NOSFERATU, THE VAMPYRE

Following Frank Langella and George Hamilton (not to mention the earlier Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr.) in their roles as the Count, influential director Werner Herzog arrives with the eeriest Dracula yet. Clearly inspired by F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent classic, Herzog has combined carnal impulses with disturbingly beautiful images to create a mesmerizing journey to a netherworld. Klaus Kinski's Count Dracula is a figure of pestilential elegance; Isabelle Adjani's Lucy Harker is a pallid yet fearless heroine; as Jonathan Harker, Bruno Ganz takes the viewer on a trip from the comforts of bourgeois gentility into the dank, deadly night of the soul. Kinski is a top European star familiar from roles in films like Herzog's “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” (1972) and “Woyzeck” (1979), as well as a slew of spaghetti westerns. His daughter Nastassja stars in another Festival selection, “Stay as You Are.” Like its silent predecessor, this NOSFERATU is sure to become a classic. “A fine, frightening film with humor, horror and style.” – Gene Shalit, NBC-TV