The Best Werner Herzog Movies Ranked And Where to Watch them

If you're looking for the best Werner Herzog movies of all time then here is a definitive list. We rank every movie directed by Werner Herzog based on their popularity score from IMDB from best to worst. Click on the ‘see more’ button to find out where to watch them in Australia covering all streaming services. In April 2024 there are 23 films in this list.

List of the Best Movies Directed by Werner Herzog In Order of Popularity

  1. Fitzcarraldo
  2. Aguirre, the Wrath of God
  3. Stroszek
  4. Grizzly Man
  5. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
  6. Nosferatu the Vampyre
  7. The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
  8. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
  9. Into the Inferno
  10. Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
  11. Woyzeck
  12. Heart of Glass
  13. Cobra Verde
  14. Family Romance, LLC
  15. The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans
  16. The Wild Blue Yonder
  17. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  18. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
  19. Queen of the Desert
  20. Salt and Fire
  21. Where the Green Ants Dream
  22. Even Dwarfs Started Small
  23. Signs of Life

Stream the top 23 Movies directed by Werner Herzog

1. Fitzcarraldo

Rated: PG

8/10

Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rainforest.

2. Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Rated: Not Rated

7.8/10

A few decades after the destruction of the Inca Empire, a Spanish expedition led by the infamous Aguirre leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon River in search of the lost city of El Dorado. When great difficulties arise, Aguirre’s men start to wonder whether their quest will lead them to prosperity or certain death.

3. Stroszek

Rated: Not Rated

7.8/10

Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he ekes out a living as a street musician. He befriends Eva, a prostitute down on her luck and they join his neighbor, Scheitz, an elderly eccentric, when he leaves Germany to live in Wisconsin.

4. Grizzly Man

Rated: R

7.8/10

Battlestar Galactica: Revisited serves up the essential information on the series' past three seasons, providing the uninitiated with an introduction to the characters, relationships and spine-tingling drama that have captured the imagination of audiences around the world. Galactica's executive producers, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick serve as guides, providing insights and revelations about the critically-acclaimed series.

5. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

Rated: Not Rated

7.7/10

The film follows Kaspar Hauser (Bruno S.), who lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man who wears a black overcoat and top hat who feeds him.

6. Nosferatu the Vampyre

Rated: PG

7.5/10

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.

7. The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft

Rated:

7.5/10

Filmmaker Werner Herzog combs through the film archives of volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft to create a film that celebrates their legacy.

8. Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Rated: G

7.4/10

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting.

9. Into the Inferno

Rated: N/A

7.2/10

With stunning views of eruptions and lava flows, Werner Herzog captures the raw power of volcanoes and their ties to indigenous spiritual practices.

10. Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

Rated: PG-13

7.0/10

Werner Herzog's exploration of the Internet and the connected world.

11. Woyzeck

Rated: Not Rated

7/10

Having fathered an illegitimate child with his lover, Marie, feckless soldier Franz Woyzeck takes odd jobs around his small town to provide some extra money for them. One of them is volunteering for experiments conducted by a local doctor, who puts Woyzeck on a diet of peas. This serves to drive him close to madness, and the discovery that Marie is involved in an affair with the local drum major exacerbates the situation. Pushed too far, Woyzeck resorts to violence.

12. Heart of Glass

Rated: Not Rated

6.9/10

A small Bavarian village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works. When the foreman of the works dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass, the town slides into a deep depression, and the owner of the glassworks becomes obssessed with the lost secret.

13. Cobra Verde

Rated: Not Rated

6.9/10

A fearsome 19th century bandit, Cobra Verde cuts a swath through Brazil until he arrives at the sugar plantation of Don Octávio Countinho. Not knowing that his new guest is the notorious bandit and impressed by his ruthless ways, Don Octávio hires Cobra Verde to oversee his slaves. But when Cobra Verde impregnates Don Octávio’s three daughters, the incensed plantation owner exiles the outlaw to Africa where he is expected to reopen the slave trade. Following his trans-Atlantic journey, Cobra Verde exploits tribal conflicts to commandeer an abandoned fortress and whips an army of naked warriors into a frenzied bloodlust as he vies for survival.

14. Family Romance, LLC

Rated: Not Rated

6.7/10

Love is a business at Family Romance, a company that rents human stand-ins for any occasion. Founder Yuichi Ishii helps make his clients’ dreams come true. But when the mother of 12-year-old Mahiro hires Ishii to impersonate her missing father, the line between acting and reality threatens to blur.

15. The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

Rated: R

6.6/10

After Katrina, police sergeant Terence McDonagh rescues a prisoner, hurts his back in the process and earns a promotion to lieutenant plus an addiction to cocaine and painkillers. Six months later, a family is murdered over drugs; Terence runs the investigation. His drug-using prostitute girlfriend, his alcoholic father's dog, run-ins with two old women and a well-connected john, gambling losses, a nervous young witness, and thefts of police property put Terence's job and then his life in danger. He starts seeing things. He wants a big score to get out from under mounting debts, so he joins forces with drug dealers. The murders remain unsolved. A bad lieutenant gets worse.

16. The Wild Blue Yonder

Rated: Not Rated

6.6/10

An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visitations to Earth and Earth's self-made demise, while human astronauts in space are attempting to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.

17. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Rated: R

6.6/10

Terrence McDonagh is a New Orleans Police sergeant, who recieves a medal and a promotion to lieutenant for heroism during Hurricane Katrina. Due to his heroic act, McDonagh injures his back and becomes addicted to prescription pain medication. He then finds himself involved with a drug dealer who is suspected of murdering a family of African immigrants.

18. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done

Rated: R

6.2/10

Brad has committed murder and barricaded himself inside his house. With the help of his friends and neighbours, the cops piece together the strange tale of how this nice young man arrived at such a dark place.

19. Queen of the Desert

Rated: PG-13

5.7/10

A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.

20. Salt and Fire

Rated: N/A

4.2/10

A scientist blames the head of a large company for an ecological disaster in South America. But when a volcano begins to show signs of erupting, they must unite to avoid a disaster.

21. Where the Green Ants Dream

Rated: R

/10

The Australian Aborigines (in this film anyway) believe that this is the place where the green ants go to dream, and that if their dreams are disturbed, it will bring down disaster on us all. The Aborigines' belief is not shared by a giant mining company, which wants to tear open the soil and search for uranium.

22. Even Dwarfs Started Small

Rated: Not Rated

/10

The inhabitants of an institution in a remote country rebel against their keepers. Their acts of rebellion are by turns humorous, boring and alarming. An allegory on the problematic nature of fully liberating the human spirit, as both commendable and disturbing elements of our nature come forward. The film shows how justifiable revolt may be empowering, but may also turn to chaos and depravity. The allegory is developed in part by the fact that the film is cast entirely with dwarfs

23. Signs of Life

Rated: N/A

/10

During World War II, three German soldiers are withdrawn from combat when one of them, Stroszek, is wounded. They are assigned to a small coastal community on the Greek island of Kos while Stroszek recuperates. The men become increasingly stir crazy in their uneventful new assignment. Stroszek eventually goes mad.