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madali
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« on: December 30, 2011, 05:33:PM » |
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Nosferatu the Vampyre [Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht] (Werner Herzog, 1979)
There has been so many films based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (and countless films based on the mythology of Stoker's interpretation of vampires), that a film really has to stand out to make a dent. Herzog's version is actually a remake of the 20s adaptation of the book. One interesting change from our concept of Dracula is that the original 20s version and therefore Herzog's version has Count Dracula, not as a charming, aristocrat evil, but a creepy, disfigured, rat looking creature. He is bald, with pointy ears, and sharp teeth at the front, resembling a rat face, rather than canine fangs which we are more familiar with. Also, he has long, sharp fingernails. Basically, when Jonathan Harker visits the count at his castle, and that creature opens the door, you wonder why Harker doesn't just leave, instead of acting like the count looks like your average guy.
I admit, that I like my Count Dracula to be evil and charming. The fascination of Dracula, for me, was the always the idea that he is a portrayal of a tempting evil. To lead men astray, evil must be tempting, and temptation has to have an appeal. Dracula always had an appeal, this is why I think the story generally works. To remove that, and turn him into a creepy, outwardly disfigured creature, loses the appeal of evil.
On top of that, the Herzog's film is just not very good. I never really thought the novel really fit that well into film structure. It has too many characters, and disjointed acts (Jonathon in the castle, vampire in the ship, etc) that doesn't flow very well, and I found it more pronounced in this film. You just don't really care about the characters or the events, even though there are some great visuals in the film. Herzog at least does that well.
2/5
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