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Given that legendary German director Werner Herzog was no stranger to controversy (indeed, he was on first-name terms with it), it came as no great surprise when he announced that he was to direct a new version of FW Murnau's Nosferatu, in full colour and with sound.

"Murnau's Nosferatu is the most visionary of all German films," he explained. "It prophesied the rise of Nazism by showing the invasion of Germany by Dracula and his plague-bearing rats. And it gave a legitimacy to German cinema that was lost in the Hitler era. We are trying in our film to build a thin bridge back to that time, to legitimise our own cinema and culture. We are not remaking Nosferatu, but bringing it to new life and new character for a new age."

Meticulously recreating the finest moments from the 1922 original, the 1979 version is notable for a remarkable performance by Herzog regular Klaus Kinski, whose Count Dracula is a dead-ringer for Max Schreck's unique appearance (including the balding head, the bat ears, the rat teeth) in the original. The Count once more sails into a German town (this time Wismar) having been sold a property by Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz), and unleashes a plague upon the town. While Jonathan rushes back to try and save his wife Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) from the vampire, there is also aid from Dr. Van Helsing (Walter Ladengast), who runs an asylum which houses Renfield (Roland Topor), Dracula's assistant. Once more, however, it's Lucy who holds the key to the town's survival, although there is a further twist in the tale this time round.

Herzog is renowned for his epic movies (from Aguirre Wrath Of God to Fitzcarraldo), and Nosferatu contains some wonderfully staged set-pieces. The scene in which Dracula's coffins drift menacingly down a river is vintage Herzog, while other equally impressive touches confirm that this is no mere pale imitation of a masterpiece.

Keywords:

Horror, Based-on-Novel, Vampire, Movie, Film, Movies, Films

Additional Information:

(1979) (West Germany / France) (4 Star)

Cast:

Klaus Kinski	.... Count Dracula
Isabelle Adjani	.... Lucy Harker
Bruno Ganz	.... Jonathan Harker
Roland Topor	.... Renfield
Walter Ladengast	.... Dr. Van Helsing
Dan Van Husen	.... Warden

Supporting Cast:

Jan Groth	.... Harbormaster
Carsten Bodinus	.... Schrader
Martje Grohmann	.... Mina
Rijk de Gooyer	.... Town official
Clemens Scheitz	.... Clerk
Lo Van Hensbergen
John Leddy	.... Coachman
Margiet van Hartingsveld
Tim Beekman	.... Coffinbearer

Directors:

Werner Herzog

Writers:

Werner Herzog
Bram Stoker

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 Nosferatu [Film, 1922]