Nosferatu the Vampyre -- What Makes This Movie Great? (Episode 69)
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- Опубликовано: 19 окт 2020
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A remake of the F.W. Murnau classic "Nosferatu," Werner Herzog's 1979 movie "Nosferatu the Vampyre" copies some of the shots and scenes of the Murnau movie, but it also rather signficantly changes the themes.
This video reviews and analyzes Nosferatu the Vampyre, showing you what it emphasizes. One of the core elements of the film is the fascination with the transcendent. Herzog ties the Dracula myth to the German Romantics, specifically to the painter Caspar David Friedrich. This makes his Dracula a being of attraction and sublimity.
Klaus Kinski puts in a memorable performance as Nosferatu, a face in movies not to be missed!
All reasonable comments welcome, including reasoned disagreements. You will be banned for foolish talk, harassment, and hate speech on sight; it's a tremendous waste of life.
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Just watched this film for the first time and absolutely loved it. Atmospheric horror will always be my favorite over jump scares. The slow pacing with the eerie music is just perfect.
yes!
Michael Filosa-Nice to see that there are others who also appreciate slow burn, atmospheric horror movies like this one over the generic, cheap jump scare fests that so many people seem to want to lap up. Jump scare fests just do not scare me, i've always found that slow burn horror movies like this Nosferatu remake are far more effective at leaving me feeling extremely uneasy, & the eerily haunting images you tend to see in movies like this play on my mind, & disturb me way more then any of the scares in say The Conjuring series (though the first Conjuring movie was at least fun to watch), or your typical slasher movie that you can easily put out of your mind after watching.
Kinski looks, acts and moves like a man hundreds of years old. Like a man with dust in his veins. This isn't some suave, sexy Dracula. Kinski kept it REAL. And CREEPY!
yes!
The fact that it's Kinski playing makes it even scarier because not only is the role a monster but perhaps even moreso the actor behind it.
A masterpiece in history of cinema. I was there in 1979 in front of the screen and i was 18. Unforgettable experience.
Excellent, thank you.
Honestly, im not a big fan of older movies, but i am officially OBSESSED w this movie... I haven't stopped watching it since i first saw it on Halloween night... Im in LOVE w Nosferatu- poor man. 🖤🖤🖤
You know, Herzog might just be the most underrated filmmaker in all of cinema. The scope of intelligent stories he's covered and with such compelling artistic finesse, especially his work in the 70s. *The Enigma Of Kaspar Hausser* is a masterpiece and so is this movie, my two favourites.
My personal favorite (along with the silent original).Each version is taken from the novel by Bram Stoker, but this is the greatest. The scene in which the vampire gets off the boat (now filled with dead souls) and rolls down the plank in his bat-like gait into the sleeping, innocent, pretty little village he's about to plunder, is chilling. Isabelle Adjani is the pinnacle of exquisite, pure beauty he falls in love with. It's one of the best horror films of all time.
The first half of this film is perhaps the best horror put to film.
slow horror can often be better horror.
First half?!?!? How about all of it!!!
I was totally blown away. I should’ve know how Herzog would handle it, with complete integrity and love, but I didn’t think he would have me choosing between his and the original when it comes to the favorite.
this is the real dracula a beast with no soul disgusted with itself not a fancy rock band leader
Funfact: The opening scene with the mummies was not shot in mexico but in the 'Catacombe dei Cappuccini' in Palermo Italy.
I actually enjoy the slow pacing and mindset of the whole movie, this is not meant for someone with a short attention span. The opening and score set the entire tone. I've watched it quite a few times and am always intrigued by Klaus Kinski's performance.
yes! thank you.
Despite being such a dark, eerie film, this movie has one of the coziest scenes ever. Not the opening scene, which is super creepy, but right after that, setting the scene in the town, with the serene sounding Popol Vuh music and the kittens playing.
This movie is like watching a GothicTheater performance on screen. But more deep, moving and erotic, more disturbing, dark and eery. This is definitely one of the top 3 vampire movies ever made.
This is my favorite horror movie. The first time I saw it I was awed by its quiet solemnity. Herzog really knows how to make the landscape a character, too. Klaus Kinski is an amazing Dracula!
