SILVER

[NOSFERATU - PHANTOM DER NACHT]
Werner Herzog’s only horror film is as rich with artistry and tragedy as his most grounded, human works are. It is 1850 in the beautiful, perfectly kept town of Wismar. Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz, WINGS OF DESIRE) is leaving on a long journey over the Carpathian Mountains to finalize real estate arrangements with a wealthy nobleman. His wife Lucy (POSSESSION’s Isabelle Adjani) is troubled by a strong premonition of danger and begs him not to go. Despite her warnings, Jonathan arrives four weeks later at a large, gloomy castle. Out of the mist appears a pale, wraithlike figure with deep sunken eyes who identifies himself as Count Dracula (Klaus Kinski, FITZCARRALDO). The events that transpire slowly convince Harker that he is in the presence of a vampire. Even so, he doesn’t realize the magnitude of danger he, his wife and his town are about to experience. (Note courtesy of AGFA.) DIR/SCR/PROD Werner Herzog. West Germany/France, 1979, color, 107 min. In German, Romanian and English with English subtitles. RATED PG