The story tells of the recurring horror we live through a vampire who has caused a sensation everywhere, starting with the only 'Contra Darragola' - the bloodthirsty nobleman who is trying to spread his influence all over the world. Over time, Dracula does not expect to be prevented from continuing his satanic practices by a woman named Lucy Harker, which seems surprising to him.
Between the hordes of stowaway rats that accompany Dracula's arrival, and a town-plaza dance of folly by doomed survivors (a Herzog addition), it's like being present at the birth of a medieval legend.
An evocative exercise in alienation and existential dread, Herzog masterfully tackles one of the greatest gothic stories ever with Nosferatu the Vampyre with the unforgettable (as always) Klaus Kinski as the titular blood-sucker.
This is a pinnacle of horror cinema: atmospheric, rhapsodic and -- especially in the slow-burn confrontations between Lucy and her otherworldly inamorato -- achingly transcendent.
The acting is too eccentric and the narrative drive too weak to satisfy fans of the genre, but Herzog's admirers will find much in the film's animistic landscapes and clusters of visionary imagery.
To say of someone that they were born to play a vampire is a strange compliment, but if you will compare the two versions of Nosferatu you might agree with me that only Kinski could have equaled or rivaled Max Schreck's performance.
