Nosferatu:
The Vampyre
1979
Director- Werner Herzog
Cast- Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland
Topor, Walter
Ladengast,
Klaus
Kinski was, in his life, a respected and incredibly prolific actor. On the
other hand, he was a notoriously difficult man to work with. His tantrums and
anti-social behavior are a matter of public record. The allegations that were
made about him after his death only make his legacy more problematic. It raises
the question; can we separate an artist’s life from their art? I’ll leave that
question for another time, and for now try to focus solely on this film.
It’s not
so much an adaptation of Dracula as it is a remake of Nosferatu, which was
itself an adaptation of Dracula. I guess that makes it a sort of generation
removed from the source material; a remake of an adaptation. Nosferatu is probably the most important film
in the history of German cinema, so I can understand the desire to bring it up
to date with a color, “talkie” version.
Right from the start, it
plays very loosely with the story of Dracula. For no discernible reason, the
film switches the characters of Lucy and Mina. The Frank Langella version of
Dracula, which was made the same year, did the same thing. Must have been something
in the air, I guess. It gets off the tracks in other areas too. Van Helsing is
feckless. Renfield is Harker’s boss (?). Dr. Seward, Quincy, and Arthur
Holmwood are absent. Mina is reduced to just a few lines. And no offense to
Roland Toper’s portrayal of Renfield, but it kept making me think of David
Ladner as Squiggy in Laverne & Shirley. There was a standout performance
though, that of Isabelle Adjani as Lucy. She carries the film and makes for a
beautiful gothic image. Her pale skin, long black hair, and large eyes make her
seem like a living dead doll. I could have used a whole movie of just her.
The real
question is, how is Kinski as the vampire? Well he plays it very restrained.
The makeup looks good, though not even close to how good it looked on Max
Schreck. He plays it creepy, not particularly scary, which is probably what
Werner Herzog wanted from him. Hearing
his voice, which is something we never got from Schreck, seems to dispel some
of the mystery of the character. That’s no fault of Kinski, just a product of
the medium.
As far
as entertainment, or being scary, the movie is a bit dull. It takes almost 30
minutes for Harker to reach Dracula’s castle. There are a lot of slow scenes
with the characters reacting with silent, over exaggerated horror. I think the
idea was to recreate the feel of a silent movie, but it’s not the same. Silent
films, especially Nosferatu, with their grainy picture and off speed movement
have a dreamlike quality that allows for long, silent reactions. In a modern movie it seems awkward. Of
course, it could have been done out of practicality. At the behest of the
studios, Herzog shot two different versions of the movie, one with the cast
speaking German and one with English. More and longer scenes of silence meant
less reshoots I guess. I’ve watched both versions and can’t tell a real
difference.
I think
most casual horror fans, or even casual vampire fans, can skip this movie. The people who would be interested are 1)fans
off the original who want to see how a modern film maker can interpret it and 2)
fans of dark, gothic imagery. It does have plenty of, creepy imagery and, as
stated earlier, Isabelle Adjani really does make for a dark, beautiful gothic
princess.
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