Continuing our Hertzog/Kinski tour, we watched their Nosferatu, but not before watching the one of ‘fore-grandfather’ FW Murnau.
Equally scary, sensuous and vastly bleak, the two are distinguished primarily by their thematic content. While Murnau’s references are mythological and timeless, Hertzog’s might be the intervening German experience. The inhuman horror of the vampire that Murnau protrays in an intensely phsyical and visual style is resolved in an almost optimistic ending. Kinski’s figure however is all too human and its horror too infectious for comfort to be felt at any stage.