For those that haunt their local cinemas, there’s been not one but two versions of Nosferatu that have been bending big audiences to their dark will. However, only one of them came from Austin.
Of course, everyone knows about Robert Eggers’ remake of the 1922 horror classic (read our review here). Yet there’s a new iteration of the old story that has become a success on the art house, drive-in, and indie cinema circuit. Last year, Josh Frank (the mastermind behind Austin’s Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-In) released a new version of F.W. Murnau’s original Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens set to the music of Radiohead.
His plan was for this to become the first in a new library called Silents Synced. Now the second in the series – Buster Keaton’s uproarious 1924 comedy Sherlock Jr. as soundtracked by R.E.M. – will debut in the band’s hometown of Athens, Georgia at the Morton Theatre and Ciné Athens, ahead of being available to other theatres starting Feb. 4.
R.E.M. co-founder Peter Buck said in a statement that “Buster Keaton is one of my favorite actor/director/writers in movie history,” adding that I’m honored that in some small way R.E.M. is collaborating with him from beyond the grave.”
Silents Synced was, Frank has admitted, an experiment, something to give small cinemas like his own access to original programming that audiences can’t find streaming or in multiplexes. His hope was that it would get on the radar of a few cinemas, and he was elated when it got an early preview night screening last September at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles. “They booked one night, and that sold out in 48 hours. Then they booked another night, and it sold out. Then they added three more nights, and those sold out.” After years of hosting filmmakers at his own cinema, Frank was invited to attend the L.A. screenings and got his own taste of the red carpet. He said, “It was really the most thrilling experience of my life, to be every night going to this cinema to present this work I created in Austin in my work room in my house.”
That L.A. success was followed by sell-out preview screenings in New York, D.C., and New Orleans. Since then, Nosferatu x Radiohead has screened over 400 times at 200 theatres in 30 states from Alaska to Florida, as well as receiving a rapturous reception in cinemas across Canada. Plus, due to the experimental nature of what he’s created, “a number of art institutes are asking to screen it.”
Now Frank is moving on to Sherlock Jr., to which he has arranged music from two of R.E.M.’s biggest albums: 1994’s stadium-friendly Monster, and the album seen as a return to their experimental roots, 1996’s New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Frank said, “Michael Stipe has said that he feels that, at that period, the band were at their best.”
However, the original plan was to set the film to their fifth studio album, Document, and Frank even got as far as an early edit – only to discover he wasn’t going to be able to get the rights currently held by Universal Music. He contacted R.E.M., expecting them to say that the project was off, but instead got an unexpected response. “Their manager was like, ‘You know what, Josh, if you’re up for it, why don’t you try some of the [albums] that we have more control over?’” It turned out that, in 2015, the band had sold the rights for the records they produced between 1988 and 2001 – when they were signed to Warner Music – to Concord Bicycle Music. That smaller label was immediately much more amenable to the project.
“Buster Keaton’s films are very action-packed and filled with movement. I needed songs that would up that and compliment the insanity that unfolds.”
The deeper he got into the albums, the more he knew they were a perfect fit. “There’s a lot of fun to be had in those two albums and their songs, and Buster Keaton’s films are very action-packed and filled with movement. I needed songs that would up that and compliment the insanity that unfolds, and there’s a good amount of songs between the two albums that are like that.”
The world premiere in Athens connects this new version of the film with R.E.M.’s history, as not only did the band rehearse at the Morton in their early days, but they also recorded the video for their breakout single, “The One I Love,” within the old vaudeville theatre. However, Frank is already getting inquiries about bookings from cinemas that screened Nosferatu. “It seems like people are even more excited by the R.E.M. one than they were by Radiohead.”
Even with the excitement of putting a second title out there and with more to come, “I still have all the problems I had before, running a little drive-in movie,” Frank said. However, he’s still appreciative of what Silents Synced means to him. “There’s the commerce of the business, and a lot of times you don’t get to feel like an artist, but when [theatres and art institutes] reach out, it grounds you in, ‘Oh, I’m an artist, and they’re talking to me like one.’ It’s not just a product.”
The world premiere of Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. soundtrack’d by R.E.M. takes place 7pm, Sat., Feb. 1 at the historic Morton Theatre in Athens, GA. Tickets at mortontheatre.com. Second screening at the Athens Ciné at 8pm. Tickets at anthenscine.com.
To buy prints for each of the Silents Synced titles, visit www.nakatomiinc.com/collections/silents-synced.
To find out more about Silents Synced, including how to book the films for your cinema, visit silentsynced.com.
This article appears in January 10 • 2025.