Nosferatu (1979) Revisited – Horror Movie Review

The Revisited series looks back at the 1979 version of Nosferatu, directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski

1922, 1979, and now 2024. The movie that was a legally distinct, non-copyright infringing version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula has had an impact for over 100 years now. The 1922 version is the one that most people think of not only when the name Nosferatu is said, but when people discuss silent horror films in general. At the other end of the spectrum, we have one of the year’s most hotly anticipated horror films with Robert Eggers releasing only his 4th film on Christmas day that will be his own very unique take on the property. Lost in that shuffle is the 1979 version from famed German director Werner Herzog with his best friend/muse/psychopath actor Klaus Kinski. It isn’t talked about nearly as much and is unique and different enough from the first film that it deserves its own revisit.

The whole reason that 1922’s Nosferatu is the way that it is, in that it changes the names of the characters while mostly following the story of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, is because they did not have permission to use the story. Bram Stoker’s widow, Florence, filed a suit against the film and the result of that was supposed to be the destruction of all prints of the movie. Obviously, it survived as my really cool Kino Lorber Blu-ray is accessible to me at any time, but it was a big deal at the time. The movie also regained its popularity with audiences when it started to resurface in the 1960s and 70s. Also gaining popularity in the 60s and 70s was German writer and director Werner Herzog who started his career with shorts before graduating to feature films and an eventual Oscar nomination. This is definitely his most direct horror film, but his movies are often filled with existential dread and horror of a more nontraditional sort. 1972 would be his first partnership with actor Klaus Kinski that would create a long lasting, and often tumultuous, relationship but also led us to a great vampire performance.

For his part, Herzog considered Nosferatu the greatest film to come out of Germany and was ecstatic to have the chance to make it. You’ll notice he said film and didn’t designate it solely to horror which makes absolute sense after you watch the movie. In a turn that is equal parts coincidence and fortuitus, the copyright that the Stoker family had lapsed, and everything was public domain. This allowed Herzog to create a delightful combination that would mix the 1922 classic silent film with the names and specific events of the Dracula novel. While names in the silent film had to be changed to Hutter, Harding, Severs, and of course Orlock for the menacing count, Herzog was able to use Harker, Renfield, Van Helsing, and Dracula. The rest of the cast surrounding Kinski was filled with names both recognizable and foreign, literally. Bruno Ganz would play Jonathan Harker and while he made most of his work in his native Germany including playing an award-winning version of Hitler in Downfall, he would also show up in things like The Boys from Brazil, Wings of Desire, and Lars Von Trier nightmare The House That Jack Built.

Isabelle Adjani was cast as Lucy Harker and the two-time Academy Award nominated actress would also show up in Roman Polanski’s The Tenant, Neo Noir masterpiece The Driver, and give one of horror’s most powerful performances in Possession. Roland Topor had ties to Adjani as he was the novelist who wrote The Tenant, but he also created The Panic Movement with Jodorowsky which centered around surreal and chaotic art. Finally, we have Klaus Kinski who was in everything from historical epics to spaghetti westerns to B movies which included an in name only sequel to Nosferatu called Vampire in Venice. Saying he has a reputation is an understatement, but boy could he deliver a performance. What kind of performance depended on the movie, but you got one that stayed with you. He and Herzog were the best of friends but also mortal enemies with Herzog actively plotting to kill him at some point and finding new ways every day on each film to distract his muse from berating the rest of the cast.

The movie follows the original film’s story to a point but also uses the novel’s originals names to give it a dream like duality of the book and silent film. Jonathan Harker, an estate agent in Germany, is informed by his boss that a rich count from Transylvania wants to buy property in Wismar where Harker is located. He makes the long and tiresome journey to meet with the count and stays at an inn on his way where he is warned by the townsfolk of the evil of Dracula. He ignores them of course and gets to the castle where he meets the count and is shocked by his appearance. The castle itself doesn’t make sense in a realistic way with Dracula only being available at night and much of the grounds ruined. There is no staff at the castle but an ethereal boy who plays a violin shows up as he pleases. At this point, you may be watching the movie in German or English and they are the same movie even if Herzog believes the German language version to be the definitive one. They filmed half of the scenes in German and half in English with the other scenes being dubbed in the opposite language. This was done because 20th Century Fox requested an English version to market.

