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Nosferatu the Vampyre

Nosferatu the Vampyre

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Successful and surreal homage to this macabre classic!
Review: This is a great DVD for horror and cinema fans alike to add to their collection. First of all it is packed with those great DVD extras that film fans love: director commentary, trailers, etc. The cover art and the film itself make this a horror classic even in this updated form. The director, Herzog, gives an illuminating commentary of the various set pieces and his actions and most of all what is was like working with Kinski and the others. GREAT dream-like atmosphere is plentiful. That slow-motion bat wonderfully creepy....Kinski's AWESOME performance (almost insect-like, keeping with the notion that the vampire is really an obscene animal more than a man!) and that haunting, visually amazing ending all make this one excellent edition to your DVD horror collection. This film deserves a much higher place in the horror-film hierarchy even though it is a remake it is the best kind: one that pays homage to the original and has an atmosphere and individuality all its own. note: This film also has one of the best musical scores that I have ever heard. It perfectly matches the surreal and hauntingly eerie mood of the picture.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice to look at, but a bit of a yawn
Review: Technically speaking, the movie is terrific. The film quality is crisp and wonderfully coloured and is devoid of the orangey overtones and bleeding reds so many films from the 1970s seem to suffer. Unfortunately, the sound has a definite hiss.

Story-wise, the movie isn't so great. Although I'm not a fan of Hollywood's rushed plots, Nosferatu is too slow-paced. When Jonathan Harker is snooping through Dracula's castle, tension builds, but nothing happens. He doesn't even stub his toe, and his eventual escape from the castle is anticlimactic to the extreme. I can see how the tradition of lack-lustre actors portraying Jonathan Harker started. The Jonathan of this movie is no more exciting than Keanu Reeve's portrayal in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Aside from the gorgeous scenery, there isn't a whole lot I found interesting about the film. Although Lucy (Isabel Adjani) is as delectably gorgeous and freaky-looking as always, and Nosferatu (Klaus Kinski) is an amusingly ugly and impeccably manicured freak, the movie is just plain boring. The acting is distinctly wooden, and line delivery lacks panache.

One of the more interesting motifs used in the film is the ubiquitousness of white plague rats. Everywhere Lucy and the minor characters go, they must wade through thousands of the little critters. Generally speaking, they ignored their squeaking presence, paying attention to them only when bitten. Are these rats partially invisible? How come no one reacts to them? I guess it is a mystery. I think the film would have had a much more surreal element if babies had been used instead of rats. Imagine Lucy walking through thousands of crawling naked babies on her way to sprinkle crumbled-up Host wafers on coffins filled with more naked babies. The thought certainly added to my interest of the film. And if the babies had needle fangs like good ol' Nossie, so much the better.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: beautifully filmed, but bleak
Review: This is a very dark version of Dracula and visually stunning. Similar to the 1922 silent version, Klaus Kinski plays the count as a horrible, creepy, creature from hell, and the sound of his breathing is unnerving. It also has an eerie score. Bruno Ganz and Isabelle Adjani play Jonathan Harker and his wife with rather remote blandness, and the rest of the cast is bizarre...the rats however, do a splendid job ! I find all the Dracula movies fascinating, it's a tale that will never grow old...see this film for the brilliant cinematography, but for a version acted with heart and soul, see Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Thinking Viewer's Vampire
Review: "Nosferatu" is a wonderous example of what an innovative, imaginative filmmaker can do with a worn out formulaic idea. Werner Herzog injects his film with poetic imagery and a amazing restraint in telling the tale told in the original 1922 version. Klaus Kinski is a pathetic, pale-faced, recreation of the character made famous by Max Schreck. He is eccentric, educated, and diabolically evil at the same time. The film moves at a slow, ponderous pace, that draws one in with its' melodic and well filmed sequentially staged scenes. The film is not for those expecting a loud, obnoxious, "Lost Boys" or "Interview With The Vampire" type storytelling. It is a strange type of art form that will hopefully be eventually seen as the classic that it is. The DVD presentation is excellent, both the original German Language version and the lesser English language version are contained on the disk. There is also interesting commentary by the director in which he points out many similarities between the earlier version and his. The film is also letterboxed, presenting the entire scope of beautiful and horrific images. "Nosferatu" is simply a great film that those looking for a change of pace from the usual should see.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The Worst Dracula film ever
Review: I am a big Dracula fan, but this Dracula is a waste of time. First of all, NOTHING seemed to happen, and it was rarely scary! Of the Draculas I've seen, this was drawn out the WORST. I am very familiar with the story of Dracula, but it made little sense to me primarily because it had little dialogue and some details were changed. Plus, The ending was confusing! Was Jonathan Harker a vampire, and where does he go on his horse at the end, and why? Maybe he was trying to escape Van Helsing, I don't know. What I DO KNOW is that it is a confusing ending to a dreamy film! If I who am familiar with Dracula was confused, anyone unfamiliar with the story would be if they saw this film. A beginner would be more informed through 1931's "Dracula" or 1957's "The Horror of Dracula". Also, I am convinced that the person playing Dracula should not look so obviously wicked. It gives the whole show away! Plus, they have to be in their 40s at least. Kinski failed in both departments, but his acting is OK (but not so good after all, since I've seen better). Bela Lugosi, Gary Oldman, Christopher Lee are all suave and not too obviously wicked (at least to the other characters), and are all the right age.

