Beginning of January: NOSFERATU – THE UNDEAD

From 01.01. 2025 is in the b-ware! shop cinema preview time again. This time the new film version of NOSFERATU (2024) And the earlier versions? You can rent them from us on DVD.

Like a gigantic spider, the vampire crawls to his frozen victim, nobody rushes to help, because a plague epidemic is raging in the city… The silent film NOSFERATU (1922) was released in cinemas over 100 years ago, based on Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ novel. But his widow refused to give up the film rights. So the title and name were changed: Count Dracula became Count Orlock, played by Max Schreck, an actor who lived almost exclusively on cigarettes. As a result, he was as skinny as the role of the undead demanded.

One change compared to the original novel was (and is) particularly noticeable: it is not the professional vampire killer Dr van Helsing who blows out the vampire’s lamp. No, here it is the heroine Ellen Hutter who lures the bloodsucker into a deadly trap.

Decades later, Werner Herzog made a NOSFERATU remake (1979): But Klaus Kinski’s vampire count is no longer a savage biter: chalk-white as a skull, he explains to his victim Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) that eternal life is even crueler than death: ‘Time is an abyss, a thousand nights deep.’ Eternity makes you lonely.

Now, at the end of 2024, a third NOSFERATU is starting! Director Robert Eggers gained fame for his stylish visual design in THE LIGHT HOUSE (2019) and THE NORTHMAN (2022). His NOSFERATU adaptation also draws the audience into a dark series of images, into a morbid and erotic atmosphere – as if Charles Baudelaire had taken over the direction. The actress playing the heroine, Lee Rose Depp (daughter of Vanessa Paradise and Johnny Depp), even convinced Eggers during Zoom casting: the director was in tears at the end. It’s pretty safe to say that with Lee Rose Depp, the horror genre has gained a new scream queen!

Of course, the new NOSFERATU is also coming to the b-ware! shop cinema. We will announce the dates in good time. In the meantime, you can take advantage of our special offer: For example, watch the first NOSFERATU version (1922) by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau or the second (1978) by Werner Herzog on DVD. Or the satirical making-of for the Murnau version: SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (2000) with Willem Defoe. Or earlier works by director Robert Eggers. In short: we have set up a special themed shelf for NOSFERATU in our DVD rental shop.

Übrigens: Das NOSFERATU-Remake startet pünktlich zu einem Zeitpunkt, wo Biologen eine ansteigende Population an „Nosferatu-Spinnen“ (Zoropsis spinimana) in Westeuropa konstatieren… Aber keine Sorge: Deren Biss ist mit einem Mückenstich vergleichbar. Für den Menschen also ungefährlich.