[5] Herzog's production of Nosferatu was very well received by critics and enjoyed a comfortable degree of commercial success.

[6] The film also marks the second of five collaborations between director Herzog and actor Kinski,[7] following 1972's Aguirre, the Wrath of God.

The 1988 Italian horror film Nosferatu in Venice is a "sequel-in-name-only",[10] again featuring Kinski in the title role.

Ignoring the villagers' pleas, Harker continues his journey and arrives at Dracula's castle, where he meets the Count, a man with large ears, pale skin, sharp teeth and long fingernails.

That night, Dracula leaves for Wismar, taking coffins filled with the cursed earth that he needs for his vampiric rest.

Harker finds himself imprisoned in the castle and attempts to escape through a window, severely injuring himself in the process.

Death spreads throughout the town on his arrival, which the local doctors, including Abraham Van Helsing, attribute to a plague caused by the rats from the ship.

Now certain that something other than plague is responsible for the deaths, Lucy tries to convince the townspeople, who are skeptical and uninterested as they engage in a danse macabre and have a last supper.

From a book given to Jonathan by the Transylvanians, Lucy discovers she can defeat Dracula by distracting him until dawn, at which time the rays of the sun will destroy him, but only at the cost of her own life.

[15] By 1979, Dracula had entered the public domain, so Herzog opted to include the original character names.

"[16] Nosferatu the Vampyre was co-produced by Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, French film company Gaumont, and West German public-service television station ZDF.

Herzog originally intended to film in Transylvania, but Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime would not allow it due to the relation between the character of count Dracula and Vlad the Impaler.

[citation needed] At the request of distributor 20th Century Fox, Herzog produced two versions of the film simultaneously to appeal to English-speaking audiences.

[18] Kinski's Dracula make-up, with black costume, bald head, rat-like teeth, and long fingernails, is an imitation of Max Schreck's makeup in the 1922 original.

[19] The film score to Nosferatu the Vampyre was composed by the West German group Popol Vuh, who have collaborated with Herzog on numerous projects.

[20] Additionally, the film features Richard Wagner's prelude to Das Rheingold, Charles Gounod's "Sanctus" from Messe solennelle à Sainte Cécile and traditional Georgian folk song "Tsintskaro", sung by Vocal Ensemble Gordela.

To do so, according to 't Hart, the cages containing the rats needed to be submerged in boiling water for several seconds, causing another half of them to die.

[22] Released as Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht in German and Nosferatu the Vampyre in English, the film was entered into the 29th Berlin International Film Festival, where production designer Henning von Gierke won the Silver Bear for an outstanding single achievement.

The website's critical consensus states: "Stunning visuals from Werner Herzog and an intense portrayal of the famed bloodsucker from Klaus Kinski make this remake of Nosferatu a horror classic in its own right.

"[24] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[25] In contemporary reviews, the film is noted for maintaining an element of horror, with numerous deaths and a grim atmosphere.

[27] Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times reviewed the film upon its 1979 release, giving it four stars out of a possible four, writing: "There is nothing pleasant about Herzog's vampire", which was "played totally without ego by Klaus Kinski".