Summary
Lured by the prospect of a substantial commission, real estate merchant Jonathan Harker
sets out for Transylvania, to sell a house to the mysterious Count Dracula. Arriving
at the Count’s run-down castle after nightfall, Harker is greeted by Dracula, a
pale ghoul-like creature with a strange appetite for blood. Having seen a picture
of Harker’s wife, Lucy, the Count secures Harker in the castle and hastens to Harker's
hometown in Holland in a coffin. Realising that his wife is in danger, Harker makes
a desperate attempt to reach his home before the Count. He is too late. When
he arrives, his hometown is overrun by rats, thousands are dying from the plague, and
he is a changed man. Lucy realises there is only one way to banish this terrible
evil...
Review
Inspired by F.W. Murnau's 1922 masterpiece
Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie der Grauens, acclaimed German director Werner Herzog
made this unusual re-telling of the Dracula story with the aim of creating a nightmare
from which the viewer is unable to awake. His film distinguishes itself from the
plethora of film adaptations of the Dracula story and yet fails to be entirely satisfying.
Herzog's most significant innovation is to present the vampiric fiend Dracula as a victim,
not a wicked monster, a creature we should pity as much as fear. To that end, Herzog
is supported by a magnificent performance from celebrated German actor Klaus Kinski.
Although he is scarcely recognisable beneath the make-up, Kinski manages to evoke a powerful
sense of pathos, whilst simultaneously terrifying us. The film stands on Kinski's
performance alone.
Apart from Herzog's brilliant relisation of the Dracula character, the film fails on virtually
every other count (no pun intended). The film's opening, where Harker treks innocently
across the Transylvanian countryside, is dull and needlessly protracted. After Harker's
initial meeting with the Count, the film appears to lose momentum and thereafter fails
to engage the viewers' attention.
© James Travers 2000
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