Trust Werner Herzog to make the greatest of the plethora of adaptations
of Bram Stoker’s 1897 classic of vampire fiction, Dracula. Essentially a remake
of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie Des Grauens, which Herzog
considered the greatest film to come out of Germany. Unlike Murnau, who was
sued by the Stoker estate over copyright infringement, Herzog was able to
proceed with free reign, as the rights for Dracula had entered the public
domain. As such, what results, not unlike Ingmar Bergman’s sole horror
film Hour Of The Wolf status as an anamoly in his oeuvre, so too is Herzog’s
Nosferatu. A uniquely baroque film in atmosphere, like it’s predecessor, much
of what is expressed emotionally is through the beautiful cinematography and
the experimental-folk sounds of Popol Vuh, who perform the film’s score. It
also helps that the three central performances are all among the best work of
the actors. Bruno Ganz’s Jonathan Harker is an engaging protagonist with a
slowly-developing arc, and Isabelle Adjani is a wholly sympathetic Lucy (the
film’s equivalent to Mina) Harker, expressing in a few seconds what it would
take some to do in a few minutes. Finally, the normally wild and unbridled
Klaus Kinski delivers a restrained, heartfelt performance of real subtlety,
managing for all the character’s menace to at the same time nail down the
tragic loneliness of the character’s damnation to immortality. It’s the best
depiction of the Count in the best adaptation of the novel.
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