Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

January 20, 2025 2:05 PM

Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror. Directed by Werner Herzog, starring Klaus Kinski and Isabelle Adjani.
posted by rednikki (7 comments total)

It's a fine film.

Purely subjective note - Isabelle Adjani is purty.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:43 PM on January 20

I left some comments on the Eggers Nosferatu thread about its homages to this version.

I don't think it's Peak Herzog, or Peak Nosferatu, but there's a lot here to love.

What I find interesting about Nosferatu the Vampyre is how it marries Herzog the documentarian with Herzog the filmmaker, and how he uses his "best fiend" Kinski to remarkable effect.

A lot of the movie is grimly workmanlike. Unlike its predecessor or successor, there seems to be an acceptance that some filmmaking is just about shuttling things from Point A to Point B, but in some ways I find that heightens the horror elements. The first chunk of the movie is almost a dull travelogue, but when it gets spooky, it gets spooky.

A good chunk of this is Kinksi, who could be unnerving just sitting around reading the phone book. In full-throttle Nosferatu getup, I find him fascinating; not feral like Schreck or darkly regal like the Eggers version. Kinksi's Nosferatu is, uh, kind of a weird creep, and his magnetic presence carries it but also sells the idea of him being more akin to a crawling thing than a demigod. He's scary, but partly because one gets the feeling that you could just give him a really hard pop in the schnozz and maybe come out of things okay. You can't, because he's freakin' Count Orlock, and that makes him scarier in a lot of ways than an eight-foot moustachioed Viking draped in fun fur.

A great use of the plague (the "Death Party" is eerie and effective), and for my money, the Roland Topor version of Renfield is A1, channeling more than a little Peter Lorre and his own giggling manic energy to deliver my favourite on-screen platonic minion of darkness (Roland Topor was also a super interesting cat himself).

It's a hard movie to recommend because it has such a specific vibe, but I'm all in for this vibe.
posted by Shepherd at 4:33 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]

Kinski is excellent, and pretty unique in his approach, being equal parts menacing and pathetic, deeply lonely and insatiably hungry. Weird creep is right. The scene where Hutter is going over the papers with him, and Orlock wants desperately to have a moment of human connection but can’t figure out how to start, while at the same time considering murder, is funny, sad, and chilling all at once.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:13 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]

You know I wanted to like this movie, and I just found it to be very uneven.

The opening scene with the corpses is my favorite. It sets up such a dreadful, ominous vibe, but there is something weirdly slapstick in the humor of the film that took me out of the mood. There was lots of laughter and giggling in the theater when I saw this. Also wasn't much of a fan of the acting from anyone who wasn't Kinski.

Absolutely loved the shot of the little ship bobbing in the ocean as the crew members died one by one, with the music and chanting from the opening credits.

Haven't seen the Eggers version, but I plan to in the near future.
posted by extramundane at 7:03 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]

While it certainly is not my favourite of the Kinski / Herzog collaborations, Klaus gives a committed bonkers performance and the opening and up to his arrival in London, as extramundane mentions, is exceptional. I always liked the kind of grotty look of the film but for me the movie is entirely carried by Kinski's performance (so if it doesn't work for you it is likely the movie won't either). There's a short behind the scenes documentary available on Youtube.

The pseudo sequel is not very good (available in full on Youtube apparently). It has Christopher Plummer though.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:00 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]

If you don't like animal cruelty, don't watch this film. It was made in another time, when societal attitudes toward animals were different, but the rats were treated terribly. This includes the rats being dunked in boiling water as part of the process for dyeing their fur a certain color. Rodents can be a huge problem for society, but, again, we should not be boiling animals alive in order to make art. Had I known about the animal cruelty, I wouldn't have watched the film.

That aside... "very uneven" is right. There's some very fine moments in here, and also funny bits. Some of the latter seem intended, some not. The music struck me as often wildly at odds with what's happening onscreen, decreasing anything like unity of effect.
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:33 AM on January 23 [2 favorites]

I read about the animal treatment midway through the movie while we had it paused for a bathroom break. That may have altered my point of view on it to be a bit more negative. But all in all, I didn't like this film. It had some great creepy moments and some lovely homages to the first film. It gave even more reasons for the wife to sacrifice herself so Nosferatu would die. And I thought a lot of elements of the coda after her death were appropriately horrifying.

But also: my God this movie could have been at least 30 minutes shorter without losing much of anything. I would describe it as "ponderous." And I am someone that likes shows and films that take their time!
posted by rednikki at 11:57 AM on January 23