Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre conjures real creepiness on the big screen, October 29 and 30, and November 3
Klaus Kinski’s unforgettable ghoul hits The Cinematheque in time for Halloween
The Cinematheque screens Nosferatu on October 29 and 30 at 6:15 pm, and November 3 at 6:15 pm
KLAUS KINSKI spent about four hours per day in make-up shooting Nosferatu the Vampyre—Werner Herzog’s 1979 ode to F.W. Murnau’s creepy 1922 original. But the effort was worth it, latex ears, pointy front teeth, and all, in a hideous creature that diverges from the usual dapper Dracula.
Nosferatu is a true monster—that fact underscored by the rumours about Kinski’s horrendous temper tantrums on-set, not to mention his character’s contrast to ethereal French screen star Isabelle Adjani’s Lucy Harker. Talk about beauty and the beast.
Among other eerie delights in Herzog’s remake, showing in all its big-screen glory at The Cinematheque as part of its larger Herzog retrospective, note the scene where Nosferatu arrives to a city of rats: cinematic legend holds that the film crew could only acquire white rats, and painstakingly painted thousands of them grey and back.
But the true star of Herzog's remake has to be the stylized cinematography. Probably realizing he'd have to deliver if he was to live up to Murnau's expressionistic black-and-white, Herzog shoots his Nosferatu in strange saturated tones that feel sucked of life, his characters' faces looking pale and anemic in the light—as if everything, and everyone, wears the chill of death. Above all, it just feels unabashedly, unsettlingly weird. It's something to behold on a big screen—and to get you in the mood for Halloween.
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