Too much of everything

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Werner Herzog's Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht is a visually stunning film. The story and scenes are clearly a homage to the original Nosferatu:A Symphony Of Horror. It is a beautiful homage to F. W. Murnau's 1922 film.Klaus Kinski plays Count Dracula, (in the 1922 movie, the rights to Bram Stoker's book Dracula could not be obtained so the Count's name was changed to Orlok.) He is very much like Max Schreck, the same gaunt appearance, the same long fingernails and rat-like features.Kinski is brilliant in the role of the lonely nobleman who is doomed to an eternity of existing on the edges of society rather than being able to fully take part in it. Kinski brings a pathos to the role and you can feel a sympathy with him even though he is a rodent-like, repellent creature. Isabelle Adjani is a standout as Lucy Harker. Her lovely yet fragile presence is perfect to play the beautiful wife of Jonathan Harker, played perfectly by Bruno Ganz. Roland Topor as Renfield was a good choice as well. His crazed laugh was almost as good as Dwight Frye who played Renfield in Tod Browning's Dracula.What makes this film a classic are the lyrical, almost dreamlike scenes that show the slow but steady buildup to horror as Lucy sees her beautiful town being destroyed by the Count and the thousands of rats that he unleashed to spread disease, panic and despair. The last supper scene with the dying diners was breathtaking in it's restrained beauty and despair.This truly is a beautiful film, slow but ultimately rewarding. The musical score as perfect in setting the mood.The only gripe I have about the film was the treatment of the animals used. Apparently, the rats that were used were badly treated and so underfed that they had started to eat each other. They were also dipped into boiling water as part of a process to dye them gray and many of them died as a result. There were also allegations of other animals being mistreated as well.But despite this, it is a wonderful film and a truly unique experience to watch.

On many occasions, Werner Herzog has said that according to him, F.W. Murnau's 'Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror' from 1922 is the greatest German film ever made. So when he decided to make a remake of the aforementioned film in 1979, it was out of respect for the original. When someone watches Herzog's 'Nosferatu the Vampyre', you can clearly see that Herzog is certainly paying an homage to Murnau. The basic plot is loosely the same. There are some shots in the film that are composed and framed exactly like the original. However, having said that, 'Nosferatu the Vampyre' is also a Werner Herzog film through and through. One can feel Herzog's presence in every scene of the film.Murnau himself had changed the plot a whole lot from the book to make his film. He had introduced the plague element which was not present in the book, he had introduced the sacrificial element in the story that marks the end of the original film. Now Herzog borrows of a lot of these changes that Murnau brought in, but he also expands on them. He puts his own touch to every aspect of the film. Herzog also brought in a few changes on his own mostly through the style of direction and storytelling. The character of Nosferatu played by Max Schreck in the original silent film is like a creepy insect. But Nosferatu in Herzog's film exudes a sense of sadness, a sense of loneliness, a sense of pain. He is still creepy and scary when he needs to be. The connection between the arrival of the vampire and arrival of the plague can be seen to be metaphoric, just like in the original film. But the way Herzog treats this angle of the plague in the film is nothing short of genius. The way he shoots the rats, the way he choreographs and composes the scenes which depict the effect of the plague on the people in the city is nothing short of sublime. Herzog also introduces his own element of a form of PTSD in the plot of the film. Jonathan completely undergoes a change and a transformation after going into the heart of darkness and on returning, he ceases to remain what he used to be.Herzog has said that one of his primary intentions while making the film was to create a surreal, 'separate reality' as he thought a vampire film can't be made by firmly grounding it in reality. Not only do I agree with his opinion, but I also feel he managed to completely execute what he set out to. Herzog has always had the DNA of a documentary filmmaker in his blood. He can't help but capture nature in all its glory as well as in all its darkness. About 10 minutes of our time in the film is spent accompanying Jonathan as he makes the journey to Count Dracula's castle. Herzog takes his time to show us the gradual shift in the nature of the environment from beautiful greenery to creepy and grim darkness as Jonathan moves closer and closer to Dracula's castle. The shot composition and visual framing in the film is second to none. I can talk about so many shots that completely blew me away like the shot where Nosferatu walks towards the camera in a dark tunnel and then the blue light falls on his face or the uninterrupted shot where the ship with Nosferatu and the rats arrives at the dock or the overhead shot of the coffins being carried away in a line or the shot where the camera captures the horse drawn carriage as it moves ahead with its reflection falling in the water body right next to the path on which it is moving,etc. Herzog masterfully uses the hypnotic music provided by Popol Vuh to elevate a lot of the scenes to the ultimate heights of surrealism. There is also the usage of some classical music from time to time. There is a sort of a montage towards the last third of the film where Herzog visually shows us the effect of the plague on the spirit of the people in this town by only using Popol Vuh's music and that sequence is one of the most overwhelming and beautiful sequences that I have ever seen in any film.Klaus Kinski is pretty much flawless as Nosferatu. As soon as he appears, one can see the pain, the sadness in his eyes. His line delivery is precise. His body movements are peculiar and totally sell his non-human physical nature. When Kinski delivers the lines regarding Nosferatu's sadness about having to live on endlessly without being loved by anyone, without being accepted by anyone, I felt for him. I never felt anything emotionally for Schreck's Nosferatu. Isabelle Adjani is gorgeous, but somehow she can also make her face look scary and her over-the-top performance was clearly an homage to the silent era. She shifts from one emotion to another effortlessly. Bruno Ganz underplays the role of Harker. He remains subtle, but comes into his own and shows his acting skills in the second half of the film.Before 'Nosferatu the Vampyre', the other Herzog films that I had watched are 'The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser' which I really liked and 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God' which I think is another masterpiece. 'Nosferatu the Vampyre' has a bit of a link with 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God' as both films involve human beings venturing into areas of darkness that they are unfamiliar with and they end up becoming a shadow of their former selves as a consequence. I am slowly falling in love with Herzog's hypnotic style of storytelling which involves making full use of music, the presence of nature and verbal silence. Herzog is slowly climbing up my list of favourite filmmakers of all time.

