121. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

This week on *The Rotten Horror Picture Show*, Clay and Amanda are doing nothing to help my steadily worsening vampire confusion by taking a big ol’ bite out of Werner Herzog’s 1979 classic Nosferatu the Vampyre, starring Klaus Kinski as maybe the creepiest Dracula/Nosferatu/Count Orlok hybrid ever filmed. It’s moody, it’s beautiful, and it’s got rats. So many rats. 

Okay. Look. I’m just gonna say it: I think we’ve officially hit critical mass on Nosferatus and Draculas. I mean, how many pasty bald guys with capes and long fingernails named “Count Something” does the world *need*? First there was the original *Nosferatu*, then Lugosi’s *Dracula*, then Lee’s *Dracula*, then the *Nosferatu* remake, then Dracula in space, Dracula in love, Dracula with a podcast probably—I don’t know anymore. The point is, I’m starting to suspect these aren’t *characters* in movies. I think they might be *real*, and I think they’re multiplying. Every time I look around, there’s another Nosferatu lurking in a dark corner, hissing at a cat. I’m tired. I’m confused. And I’m scared of capes now.

Join Clay and Amanda as they dive into Herzog’s eerie homage to Murnau’s 1922 silent classic and debate just how many spooky bald vampires is too many. Is Kinski’s Count Dracula really just Orlok with a stage name? Does it matter when he’s this unsettling? Who gave him permission to move like *that*?

One thing’s for sure: if another Nosferatu pops up, I’m going into hiding. Probably somewhere with garlic. Maybe in a mall. Wait, no—*not* a mall. We’ve been over that.

Anyway, listen in… while you still can.

And be sure to hit up patreon.com/thepenskyfile to hear all the coverage of remakes and reboots this year!