Jonathan Harker, a real estate agent, goes to Transylvania to visit the mysterious Count Dracula and formalize the purchase of a property in Wismar. Once Jonathan is caught under his evil spell, Dracula travels to Wismar where he meets the beautiful Lucy, Jonathan's wife, while a plague spreads through the town, now ruled by death.
There's a grey, plodding quality to the film which sidesteps oppressive, doom-laden inevitability and goes straight to slightly dull.
– Tom Huddleston,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
fresh:
The acting is too eccentric and the narrative drive too weak to satisfy fans of the genre, but Herzog's admirers will find much in the film's animistic landscapes and clusters of visionary imagery.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
21 Sep 2007
fresh:
Between the hordes of stowaway rats that accompany Dracula's arrival, and a town-plaza dance of folly by doomed survivors (a Herzog addition), it's like being present at the birth of a medieval legend.
– Nicolas Rapold,
Village Voice,
29 Oct 2008
fresh:
You can love this movie without having to admit it's merely an okay version of Dracula.
– Joshua Rothkopf,
Time Out New York,
29 Oct 2008
fresh:
To say of someone that they were born to play a vampire is a strange compliment, but if you will compare the two versions of Nosferatu you might agree with me that only Kinski could have equaled or rivaled Max Schreck's performance.