Nosferatu the Vampyre
1979  PG  HORROR  1h 47min
CAST— Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz
MUSIC— Popul Vuh  DIRECTOR— Werner Herzog  BASED ON— Dracula (novel), by Bram Stoker

     An artful remake that retains the entertainment of the original. Count Dracula (no Orlok here) has sent a request for property in Wismar, Germany. A perpetually giggling Renfield assigns young Jonathan Harker the task of real estate agent; all Harker must do is trek the Carpathian Mountains and offer suitable property. Weeks later Harker arrives at the strange castle inhabited by the count, a weirdo with long fingernails who doesn’t know the meaning of personal space. Everything is fine (creepy, but fine) until Dracula locks Harker in the castle and sets sail for Wismar. Harker has the sneaking suspicion that Dracula is gonna put the moves on Harker’s wife Lucy. But alas, by the time Harker returns he’s suffering from mental illness, Dracula is on the loose and there’s a devastating plague going around. As the populace begins to dwindle Lucy is more and more convinced that this strange Dracula character (whom she’s conveniently read about in husband Jonathan’s journal) is responsible for the recent death toll and must be eliminated. Will she be able to pay the ultimate price and rid the world of the vampire? A simple yet complex telling of the legend, staying largely faithful to the 1922 original. The film unfolds hypnotically, at a gloomy slow motion-like pace (sometimes brought about by actual slow motion photography) yet never gets bogged down with the boring. Probably best viewed after one sees the original, then cap off the night with Shadow of the Vampire (2000), a truly original spin on an old tale. German language version also available. AKA Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night).
OUR RATING— ***

ORIGINAL— Nosferatu (1922)