Kinski’s Dracula is something to behold both physically and emotionally. His makeup is a more advanced version of the one that Max Schreck wore in the original and was done by Japanese artist Reiko Kruk who Kinski got along with shockingly. They were 4-hour sessions each day to put the makeup on and the man who terrorized seemingly everyone was cool with Reiko. He had to be driven to set in a hot car which made him miserable but on screen he comes off as tragic. Kinski was honored to play the character, but Herzog also stated that he riled up the actor every day to tire him out and get that subdued performance out of his frenemy. The movie continues to follow the story faithfully with Harker being trapped in the castle and being fed on by the count. Eventually the count leaves for Wismar to be in his property near the Harker estate after seeing Harker’s wife. He takes a ship full of coffins and the earth he must stay in as well as rats for the plague. We even get a different version of one of the original’s most famous shots when Dracula stalks the ship.

The ship arrives and brings with it the plague of rats while Harker not so elegantly escapes the confines of Castle Dracula. The rats were a problem. They brought in a handler who was so appalled by the treatment of the animals that he left. The script called for black rats, but it was cheaper to get white ones. The solution to this was to dye them in boiling water which killed half of them. This was after some had eaten the others when they were transported by ship to the filming location. The filming locations had to change too as Transylvania refused to allow the production as the government was still sensitive to the relationship between Dracula and the very real Vlad the Impaler. Herzog wanted to film in Wismar because the original movie was filmed there but also was told no in that location. Primary filming took place in the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia with Pernstein Castle being used for the count’s domain.

Harker makes his way back to his hometown that is under siege from plague bringing rats and Wismar is going mad. Lucy watches as people get rid of all their possessions, dance outside, and prepare for their own mortality to catch up to them. Harker is dreadfully ill and says he doesn’t recognize Lucy while also being hurt by sunlight. Dracula stalks the town and asks Lucy to give him love as he is a loveless creature, destined to live forever and cursed to never die. It’s a lonely existence, especially when you look like he does but Lucy sends him away in a scene that has a very cool example of how to show vampires not showing up in mirrors. Lucy learns from a book given to Jonathan that she can kill the vampire menace by distracting him long enough for the sun to end his life, or undeath.

Jonathan is chairbound and Lucy traps him with a circle of crumbled but consecrated items and heads to bed to lure Dracula. The scene in the original is legendary with Count Orlock disappearing from existence when the sun hits him but here it isn’t as satisfying as you would expect it to be. While Lucy appears to be the victim, it is Dracula who is at his most vulnerable and is the one being trapped. He drinks from Lucy until dawn, and she uses her last ounce of strength and breath to keep him on her as the rays penetrate both the room and his body. He looks a dour combination of somber and accepting as he dies but he doesn’t disappear. He writhes in pain like he is choking on the morning light and his body crumples on the ground into the corner. While the original ends with a grieving husband watching his beloved expire, Herzog’s film has other ideas.

Apologies for spoilers on a 45-year-old movie but Van Helsing comes into the house and realizes he must stake the body of Dracula so that Lucys sacrifice won’t be wasted. Harker escapes his boundaries though and has become a vampire. The town is down to so few people that they don’t even know what to do with Van Helsing anymore while the very vampiric Harker rides off with a similar cape as Dracula sported earlier. The credits roll with another great piece of music by Popol Vuh who worked with Herzog on a ton of other films. This is an arthouse horror movie in the classic sense. Its not scary except in Herzog’s very esoteric and existential way but it is very unnerving and self-reflective. It was entered in the 29th Berlin film festival and released all over the world in cinemas in the first half of 1979. The reviews were and are stellar for it with it holding a 94% rating on rotten tomatoes and Roger Ebert, who wasn’t typically a fan of horror movies, giving it his highest score of 4 stars. Even past that he recommended on nearly all of his lists of must-see films.

While it was not the easiest film to get ahold of before, there has never been a better time to experience one of the best and most slept on vampire tales with Scream Factory’s Blu-ray disc. It has a few special features but more importantly looks and sounds great and comes with both the English and German language versions. While Eggars take is certainly going to be its own thing, Herzog and Kinski deliver a movie that’s worth staying up till dawn for.

Two previous episodes of Revisited can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!