unknown to me came down to visit me in the area below the stage.
(She really did have to come down, as the Leavitt's century-old wooden floor is seriously slanted.)
This woman said she enjoyed the show. I responded with my usual self-effacing remark about how it's my therapy.
She scoffed, disbelieving, and then said this: "Ha! I could hear the joy in your playing."
Wow!
After 20 years of accompanying silent films in more than 1,000 screenings, joy is still detectable in the music I do!
If a comment like that doesn't make this all worthwhile, then I don't know what would.
Well, it's a good thing there's some joy left in my playing. A lot of music looms in my near future, as this year's pre-Halloween "spooky silent film steeplechase" kicks into high gear.
Two screenings this week: another 'Cat in the Canary' (1927) at the Nevins Public Library in Methuen, Mass. on Wednesday, Oct. 21 and then 'Nosferatu' (1922) on Thursday, Oct. 22 at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H.
Then the real fun begins on Saturday, Oct. 24, when I start a marathon of eight films over eight days that will take me to four different states! (All right, it's New England, so the states are small, but still.)
Perhaps the peak will be on Thursday, Oct. 29, when I have a double scheduled: a 2 p.m. screening at a retirement community in Concord followed by an evening show down in Hopkinton, Mass. Ironically, this is the town that each year hosts the starting line of another exercise in endurance: the Boston Marathon!
Check the 'Upcoming Silent Film Screenings' link (in the upper right hand corner of this page) for details on all the shows. Hope to see you at a few of them!
For now, here's the press release promoting the screening of 'Nosferatu' (1922) on Thursday, Oct. 22 at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H.
And remember: in silent film, no one can hear you scream!
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MONDAY, OCT. 19, 2026 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com
Creepy classic thriller 'Nosferatu' to screen at Flying Monkey on Thursday, Oct. 22
'Nosferatu' (1922), the first screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel 'Dracula,' will be shown with live music on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 S. Main St., Plymouth, N.H..
The screening, the latest in the Flying Monkey's silent film series, will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating music for silent films.
'Nosferatu' (1922), directed by German filmmaker F.W. Murnau, remains a landmark of the cinematic horror genre. It was among the first movies to use visual design to convey unease and terror.
To modern viewers, the passage of time has made 'Nosferatu' seem even more strange and otherworldly.
It's an atmosphere that silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis will enhance by improvising live music on the spot for the screening.
"The original 'Nosferatu' is a film that seems to get creepier as more time goes by," said Rapsis, a resident of Bedford, N.H. who accompanies silent film screenings at venues across the nation.
"It's a great way to celebrate Halloween and the power of silent film to transport audiences to strange and unusual places," Rapsis said.
In the town, a rise in deaths from the plague is attributed to the count's arrival. Only when a young woman reads "The Book of Vampires" does it become clear how to rid the town of this frightening menace.
Director Murnau told the story with strange camera angles, weird lighting, and special effects that include sequences deliberately speeded up.
Although 'Nosferatu' is suitable for all family members, the overall program may be too intense for very young children to enjoy.
Modern critics say the original 'Nosferatu' still packs a powerful cinematic punch.
“Early film version of Dracula is brilliantly eerie, full of imaginative touches that none of the later films quite recaptured,” Leonard Maltin wrote recently.
Critic Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader called 'Nosferatu' "...a masterpiece of German silent cinema and easily the most effective version of Dracula on record.”
Despite the status of 'Nosferatu' as a landmark of early cinema, another scary aspect of the film is that it was almost lost forever.
The film, shot in 1921 and released in 1922, was an unauthorized adaptation of Stoker's novel, with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain rights to the novel.
Thus "vampire" became "Nosferatu" and "Count Dracula" became "Count Orlok." After the film was released, Stoker's widow filed a copyright infringement lawsuit and won; all known prints and negatives were destroyed under the terms of settlement.
However, intact copies of the film would surface later, allowing 'Nosferatu' to be restored and screened today as audiences originally saw it. The image of actor Max Schreck as the vampire has become so well known that it appeared in a recent 'Sponge Bob Squarepants' episode.
In screening 'Nosferatu' at the Flying Monkey, organizers aim to show early cinema as it was meant to be seen—in restored prints, on a large screen, with live music, and with an audience.
"All those elements are important parts of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who will accompany the film. "Recreate those conditions, and classics of early cinema such as 'Nosferatu' leap back to life in ways that audiences still find entertaining."
The classic early horror thriller ‘Nosferatu’ will be shown with live music on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 S. Main St., Plymouth, N.H..
