Nosferatu the Vampyre (Ger. Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, Eng. Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night) is a 1979 West German vampire horror film, set primarily in nineteenth-century Wismar, Germany and Transylvania, Romania. The film was conceived as a stylistic remake of the 1922 German Dracula adaptation, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens. Written and directed by Werner Herzog, Nosferatu the Vampyre stars Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula, Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker and Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker. The film also features French artist-writer Roland Topor as Renfield.
Herzog’s production of Nosferatu the Vampyre was warmly received by critics and filmgoers alike, enjoying a comfortable degree of commercial success.[1] The film also marks the second of five legendary collaborations between director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski,[2] immediately followed by 1979’s Woyzeck.
An almost completely unrelated sequel, Nosferatu in Venice, was released in 1988 by director Augusto Caminito, with only Klaus Kinski returning to reprise his loosely connected role.
Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) is an estate agent in Wismar, Germany. His boss, Renfield (Roland Topor), informs him that a nobleman named Count Dracula wishes to buy a property in Wismar, and assigns Harker to visit the count and complete the lucrative deal. Leaving his young wife Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) behind in Wismar, Harker travels for four weeks to Transylvania, Romania, to the castle of Count Dracula. He brings with him the deeds and documents needed to sell the house to the Count.
On his journey, Jonathan stops at a village, where locals warn him of the castle’s “evil”, pleading for him to stay clear of the accursed castle, providing him with details of vampirism. But Harker ignores the villagers’ pleas as wild superstition, and continues his journey unassisted. Harker arrives at Dracula’s castle, where he meets the Count (Klaus Kinski). The mysterious nobleman is a strange, ancient, almost rodent-like man, with large ears, pale skin, sharp teeth and long fingernails. Despite these horrifying traits, however, Dracula proves surprisingly accommodating, offering Harker his full hospitality.
The lonely Count is enchanted by a small portrait of Jonathan’s wife, Lucy, and immediately agrees to purchase the Wismar property, especially with the knowledge that he and Lucy would become neighbors. As Jonathan’s visit progresses, he is haunted at night by a number of dream-like encounters with the vampiric Count. Simultaneously, in Wismar, Lucy is tormented by night terrors, plagued by images of impending doom. Additionally, Renfield is committed to an asylum after biting a cow, apparently having lapsed into a psychosis.
To Harker’s horror, he finds the Count asleep in a coffin, confirming for him that Dracula is indeed a vampire. At night, Dracula leaves for Wismar, taking with him a number of coffins, filled with the cursed earth that he needs for his vampiric rest. Harker finds that he is locked in the castle, and attempts to escape through a window with a makeshift rope. The rope, fashioned from bedsheets, is not long enough, and Jonathan falls, severely injuring himself. He awakes on the ground the next morning, stirred by the sound of a young gypsy boy loudly playing a violin. He is eventually sent to a hospital and raves about “black coffins” to doctors, who then assume that the sickness is affecting his mind.
Meanwhile, Dracula and his coffins travel to Wismar by boat. The crew systematically die or disappear at the hand of the vampire, but with the belief that they are afflicted with plague. The ghost ship arrives at Wismar with its mysterious cargo, where doctors – including Van Helsing (Walter Ladengast) – investigate the strange fate of the ship. They discover a log that mentions their perceived affliction with plague. In turn, Wismar is flooded with rats from the ship. Dracula arrives in Wismar with his coffins, and death spreads rapidly throughout the town.
When Jonathan is finally transported home, he is desperately ill, and does not appear to recognize his wife, Lucy. Lucy later has an encounter with the lonely Count Dracula. Weary and unable to die, he demands some of the love that she gave so freely to Jonathan, but she refuses, much to Dracula’s dismay.
Now aware that something other than plague is responsible for the death that has beset her once-peaceful town, Lucy desperately tries to convince the town people, but they are skeptical and uninterested. She finds that she can vanquish Dracula’s evil by distracting him at dawn, but at the expense of her own life. She lures the Count to her bedroom, where he proceeds to drink her blood. ? Lucy’s beauty and purity distract Dracula from the call of the cockerel, and at the first light of day, he collapses to the floor. Van Helsing arrives to discover Lucy, dead but victorious. He then finishes the Count off with a stake through the heart. In a final, chilling twist, Jonathan Harker awakes from his sickness, a vampire, and arranges for Van Helsing’s arrest. He is last seen traveling away on horseback, enigmatically stating that he has much to do.
