Synopsis:

I love Herzog's take on Mernau's 1922 masterpiece Nosferatu, which he considered the most important film to have come out of Germany. His love letter to the film is beautiful, horrific and powerfully moving, with the best on-screen portrayal of Dracula (Orlock in the original) ever from Klaus Kinski. Yes, I include Max Schreck, Lugosi, Lee, Oldman et al in that assessment. Kinski's performance is unbeaten, a tour de force of twisted animalism cut through with profound sadness and aching yearning. Am intrigued to see what Robert Eggers brings with his 2024 take and how Bill Skarsgård plays the Count. Herzog released Nosferatu in two versions - in native German and in English. It's the latter which is most well known of course, but he actually preferred the German version for its authenticity. Both are narratively the same, but a number of scenes were reshot (some with different camera angles) with the actors speaking English, while other scenes were simply redubbed. See this site for more details: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1509 That all being said, I do feel Herzog indulges his love of long moody camera shots a little bit too much here and there; I've always felt the film might benefit from being a little snappier in parts. And the use (or lack) of music in the film could be better deployed, in my view. I've been inspired by Dawnrazoredits' recent - and brilliant - black and white edit of the English version and their use of additional music of their own creation to score it. So I began to wonder how my own edit of the German version might work if I tightened it up a bit and added some of my own self-created music (ambient / drone / soundscape works I've created in the past) in places. While the soundtrack is brilliant, I feel some scenes are weakened and made more 'static' by the absence of any music. Colourwise,I did do a test in monochrome, but eventually stayed with the beautifully rich and deep palette of the original cinematography, which looks amazing in the BFI's remastered version. Hopefully the end result is a slightly pacier, more powerful and emotional work.

Intentions:

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Change List:

- Added 'Wismar, Germany 1850' to scene of Harker walking to work, to establish location and period - added self-created ambient drone track to the scene where Renfield explains the letter from Dracula to Harker, and ran it through to the beach scene where the film's soundtrack takes over. This motif appears at intervals through other scenes later. - Cut scene of Jonathan leaving Lucy at Mina's house and instead faded from beach scene to him riding away, for speedier pacing. - Cut Harker's approach to the Inn where he gets mobbed, and his exit on foot into the mountains a little, for pacing. Added own music to underscore the inn scene, and then the same piece comes back in the inn bedroom scene, when he reads from the book. - edited Harker's passage through the waterfall and up the mountain a little to speed things up - added various pieces of own music to underscore Harker and Dracula meeting, becoming increasing strident and tense when Harker cuts his finger, then fading when Dracula backs down by the fireplace, then carried this through into the scene of Lucy being awoken by the bat. - cut the boy with the violin scene so it now segues from Harker examining his neck bites into the silhouette of the castle. Added the ominous drone from earlier castle silhouette shot to link them. - added own sad piano and drone music to scene of Dracula signing the documents and his speech about time, tried to match the sense of loneliness with the score here - added own increasingly alarming music in scene of Dracula approaching and entering Harker's bedroom and raising his claws, then carried this through next two scenes of Harker and Dracula then Harker reading the vampire book. - used some of own music in following scene when Harker tries to find Dracula's tomb, and segued into music from the plague body opening scene to create sense of tension when he finally discovers it and attempts to escape. - Recut the scenes of Dracula loading the coffins on the cart and Harker watching from the window - inserted castle silhouette and close up on Nosferatu approaching from earlier scene to give some extra sense of his all-pervasive evil. - added own music under the scenes of Lucy sitting by the grave stones watching the ocean and following scene with Harker leaving his sick bed. - cut the scene of the captain tying himself to the ship's wheel and then the next scene of the ship floating on the ocean, to speed up its arrival in Wismar. - After Dracula is seen on the boat, added a short clip of Kinski looking over the side of the boat taken from the 'Making of Nosferatu' documentary and laid it over the scenes of Harker racing on horseback and Lucy staring out the window, to link the three of them. - shortened the arrival of the boat into Wismar so it immediately follows Lucy staring out the window. - added own music to scenes of the councilmen searching the ship then reading the log and discovering plague. - added own music to Harker's arrival by coach - added own music to Dracula's appearance in Lucy's room - added own music to Renfield's escape, Lucy's reading of the book and Dracula telling Renfield to go to Riga to spread the plague. - added own music partway through scene with Van Helsing and Lucy at her house, just before he leaves her alone with Jonathan, this is a return of the piano piece from earlier but extended, to emphasise their disconnection - Added own music to the final scenes where Dracula feeds from Lucy - decided to underline the sense of longing and emptiness here rather than play it for horror. - Used the piece of music from the opening plague scene to score Dracula's death scenes, as this scene really needed extra impact.

Other Sources:

- My own music - Making of Nosferatu documentary

Special Thanks:

Dawnrazor - for all their support and constructive feedback on the edit.