One of my favorite films and my favorite Herzog film. Love his documentaries too. I did not make the connection to German Romanticism but now I see it. Thanks. Kinski, Ganz and Adjani were great in this film.
you're welcome. there's a bunch of Herzog material on this channel, btw.
I have seen this movie when it was first telvised in germany in the late 70ies as a kid. I expected a somehow different Bela Lugosi thing but was totally overwhelmed by this masterpiece. the pictures - the athmosphere - the music. i had never seen anything like this. It was like the books about art and paintings my grandma had would have come to life.
I still find this the greatest movie ever made.
Just watched this for the first time tonight. Can't believe I've never seen it before. Instantly my favorite version of the Dracula story.
Very different to the kind of scary movies that we have today, slow paced and poetic. Really like this film
I just discovered your channel a couple of weeks ago and it really helped me branch out in my tastes of film as well as gain better insight into discussing movies.
Really happy to see another Herzog review, he is one of my favorite directors with Aguirre the Wrath of God being one of my favorite movies of all time. I have yet to actually see Nosferatu but I look forward to it now.
Love the content
thank you. completely agree on Herzog -- I've got somewhere a top 10 Herzog-movies video, one on Grizzly Man, and one on Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Hope to keep hearing from you!
A Dracula movie with elements of Lovecraftian Horror thrown in!
I am completely sold on t! It's also on Prime.
enjoy!
@@LearningaboutMovies Thanks!
As a fan of Lovecraft, I find the term "Lovecraftian" to be painfully overused and applied to things that do not fall under the umbrella of his work.
@@jamiebraswell5520 I consider myself to be a fan of Lovecraft as well. I have yet to see the movie, but the horror he described in his review reminds me of Lovecraft.
What is your favourite story of his?
Mine is The Dunwich Horror.
@@fabianfischer4229 definitely The Dunwich Horror is up there, but my absolute favorite is The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. I also really liked The Lurking Fear as well. Of course, there are the generic choices too...The Call of Cthulhu, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, etc. By generic, I am not attacking the stories, but merely pointing out that those are the first choices on most people's lists. I really like some of his earlier very short stories like The Music of Eric Zhan. I also really enjoyed a lot of the Dream Cycle short stories, but I think that The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath gets a bit too involved in tying everything together. It is a fun story, but is all over the place. It's biggest sin is including Pickman in the story. It really ruins Pickman's Model by revealing the fate of the artist and removing the elements of terror that surrounded him in favor of a cartoonish adventure.
Just watched this! Loved it. I don't know, man, I don't think Nosferatu is an attractive character because he "can't die" or that he's a "predator of and beyond humans." He's an attractive character because he's a tragic, sad figure. He isn't blessed with eternal existence, he's cursed by it; he sees human love but can't partake in it; he's singularly alone/lonely, and cannot connect; he's brooding and tortured. To me, *that's* why he's an appealing character, despite him being set-up as an evil figure (who, for instance, knowingly, willingly brings the black plague to the town).
Second best Dracula movie ever, behind Love At First Bite. (lol)
It's not just what's said but what's left unsaid
Kinski shows the undead man as a victim of his circumstance, which is a little more relatable than many other portrayals. The scene in which Harper cuts himself has the Count wince when he sees the blood. I see this as a sign of the pain from being cursed to live beyond your time.
That should say HARKER.
Wow I think you nailed this out of the park. I just watched this film for the first time last night at around 1 am (perfect time to watch such a film) and I watched this video and I love the insight, actually enhanced my viewing of the movie. The score did bring a different spin on the journey that I’m used to experiencing with a horror film. This film, like you implied, has horror elements and surrounds them with a rather inviting, enticing at times, look into the story. I often wondered if I could ever see or make a film that could display beauty and horror simultaneously and I can say this film did that more than once. Thanks for the insight
thank you. you can do it but it requires wider knowledge, thoughtfulness, virtue and wisdom. Herzog's recommendation to filmmakers is to read a lot, read everything. that is sound advice, along with doing what you are going to do, which is practicing with the camera, editing, and sound.
