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The Best Nosferatu Horror Movies, Ranked

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3 weeks ago

December 5, 2024

Robert Eggers’ upcoming Nosferatu is enjoying a considerable amount of buzz in the lead-up to its release. With glowing reviews already blowing in, the rising star director’s latest ambitious effort promises to be a huge deal for the horror genre.

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The legacy of Nosferatu extends all the way back to over a century ago when the 1922 original shocked audiences with its unsettling visuals and story. In the years since this hugely influential film has inspired plenty of homages. More importantly, though, the legend of the villainous Count Orlock has lived on with a few re-imaginings that have continued the Nosferatu legacy over the decades. From the always fiery Klaus Kinski’s unsettling take on the character to imaginative, metafictional looks at the origins of the original film, Nosferatu has enjoyed some very curious new takes over the decades.

4 Vampire In Venice

An Incomplete Film Aided By A Suitably Scary Klaus Kinski Performance

Director: Augusto Caminito, Klaus Kinski (uncredited)
Cast: Klaus Kinski, Christopher Plummer, Donald Pleasance, Barbara De Rossi, Yorgo Voyagis
Initial release date: September 9, 1988
Production company: Reteitalia S.p.A., Scena Film Production

In this unofficial Nosferatu tale, German powerhouse actor Klaus Kinski returns for another round as the predatory, vampiric villain following his acclaimed turn in Werner Herzog’s ’70s remake. As revealed by the title, the film follows Kinski’s vampire’s exploits in Venice, as he butts heads with Christopher Plummer’s Professor Paris Catalano.

While Kinski’s performance is suitably unnerving, the film is marred badly by its incomplete script and storytelling. Issues behind the scenes between Kinski and the crew led to severe delays, with director Augusto Caminito ultimately struggling to even get a complete film shoot done. Regardless, Kinski still delivers the fearsome goods in the titular, bloodsucking role. Solid outings from Plummer and a great supporting cast further help in carrying this entertaining but severely flawed movie along.

3 Shadow of the Vampire

A Thoughtful, Meta-Fictional Take On The Nosferatu Legacy.

Director: E. Elias Merhige
Cast: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, John Aden Gillet, Eddie Izzard, Udo Kier, Catherine McCormack, Ronan Vibert
Initial release date: May 15, 2000
Production company: BBC Films, Saturn Films

In an intriguing meta-twist on the classic original, director F.W. Murnau and star Max Schreck become the center of their own horror story. John Malkovich’s Murnau seemingly finds a real vampire in Schreck to star in his movie.

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The film boasts impressive performances from both Malkovich and an Oscar-nominated Willem Dafoe as Schrek. As always, the man behind the definitive cinematic take on The Green Goblin is in suitably unsettling form. This imaginative, often creepy, sometimes humorous re-imagining of a classic flick is a rewarding effort for fans of the original and classic vampire stories in general. Interestingly, Dafoe is also one of the stars in Eggers’ upcoming Nosferatu, ensuring a curious connection remains between the classic horror title and the well-regarded character actor.

2 Nosferatu the Vampyre

A Masterful Re-Imagining That Saw Werner Herzog And Klaus Kinski At Their Collaborative Best.

Director: Werner Herzog
Cast: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor, Walter Ladengast
Initial release date: January 17, 1979
Production company: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Gaumont

Werner Herzog’s stylish hit serves as both an adaptation of the classic original and its inspiration, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The film marked the second collaboration between Herzog and wild leading man, Klaus Kinski, with the duo enjoying great success together whilst also frequently clashing on set.

Kinski puts together a compellingly unhinged performance as Count Dracula, adopting a similarly ghoulish look to the original Count Orlock for the film. Herzog’s direction is full of atmospheric scares and memorable visuals, firmly establishing classic status for this popular adaptation. Garnering considerable acclaim among critics and audiences alike, this colorful re-imagining does an impressive job of analyzing the character of Dracula. In turn, a sense of tragic loneliness is added to the murderous monster, as viewers follow him to the film’s shocking conclusion.

1 Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

The Landmark Original Changed Horror Cinema Forever.

Director: F.W. Murnau
Cast: Max Schrek, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Alexander Granach, Ruth Landshoff, Wolfgang Heinz
Initial release date: March 4, 1922
Production company: Prana Film

The classic original is one of the most influential films of all time, sparking a wave of horror flicks in the years that followed that helped to establish the genre’s popularity up to the present day. Nosferatu served as an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Director F.W. Murnau changed the game here, providing a film that served as a landmark in German Expressionist horror cinema. Shocking silent film audiences at the time of its 1922 release, the film follows actor Max Schrek’s chilling, titular villain. Sporting a demonic visage wholly unlike the more romanticized vampires that have often popped up in modern cinema and TV, Schrek’s Count Orlock causes chaos in a plot largely in line with the classic Dracula novel. As the original vampire horror film, Nosferatu is one of the most seminal, game-changing efforts in cinematic history.