The Dracula story has been told countless times on film, from F.W. Murnau’s unauthorized 1922 adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel to a surge of re-imaginings and modernizations over the past decade. Werner Herzog’s version, inspired by F.W. Murnau’s film, has long been one of my favorites. It’s both faithful to the story in many ways, and yet utterly unique.
In this video, I look at how Herzog creates the eerie atmosphere in Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) by forefronting affective details in the mise-en-scène.
The IU Cinema previously screened Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht in September 2012 as part of Werner Herzog’s visit to the Cinema.
Laura Ivins loves stop motion, home movies, imperfect films, nature hikes, and Stephen Crane’s poetry. She has a PhD from Indiana University and an MFA from Boston University. In addition to watching and writing about movies, sometimes she also makes them.