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Werner Herzog’s best films include both scripted features and documentaries, and no single authoritative order settles how they should rank. This list weighs artistic force, formal invention, influence, staying power, and how distinctly each film represents a strand of Herzog’s work. It is an editorial selection, not a Tomatometer-based ranking or a claim of critical consensus. Herzog’s official site describes a career spanning more than sixty feature and documentary films; this list brings together major landmarks and revealing alternatives from that broad body of work. Werner Herzog Film
20 best Werner Herzog movies, ranked
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Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
A defining Herzog fiction film: a historical expedition becomes a study of ambition collapsing into obsession. Its place at the top reflects how forcefully it establishes the director’s recurring interest in people trying to impose their will on an indifferent world.
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Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Herzog turns an improbable dream into an epic about the costs of pursuing it. The film’s scale and ambition make it an essential companion to Aguirre, while its focus on a single, consuming project gives it a distinct emotional shape.
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Grizzly Man (2005)
This documentary follows the life and death of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell while also questioning the limits of his relationship with the animals he sought to protect. Herzog’s interpretation is part of the film’s subject: it is as much about how people make meaning from nature as it is about Treadwell.
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![Herzog: The Collection [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31MIaCExK0L._SL160_.jpg)
Herzog: The Collection [Blu-ray]- Factory sealed DVD
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The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
Herzog’s fictional account of a young man who appears in a German town after spending most of his life isolated turns social convention into a source of strangeness. It is a strong choice for viewers drawn to his more intimate, philosophical features.
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Lessons of Darkness (1992)
A documentary vision of the aftermath of the Gulf War’s oil-field fires, shaped less like a conventional report than an encounter with a devastated landscape. Its formal audacity shows Herzog’s nonfiction at its most atmospheric.
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Stroszek (1977)
A bleak, unconventional story of displacement and failed hopes, Stroszek brings Herzog’s interest in outsiders into a more contemporary setting. Its uneasy shifts in tone make it one of his most singular fictional works.
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Fata Morgana (1971)
Desert imagery and voice-over create a hypnotic essay film that favors association over explanation. It is among the better choices for viewers who want Herzog’s experiments with nonfiction form rather than a narrative feature.
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Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.Rank #2
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My Best Fiend (1999)
Herzog looks back on his volatile creative relationship with actor Klaus Kinski, revisiting their collaborations without reducing the story to a simple behind-the-scenes account. It offers a distinct perspective on the director’s fiction films and the people who shaped them.
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Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Herzog reworks the vampire story as a mournful, atmospheric feature. Its place here reflects the director’s ability to bring his preoccupations with isolation and doomed ambition into genre filmmaking.
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Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)
This documentary tells the story of Dieter Dengler, a German-born U.S. Navy pilot who survived capture during the Vietnam War. It shows Herzog’s interest in extraordinary survival and in the way memory is shaped through retelling.
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Encounters at the End of the World (2007)
Herzog travels to Antarctica and meets people who have chosen to live and work at the edge of the inhabited world. The film combines observations of a remote environment with portraits of the people drawn to it.
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![The Werner Herzog Collection [Blu-ray] [1967]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51HOQ-bXw3L._SL160_.jpg)
The Werner Herzog Collection [Blu-ray] [1967]- The disk has English audio and subtitles.
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Heart of Glass (1976)
A fictional village is swept up in prophecy and collective unease. Its deliberately unusual performance style and dreamlike atmosphere make it one of Herzog’s more adventurous narrative films.
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Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
Herzog’s documentary enters the Chauvet cave to contemplate its ancient paintings. The film’s subject is not only what the images depict, but the experience of encountering art made across an immense distance in time.
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The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974)
This short documentary follows ski-flyer Walter Steiner and captures Herzog’s fascination with people who test the edges of human capability. Its compact form makes it a useful entry into the director’s nonfiction work.
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Where the Green Ants Dream (1984)
A fictional conflict over land becomes a meditation on cultural difference and competing ideas of value. It belongs among Herzog’s less frequently foregrounded features, offering a different route into his interest in people confronting systems larger than themselves.
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How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (1976)
This short documentary takes competitive auctioneering as its subject, finding rhythm and performance in a specialized public event. It demonstrates how Herzog’s curiosity can make an unfamiliar world compelling without turning it into a conventional plot.
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Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)
An uprising in an isolated institution becomes an abrasive, surreal fiction film. Its confrontational humor and visual oddness mark it as one of Herzog’s most challenging early works.
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Woyzeck (1979)
Herzog adapts Georg Büchner’s unfinished play into a concentrated portrait of a man under relentless pressure. The film’s tight focus makes it a useful counterpoint to the director’s larger-scale epics.
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La Soufrière (1977)
Herzog travels to the evacuated Guadeloupean town threatened by a volcano that did not erupt. The documentary’s tension comes from the gap between a looming natural threat and the decision to approach it.
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![Nosferatu the Vampyre (1922) ( Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, Blu-Ray, Reg.B Import - Germany ]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51cCL8j-szL._SL160_.jpg)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1922) ( Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, Blu-Ray, Reg.B Import - Germany ]- Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio.
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Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010)
Co-directed with Dmitry Vasyukov, this documentary observes life in a remote Siberian community across the seasons. It rounds out the list with a quieter mode of Herzog’s nonfiction: patient attention to work, place, and daily survival.
![Herzog: The Collection, Volume 2 [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41g6TQ3jE9L._SL160_.jpg)
How to choose a Herzog film to watch first
- For a landmark fictional epic: Start with Aguirre, the Wrath of God or Fitzcarraldo.
- For documentary with a strong central character: Choose Grizzly Man or Little Dieter Needs to Fly.
- For formal experimentation: Try Fata Morgana or Lessons of Darkness.
- For a quieter view of people and place: Choose Encounters at the End of the World or Happy People: A Year in the Taiga.
How this ranking differs from a ratings list
Rotten Tomatoes’ Herzog ranking orders films by Tomatometer score, a specific aggregation method rather than a universal judgment of artistic value. This list instead balances fiction and documentary, different career periods, formal ambition, influence, and usefulness as an introduction. The Tomatometer ranking is one way to compare reception, but its order need not match this editorial one.
Where to find a physical Herzog collection
The BFI Shop’s documented Werner Herzog Collection Blu-ray is an eight-disc set containing 18 films, including Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Stroszek, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Fitzcarraldo, and Les Blank’s Burden of Dreams. It is Region B, so check that your player supports that region before buying. The separate BFI DVD collection page is marked sold out and specifies Region 2; its disc-count details conflict, so the count is not included here.
Criterion’s Grizzly Man page lists a special-edition Blu-ray with availability beginning December 8, 2026. Because that date is after October 4, 2026, the edition should not be treated as currently available before then.
Books and screenplays connected with Herzog’s films
For readers interested in how Herzog’s films extend beyond the screen, his official books bibliography documents published screenplays and film-related books, including a 1980 screenplay collection and books connected with Fitzcarraldo. The bibliography establishes publication history, not current stock or a specific retailer’s availability.
Filmography and records
Herzog’s official site presents a broad career spanning feature and documentary filmmaking, while the Deutsche Kinemathek Werner Herzog Archive catalogs films including Aguirre, Fata Morgana, Fitzcarraldo, and Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Its filmographic information draws on filmographic and credit sources. These references help establish titles and chronology; they do not determine an objective ranking.
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