First time I watched this movie was in last year's October during my anual Dracula movie marathon. The first thing that I liked was how it's visuals really encapsulated the romantic/gothic tone and aesthetic of the genre, and then the movie going a whole diferent direction from the basic framework by the ending, wich really cranked up the suspense of it and was like breathing fresh air after watching the same story being told over and over again. Over all it's a great movie that I regret not watching earlier.
I've seen many, many vampire films and this is in my top five. I'm glad to hear such a thoughtful discussion, especially linking to the "sublime romantic" and the helplessness of humankind to combat death and the mighty forces of nature. Thank you for posting it.
you're welcome.
As someone that is not a huge fan of the vampire genre (way over done), I find this to be the best of the vampire films I have seen. Even one of my horror afficianodo girlfriends made this statement, completely un-solicited. I just mentioned that she needed to see this. Now it is a staple to be watch in some regular interval. So if you have not seen this, and you like the genre, it is a must see.
that is interesting tht Herzog is so specfically interested in the German romantic movement, because that really explains his other films done set in 19th century Germany: The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Woyzeck and Heart of Glass. i love them all and they all have beautiful Friedrich esque shots, and quotes from figures like Georg Buechner - who also wrote the play Woyzeck that that film is an exact dramatisation of.
The atmosphere, aesthetic, dialogue, concepts and overall subject matter or Herzogs films are all profound and sublime - i love that the subheading for Kaspar Hauser is "Jeder fuer sich und Gott gegen Alle" - "Every man for himself and God against all"
Well this is one of a small handful of my favourite films. I can find myself mesmerised by it and have seen it many times.
I disagree with you regarding whether it's a remake or not as there are clearly lots of scenes that come from the 1922 film, slightly different maybe and not in the same order for the viewer but everyone interprets differently and that's fine, the main thing is we both appreciate this film.
I agree with you on all other points you make, the camera work especially and you've brought to my attention the similarities between certain scenes and the classical paintings, I wasn't aware of that but you've got that spot on.
I see Kinski's Nosferatu as a tired, weary and frail 800yr old who you can sometimes pity and feel for him early in the film until of course you realise he is the monster that he is.
My favourite scene is the striking clock when it finishes its last strike and the skull snaps shut.
Kinski apparently was quite a scary person in real life if you look into his background, I've seen him ranting and raving like a madman at other cast members and production crew on other films when a scene didn't go too well. Thanks for posting, I enjoyed your coverage and it's always interesting to see what others think of your favourite film.✌
great comment, thank you.
@@LearningaboutMovies ......after your coverage here you sent me off to look further into Klaus Kinski and his background.
I knew he was a strange man but the more you look and read about him the stranger he becomes.
There's a great interview on YT of Werner Hertzog talking and reminiscing about him titled "Mein Liebster Fiend", (My Best Friend) and also some rare footage of him showing his more gentle side. Amongst many thing he covers they did have a love/hate relationship but he was lots of things, he was an eccentric egomaniac, suffered from bouts of extreme mania (maybe Bi-Polar in today's speak) and was bordering on psychopathic, just the sort of chap I'd love to have dinner with. Hehe.
Saddly Klaus Kinsky really was a horrible person and a real life monster, he sexually abused and raped his own daughter Pola from 5 to 19 years old...
@@marette2845 I wasn't aware of these allegations regarding Pola but I can remember other allegations of sexual abuse involving his other younger daughter Natassia being reported in the media in the 1990's. What can I say, except to express my sadness for his daughters for what he put them through.
When Orlock corners poor Harker, it's like a grass snake hypnotising a baby-bird. Chilling.
One of my fav movies. Watched it many times and after watching your analysis i should do it again.
excellen, thank you.
Van Helsing is skeptic in “Nosferatu Phantom of the Night” until Lucy risked her life to stop Dracula in his path.
I'd love to see a treatment of how Harker carries on as a vampyre! Does he go live in Dracula's castle? Does he spend a couple of centuries building his empire? Would love to see "Harker"!
Great review, you really covered everything!
thank you!
7:55 was filmed in the dutch city Delft i live about 30 minute bike ride away from
thank you.
This video is awesome. Thank you for making this.
you're welcome. much appreciated.
