The best Nosferatu can be streamed for free right now

The author Chris Snelgrove
| Published 2 hours ago

Currently, Robert Eggers Nosferatu the remake is proving to be a bloody hit at the box office, and has sparked an endless debate among horror nerds over whether it's superior to the groundbreaking original. However, true film lovers know that the best version is the original remake, a modern horror classic that you can now stream for free. 1979 by Werner Herzog Nosferatu Vampire is available to stream for free, and watching it will transform you as convincingly as if you'd been bitten by the titular bloodsucker himself.

If you are already a Nosferatu Heck, you won't be surprised by the plot of the Herzog remake when you stream it: We follow the 19th-century adventures of Jonathan Harker, a young real estate agent who must travel to the country of Transylvania to close a deal. Count bougyman of Transylvania Dracula wants to buy a house in Harker's neck of the woods, forcing the young man to leave his beautiful wife at home. Before the credits roll, she may unexpectedly prove to be the last defense against this creature of the night before he can stretch his body across the rest of Europe.

How Copyright Law Turned Dracula into Nosferatu

All of this may sound very familiar for a very good reason: 1979 Nosferatulike the original German film, it is based on Bram Stoker's film Dracula.

The German film was made without permission from his estate, and Stoker's widow, Florence, did not feel that sufficient changes had been made to the source material in the earlier FW Murnau film. She filed a lawsuit that led to the creation of most copies of the original Nosferatu is destroyed.

Fortunately, some copies survived, and by the time Herzog decided to create his remake, Stoker's earlier copyright had expired. This allowed him to name his monster in the 1979 version Dracula instead of Nosferatu.

Where to stream Nosferatu for free

1979 Nosferatu is now free to stream on Tubi, and unlike some of Tubi's weirder horror movies has a very solid cast, including Bruno Ganz (perhaps best known for playing Hitler in the Academy Award-nominated Downfall) as Jonathan Harker. His wife Lucy is played by French screen queen Isabelle Jasmine Adjani, who previously became the youngest Best Actress nominee for her performance in the film. The story of Adele H. But the real star of the show is Klaus Klinsky, a bona fide movie legend and frequent Herzog collaborator who makes Count Dracula seem equal parts terrifying, seductive and even likable.

Of course, Klinski managed to seduce critics with his brutal charisma: on Rotten tomatoes, Nosferatu Vampire has an impressive 94 percent critical rating. Overall, critics praised the film for its beautiful cinematography, as well as Klinski's performance, which is intense even by his standards (seriously, this is a guy so unpredictably wild that Werner Herzog seriously threatened kill him on the set of their previous film Aguirre, Wrath of God). And the audience liked this atmosphere Nosferatu long before its Tubi release, as evidenced by the film's healthy 83 percent Popcornmeter rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Who is the best Nosferatu? There is one clear choice

As far as I'm concerned, I can't put it any simpler than to say that for Murnau's original Duke Nosferatu is superior in every way. The sets are more lavish, the plot more complex, and the performances more engaging. Horror icon Joe Bob Briggs screened a double feature of the earlier film and the first remake on Shudder in 1922, and watching the films back-to-back, I was struck by how much better the remake is from the first frame to the final credits. (a relative rarity in horror).

When you watch Nosferatu Vampire on Tubi, will you find it better than FW Murnau's original or even Robert Eggers' new remake? You won't know until you sink your teeth into this spooky morsel for yourself. Luckily, you don't have to travel all the way to Transylvania to experience this spooky evil…all you have to do is play and experience the pinnacle of horror from your not-so-haunted home.