Belated Day Eight: Nosferatu

I have just (finally) watched Nosferatu the Vampyre from beginning to end, and it was great. I haven't seen Dracula with Bela Lugosi in at least 5 years, but Nosferatu totally reminded me of it. The movie moves slowly, but it doesn't lose excitement or suspense one bit. Master filmmaker Werner Herzog keeps the movie very close to the original 1922 gothic style film. I watched it in German with English subtitles, but it was also filmed in English (no dubbing).





I have to mention that the clips of kittens and bats (though, thankfully not in the same sequences) totally reminded me of the iguana shots in Bad Lieutenant.



The movie is a version of the Dracula story (with Klaus Kinski as the Count). Jonathan visits Count Dracula as a real estate agent, and, inspired by a photograph of Jonathan's wife, Lucy, Dracula decides to move to their town. Decay and death follow him wherever he travels, and soon the town is overrun by a plague. Jonathan falls very ill after his stay with the Count, and Lucy decides to take action against the Count. Dracula, however, has his own plans for Lucy.

Nosferatu is successfully creepy without being graphic. I think we only see one person get bitten, and there's really not any violence on camera. Characters do not jump and scream in fear, but rather cower and raise their hands in claw-like motions with their elbows out. Much like this:




This movie is beautiful. I will be watching it again. And again. And again.

Oddly enough, I had previously seen Shadow of the Vampire, which is sort of based on the filming of Nosferatu. I highly recommend it. John Malkovich is the director, with Willem Dafoe as the actor portraying the vampire- an actor who is known for getting very much into character (a little TOO much into character). Eddie Izzard also makes an appearance. I recommend it, though it's obviously not as good as the movie it's based on- more like a humorous side-note for fans of Nosferatu.

I'll leave you with a lovely shot of our favorite ill-tempered German, all dolled up with ears, teeth, and claws.