@@LearningaboutMovies I honestly learn so much from your videos. The fact that you took the time to put the sublime paintings into your video and draw comparisons to the movie makes you one of the best people for analysis on RUclips period. Rock on man.
Well presented. Thanks for posting this!
thank you.
“Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night” make a very good plot twist in the end.
I have recently subscribed to you and I am already impressed with your work and videos. I am pursuing filmmaking, so I find these videos of interest to me. Out of curiosity, are you a university professor?
thank you. yes, somewhere around here there's a bio. I teach English courses, plus an intro to film course. So you'll see these videos primarily focus on observation and analysis.
Amazing review...excellent insight...new subscriber!!!
There are quite a few new elements in this film. For example Count Dracula is portrayed as an entity which is tired and disgusted of being forced to live in a futile dimension without love for the eternity. Van Helsing who embodies the Enlightement is portrayed as a inept person. The only one who can sense and feel the horror unfolding is Lucy who is desperately alone in her condition. The figure of Mr.Renfield (Roland Topor) shows that the dark forces mastered by Nosferatu are in control of neuralgic areas of our society
Very insightful review, I salute you.
thank you.
I might have seen it 20+ years ago, when you spoiled the ending I kind of remembered watching it... I had a thing for Isabelle Adjani when I was a Teenager. I need to revisit it.
The village in which the rats take control is the city of Delft in Holland famous for having been the place in which Vermeer lived and operated. The chronicles tell that there was big concern at the idea of a large quantity of rats being released in the square of that beautiful city
thank you.
@@LearningaboutMovies my pleasure
I didn’t get why the sunlight or the cross didn’t affect Jonathan when he became a vampire.
hmmm, is that right? I forget that element. Did he evolve? Is he an advanced vampire?
Great vid but imo Nosferatu is pathetic and strangely sympathetic, not admirable. Kinski was brilliant in the lead. This is a terrific film.
he is also very influenced by peter Brueghel's paintings
So cool thanks
you're welcome.
Film perfetto il migliore in questo genere .. Grande Herzogh e Kinsky il più intenso ed inquietante attore di tutti i tempi ... Si percepisce sempre dentro di lui un enorme inquietudine... Infatti ha vissuto tutta la vita "fuori" di SE ...
google translate: "239 / 5000
Translation results
Perfect film the best in this genre .. Great Herzogh and Kinsky the most intense and disturbing actor of all time ... There is always an enormous uneasiness inside him ... In fact he lived all his life "outside" SE. .. "
The Van Helsing in this movie is a very poor scientist or a poor representation of science. I might be going on death of the author here, Herzog might have wanted to make his Van Helsing a representation of science. But i see the Van Helsing of this movie as less about science and more of what i would call institiunalized wisdom. It's less about proper science and more about what a conservative society deems what should be established knowledge that is dermed acceptable including cherry-picking the parts of scientific knowledge that are convinient. An example is like when creationists deny evolution but yet embrace the sciences of chemistry and physics because they are useful for engineering.
Van Helsing is like that, an instituinalized baffon who mistskes his acceptance of institiunalized wisdom for science.
If Van Helsing of this movie was a real man of science he would began as a skeptic, yes, but he would also be quick to realise something more was afoot very early on. When common knowledge cant explajn a phenomena that's when science investigates and looks for answers where there's non yet, even if in the end the answer is what would had been deemed impossible before.
This Van Helsing tskes too long to accept reality to be a man of science, he's a man of institutiin in a society that values conservatism.
The irony is that thanks to the plague the conservatives values crumble very fast when faced with a natural disaster they had no preparation for. Sadly we have seen with the current pandemic how true that is.
thank you.
evolution is a faith imposed upon the world by the English empire. There is hardly anything scientific supporting that creed
Do you think this is the best Dracula/Vampire movie out there?
Top 5.
@@LearningaboutMovies agreed. I watched it for the first time recently and was thoroughly impressed.
Has anyone seen this a very long time ago, closer to its original release date? I did, and I could have sworn there was a shot of some rats on a table being pounded with a mallet. It’s driving me nuts that I may have created this false memory. Also wondering if it’s been slightly trimmed or perhaps zoomed to crop. There’s a glimpse of one of the diners seeming to drop a rat on the ground, holding it by the tail, but that’s it. Anyone?
