notions that are now harbored about Dracula to the generic source of the myth, ,the shadowy dreamworld in which our own sexual terrors lie...where attraction and repulsion intertwine and where our laughter becomes the imprimatur of self-recognition as we inwardly admit to our own primitive fascinations with evil.

"Nosferatu The Vaxnpyre" is a film to be enjoyed on many levels. But Herzog means for enjoyment to be the operative word, for his concept derives from the direct and pleasurable excitation inherent in the medium of film. Each delicious shudder takes the viewer deeper into the gorgeously somber nightmare world Herzog has painted in tones as delicate and fragile as the porcelain of Delft where "Nosferatu The Vampyre" was filmed.

It is an assault on the senses and the emotions, at once bold and subtle, comic and confounding, disturbing and ultimately deeply moving, a film whose triumph is its originality and uniqueness in dealing with classical material that has seen literally hundreds of permutations since Bran Stoker first published his novel Dracula nearly a century ago.

Heading Herzog's creative team for the Michael Gruskoff presentation are three people whose sensibility has definitively influenced his films. The incandescent photography of Jorg SchmidtReitwein has contributed to four of the director's previous films, including "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser," "La Soufriero," "Heart of ~ and several documentaries. Henning von Gierko and Gisela Storch, responsible for the production and costume design, joined Herzog for "Kaspar Hauser" and "Heart of Glass." Working as a unit, they delve into the history, customs, politics of each film's period for absolute authenticity. "Nosferatu The Vampyre" eschews bright, "pop" colors for the shimmering subtlety of pastels, luminous fabrics and antique props reflecting pre-Industrial times.