Nosferatu the Vampyre
Short description
A real estate agent named Jonathan Harker is sent from the German town of Wismar to Transylvania to complete a property deal with Count Dracula. Against the warnings of the local people, he continues on to the castle and signs the papers, but the count discovers a photograph or medallion bearing the likeness of Harker's wife Lucy, who bears a striking resemblance to a woman from his past. Dracula then sets out for Wismar, bringing death and horror with him.
Werner Herzog directed and wrote the film, which sits sixth in his chronological filmography of 22 directed features, following Stroszek in 1977 and preceding Woyzeck in 1979. Herzog also produced alongside Michael Gruskoff and Daniel Toscan du Plantier. Klaus Kinski plays Count Dracula, Bruno Ganz plays Jonathan Harker and Isabelle Adjani plays Lucy Harker, with Roland Topor, Walter Ladengast and Dan van Husen in supporting roles; the credited cast runs to 26 names. The film was made for about 1 million dollars as a German-French co-production with Gaumont, ZDF and Herzog's own production company.
On TMDB it holds a rating of 7.3 out of 10 from 1,125 votes, which shows a generally favorable response from viewers who have seen it. It mixes drama and horror and runs 107 minutes. The story draws on the Dracula material and shares its title with an earlier silent film, though Herzog's version tells the tale in his own way.
What's left behind the scenes
- Some scenes of the film were shot at Pernštejn Castle near Brno.
- Klaus Kinski had to spend about four hours in makeup every filming day. The latex prosthetic ears would tear when they were removed at the end of the day, meaning new ones had to be made the following morning. Kinski, known for his foul temper and dislike of complex makeup, had an excellent relationship with makeup artist Reiko Kruk, so he behaved impeccably while the makeup was being applied.
- The slow-motion footage of the bat's flight was borrowed from a documentary.
- To finally get Klaus Kinski to perform the way Werner Herzog wanted, the director used a method he had employed during the filming of 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God'. Whenever Kinski began playing Dracula too energetically, Herzog would provoke the actor into a fit of anger; Kinski would rage until he was exhausted, after which filming could begin.
- Werner Herzog cast Roland Topor as Renfield after seeing him on French television. The director was struck by the manic laughter Topor used to end every one of his lines.
- For the scene of Nosferatu's arrival, they were unable to find gray rats, so they used painted white ones. Even finding white rats proved difficult; they were acquired from a research center. They also had to attempt to control the rats' breeding. On top of that, animal rights activists claimed that the rats were poorly fed and that they had begun to eat each other during filming.
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