I found this film to be a bit of a mixed bag. It has many strengths - thick atmosphere, haunting score, great cinematography, fantastic locations and great set design. Most of all, Klaus Kinski is mesmerizing as Count Dracula. He has such a strong screen presence and everything about him - the way he moves, speaks, stares - it all just works and feels very compelling. He steals every scene he is in to the point where many of the scenes without him feel dull by comparison.And I hate to use that word - dull - but for some reason I couldn't shake it from my mind for some sections of this movie. The pace is slow and brooding, which is something that I tend to like. A lot of my favorite horror films are slow and deliberate, The Shining chief among them. But it's all in the execution, and here I found the slowness to be a bit burdensome. The movie can come off as wooden at times. Apart from Klaus, the acting can be a bit questionable as well, especially with Lucy's character. I'm sure she is just following direction from Herzog, but I found her to be a little blank and unconvincing, which is a pretty major issue considering she is meant to carry essentially the entire second half of the film. There are also some moments that play as hokey: all the members of a bar turn in unison and gasp at the mention of Dracula, characters read aloud about vampires from a book when no one is around etc. However, the scenes that work, absolutely work (and they uniformly involve Klaus). It's worth seeing for those scenes and the nice atmosphere, but I don't think it's a film that I'll be hurriedly returning to any time soon.

This movie is simply amazing. Bruno Ganz and especially Klaus Kinski did an excellent job acting their parts. One can even argue that Kinski was born to play this role. Atmosphere is chilling, imagery is brilliant and performance are really good. What's not to like? OK, only one thing: That laugh was so annoying, like REALLY annoying but it was a minor character anyway. Did I mention that cinematography was excellent? This is one of the most visually beautiful movies I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of movies, let me tell you. Nosferatu, the Vampye is for anyone who likes to watch a good-acted brilliant movie. Not for someone who watches movies for their stupid jump scares and explosions. All in all, this is a brilliant effort by Werner Herzog (Director) and Klaus Kinski ( But you already knew that!)