Isabelle Adjani. Enough Said.
EVERYTHING
yes!
One human emotion left, jealousy. Note the manipulation.
1 name
♥️Isabelle♥️ Adjani ♥️
thank you.
imagine a lord of the rings adaptaion from this director
I love this suggestion.
Bruno Ganz Aka Jonathan is my type of Vampyre. Would not mind him to fly in my window
Wim Wenders basically did that in Wings of Desire.
This right here is the problem...Nosferatu should not be appealing in any form. That it elicits a desire in you for him (Jonathan) to come into your room means that the film fails to convey the message of the ugliness and dirtiness of vampirism. Instead, it falls into the trap of doing what most all other vampire stories do...making the viewer yearn for it. That is not what the 1922 film was about at all and I wish this would not have happened with this version.
@@jamiebraswell5520 wake up! This is 1970 s version not 1922. First of all, you are not a very good psychologist. The reason I said Bruno can fly into my window is because I adore Bruno Ganz. Period, end of the story. I adore him as the actor as well as the person. He was very sweet , intelligent, and kind in real life. He was amazing ! Those amazingly kind eyes and cordial face ! Second, being a fan , I missed him so much. He had so many beautiful roles. One is specifically impressed me is his beautiful portrayal of 😇 Damiel in Wim Wenders' movie " Wings of Desire ". I tend to think that Bruno is in the great beyond acquired his wings. Finally, I really want, and that might sound silly, for Bruno Ganz to come back to Earth - alive, charming and handsome as he was before the cancer took his life away. So, he is my idol. That is all.
@@LearningaboutMovies and that was one of the most beautiful roles of Bruno Ganz
@@slavvalb3933 I don't care about who he was in real life. That is entirely irrelevant to this discussion. You are just overreacting, as is the usual these days.
What makes this movie great? Isabelle Adjani.... Period
I swear the movie was in English
there are two versions, one in English (on RUclips) and a German version. I prefer the German version.
The small town is not german it is the dutch town of Delft
Thank you
@@LearningaboutMovies yeah, no offence man, but I was watching the movie while listening to your channel.
Well, I have seen this movie, and to be very honest, I did not care for it. I love the 1922 film and I understand that this is not a remake. As much as I wanted to like it, my first problem is trying to bring it back to being Dracula. I know that Nosferatu is an adaptation of Dracula, but in ways it moved away from the source material to become its own thing. Bringing it back to Dracula here is not what I was wanting.
You speak of the appeal of being the vampire, of having eternal life, etc. Albeit from a distance since this can destroy you. But really, is this not what nearly all vampire movies have become since the early days? The allure of vampirism is not really innovative or new, but rather something that developed over time as Dracula became more and more popular on screen. What I like about the 1922 film has been removed here by this very theme. Nosferatu was a disease and not something that was even remotely alluring. At no point is there any enticement at all. Nothing about the pestilence is attractive or sympathetic. For me, this more than anything is where this film fails. Don't try to humanize this creature.
Herzog injects a bit of the Faust legend here, but the end is becoming this vampire. That seems attractive (note the myth of eternal life abounds today, with the promise of extending human lifespans by hundreds of years). However, Nosferatu in the movie is miserable. I am talking about the SUBLIME, a romantic-era concept that persists, and while it is attractive from a distance, if you get too close to it, it destroys you. All of that is in the movie.
what is very interesting is the stance of the director about the Nosferatu figure. On one side he is shown as very powerful entity virtually already in control of the whole world (see Mr.Renfield total submission) on the other side Nosferatu is portrayed as a being utterly disgusted by his condition who deeply envies the conditions of the mortals, i.e. being able to die
Overrated
I love it a color redo retake remake type of movie thing that works out beautiful in blood chilling color unlike b&w silent film 1922 which is great too both adaptations. A+
The town where harker Mina bith lived was filmed in Delft, Holland and when dracula arrives in Delft by ship as well sane town city rest southern Germany Munich barveria castle there too locations. 100 truthful honestly ive been to these countries Germany and Holland seen them in person. Movie and music trivia fan. I don't tell incorrect info to look Smart or to impress you.