The sets are marvelous and realistic (but "Horror of Dracula" is like that, too). It moves at a slow, dreamy pace, but it doesn't build up any suspense! Bottom line: both 1970s Draculas are worthless, watch the other Dracula films!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: TO FILM IS TO DREAM
Review: During the seventies, german director Werner Herzog has given us three movies - AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD, KASPAR HAUSER and HEART OF GLASS - which stay as unique pearls in Movie History. This director is a visionary, one of the rare authors who have been able to create a cinematic world out of their dreams. Just watch and listen to the featurette (Thank you, Anchor Bay): this guy is an authentic genius coming from the same family of the Saints of the Middle Ages or the most famous composers.

NOSFERATU, shot in 1978, tries to establish a link between the german directors of the 1918-1926 period, Fritz Lang or Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau for instance, authors who reigned over international cinema at that time and the new generation of german directors that appeared in the late sixties with such remarkable individuals as Rainer-Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders or Werner Herzog.

Werner Herzog is also the last of the XIXth german romantics with his images haunted by nostalgy, with his heroes able to see what is invisible to common people. You have to enter into NOSFERATU as if you're about to dream. If not, you'll surely be bored after 5 minutes. But if you find in yourself the courage to follow Werner Herzog, you will experiment something you'll never forget.

Other Werner Herzog's movies will be released in the DVD standard very soon, so be prepared to dream.

A DVD dedicated to a lost genius.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's not a movie, but a work of art
Review: This is the film that changed the way I look at cinema. It is a work of art Herzog has done his best to make every camera shot a work of art. You could freeze each scene and just stare at the splendor. In additon, of course, we have some great acting and a much better Dracula story that I have not seen elsewhere. Whereas Coppola created a misunderstood (and pathetic) Dracula, Herzog created a creature of evil longing for love. But when his desire is rebutted, instead of crying he acts out in anger, taking everything away from poor Lucy until she is left with no choice. A more realistic version of Dracula, if you will. This is the way movies should be. Also to note is a great DVD extra, a behnd the scenes making of the film with Herzog himself, great stuff.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great remake
Review: (...) Werner Herzog Really did a great job, writting and directing this film. Klaus Kinski does an great unforgetable performance as the Vampyre. Isabelle Adjani Brings beauty in the role of Lucy. Grade:A.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An orgy of images ... no, make that paintings!
Review: Is Coppola's "Dracula" a tad overproduced for your tastes? "Interview with the Vampire" with its cast of exquisite faces a bit too 'Hollywood'? Lesser modern vampire movies (think "Fright Night", "Lost Boys", or even the flimsy Hammer flix) taking too many liberties with the Gothic theme and going for cheap shocks? Well, if this is how you feel, then "Nosferatu" might be the vampire movie for you ... a gorgeous dreamscape of sublime images (Caspar David Friedrich comes to mind more than once), set to a soundtrack of haunting beauty. Rather an understatement in its overall style, this atmospheric gem of a movie is very low key and yet utterly creepy. Herzog clearly does homage to Murnau's original, but it's more than a remake, it's an enhancement ... like being able to hear the music on an ancient shellack in HiFi after all.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You've seen the rest, now see the BEST!
Review: Amazing! The imagery is outstanding. A sureal dream which is less a vampire film and more a beautiful poem about death.

The light, the shadows, the music...all hypnotic. You will remember this one long after the credits roll.


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