Film Discussion Pop Up Kino: Nosferatu 1922 x 1978

Film discussion with Dr. Sandy Frieden

Let us chat together a moment, my friend! There are still several hours until dawn, and I have the whole day to sleep. – Count Orlok / Nosferatu
 
Delight in the nightmarish world of the vampire Nosferatu
 
Join us as our Pop Up Kino film series goes digital this month with a virtual conversation on the original production of the German horror film Nosferatu and the later production by New German Cinema pioneer Werner Herzog:

• Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror | 1922 | F.W. Murnau
• Nosferatu the Vampyre | 1978/79 | Werner Herzog

The conversation will be led by German film scholar Dr. Sandy Frieden and take place Thursday, June 18, 6:30pm, on Zoom. We encourage you to watch the films on your own prior to the event.  
Register

Where to stream the films

Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror  (1922) is available for free on Tubi and Youtube, and can also be rented on Amazon Prime. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) is available for free on Tubi, and can also be rented on Youtube and Amazon Prime.  

About the films

Praised by many critics as the greatest German film ever made, F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror introduced the world of cinema to a character we have seen many times since: the undead, Count Dracula, the vampire. New German Cinema director Werner Herzog’s 1978 Nosferatu the Vampyre has been called, not a re-make, but a re-birth of the original.  Just as Murnau borrows from Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula but creates his own shadowy, horrifying world, Herzog recreates Murnau’s settings and shots…but Herzog’s world is quite, quite different. 
 
In our Zoom session, we’ll talk about the background, the directors, the production and the surprisingly different meanings of these two great films! As you watch these films, here are things to notice and to think about: 
 
Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror, F.W. Murnau, 1922
 
Things to notice:

• use of nature
• camera tricks (negatives, fast motion)
• establishing time of day, mood
• use of deep shots, unexpected angles, corners of the screen
• use of architecture
• use of inanimate objects
• attitude toward science  

……and in all of these: why does Murnau do what he’s doing?  What is the feeling he wants to evoke in you, and how does he use camera, focus, sets, lighting, acting to get you to react?
 
Things to think about:
How is this film Expressionist (images showing not reality, but true feelings - the truth of the time)?
How is this film Romantic (yearning for an other-worldliness, fear of the unknown)?
What would you say is Murnau’s Weltanschauung—his “world view”—based on the ending?
 
[Other films of Murnau’s to compare for style and world view:  The Last Laugh, Sunrise]
 
Nosferatu the Vampyre, Werner Herzog, 1978
 
Things to notice:

• direct quotations (cinematically duplicating a shot/scene/sequence) from Murnau
• changed point of view for an identical shot to Murnau’s
• explicit changes from Murnau’s film
• why show the plague scenes?
• attitude toward science?
• typical elements of Herzog’s style (nature? Indigenous cultures? use of color? pacing? circularity?)  

…… .and in all of these:  why does Herzog do what he’s doing?  What is the feeling he wants to evoke in you, and how does he use camera, focus, sets, lighting, acting to get you to react?
 
Things to think about:
What are the changes from Ellen (Murnau) to Lucy (Herzog), and why do they change everything?
This film has been called “a dissection of bourgeois complacency”---and also “a film about lust.” Why?
What would you say is Herzog’s Weltanschauung—his “world view”—based on the ending?
 
[Other films of Herzog’s to compare for style and world view:  Aguirre the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser]
 

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