Nosferatu
F.W. Murnau
1922 | 93 min | B/W | Digital

“This film marked the first appearance on screen of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and remains arguably the eeriest and most magical of the many film versions of this famous supernatural tale. Murnau’s use of real locations instead of stylized studio sets to create atmosphere, his deployment of special effects such as negative exposure and fast-speed motion to suggest a ghostly ride, and his casting of Max Schreck as the gaunt, spectral figure of Dracula make this one of the director’s most formally innovative works.” – Harvard Film Archive

Nosferatu the Vampyre
Werner Herzog
1979 | 96 min | Colour | DCP

Nosferatu is Werner Herzog’s homage to F.W. Murnau’s 1922 classic version of the Dracula tale. Herzog is not interested in a mere remake of a film he loves: he calls it instead a "rebirth," bringing his own eerie sense of decay, longing, and mysticism to the Nosferatu story. Awash in Wagner, its imagery derived from symbolist paintings, shot through with Teutonic terror and dread, Herzog’s Nosferatu is "a film of astonishing beauty and daring... A tribute to the purity of vision of the silent cinema and also a lament for the loss of innocence." – Kevin Thomas

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Part of our season on Werner Herzog