4/5 FOUNDATION OF HORROR CINEMA (ORIGINAL AND REMAKE)
  by Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States)
"NOSFERATU" (1922) (1979)

Filmmaker F.W. Marnau's "Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie Des Grauens" (1922) is the first in a long line of vampire films. Marnau freely adapted Bram Stoker's Dracula but Stoker's widow recognized similarities and sued Marnau and all prints of Marnau's film were ordered destroyed!

But a few copies of landmark and exquisite German expressionistic masterpiece escaped and were the inspiration for German writer-director Werner Herzog's remake "Nosferatu: The Vampyre" (1979).

Klaus Kinski's pale makeup, pointed ears, long fingernails and mannered gestures will unnerve in this atmospheric, deliberately paced, fever-dream of a movie. Isabelle Adjani co-stars as the distraught wife of Bruno Ganz's Jonathan Harker, who comes under the blood spell of Kinski's magnificent creature. The music, mood and images will reverberate long after the movie ends. The DVD includes the German language version with English subtitles as well as a full-length, but slightly different English version and a most unusual bonus commentary by Herzog himself. (Marnau's "Nosferatu": Not rated, full frame, 93 minutes: Herzog's "Nosferatu": PG, widescreen, 107 minutes)

5/5 Language of Shadows -- Historical Iconic Film!
  by James "Scotman" April (Bakersfield, CA)
Language of the Shadows


I picked up the two disc DVD recordings from Kino, Nosferatu, one of the first if not the first filmed version inspired by Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula.

Pre-dating Lugosi's thriller, this silent film for me made me fascinated about the techniques of Director F.W. Manau that we take so for granted today. The interpositions, the flashback, the scene to scene back & forth are all here.

This film is praised as an excellent restoration of the 1922 film. The disc has a great "making of", not only of the restoration process but also of the life and times of Director Minau. The film is in the German language but has English intertitles between scenes. On the second disc there is the same film with the original German intertitles, but don't worry if you don't speak or read German since this has English subtitles.

I had no idea that silent film directors use tinting to represent emotion. My experience with silents has been with Charlie Chaplain and the Keystone Cops. This film puts them to shame.

Did the story scare me? No, not really. However the mix of shadow and reality did blur for a time.

The story itself follows the similar general theme to Bram Stoker's Dracula but all the names have been changed to protect the innocent (from law suits). Unfortunately the ploy did not work. Bram Stoker's widow sued and won and the film was ordered destroyed. Fortunately some survived so that we have this great piece of film history.

It's a love story in a lot of ways. Kutter and his wife Ellen, sweet & innocent, happy as I've ever seen actors be on film. The expression of joy was really something to see. Max Shreck as Count Orlok -- the rat-like features, long nails and pointed ears, looked more like a rat than anything. (This in great contrast to the later incarnations of Dracula as an aristocrat whom the women adore and whose bite can change others into vampires.)

Rather than the bite of a stake, we have the blood & sacrifice of an innocent maid as the cock crows and Orlok vanishes in a puff of smoke.

The director was fascinated with occult symbology with plays a big part in the film's storyline.

For the horror aficionado, this is a must-see film. The beginnings of what we take for granted today were pioneered by Manau. Watch these DVDs and get a taste of what it must have been like to create in a new, untried medium of entertainment and expression.

A must-buy!

[In my research I also discovered a film called Shadow of the Vampire (2000) starring Willem DaFoe (Spiderman), where this is a back-story of the Nosferatu tale, except Max Schreck turns out to be a centuries old vampire who was hired by Manau! Sounds crazy, hope it's a tribute!]



5/5 An amazing film, and still the best film version of Dracula to date.
  by Robert Thompson (Under Your Bed!!!)
Nosfeartu is a retelling of the classic tale of Dracula. Bram Stoker wouldn't allow the film makers the rights so they renamed the characters and called the film Nosferatu. As despicable an act as this was in my eyes, I'm still glad they did it because the film is amazing and still remains the only genuinely great film version of Dracula. It's also one of the few vampire movies in general that I consider to be worth owning. The lighting, makeup, and acting is German expressionism at it's finest, and the directing is brilliant. Do yourself and watch this film if you haven't already, it's one of the best horror films of all time. Oh, and make sure to get the KINO version of the DVD, it's definitely the best.

5/5 The Ugliest, Creepiest Vampire Of All Time
  by jennifer allcorn (Stilwell, Oklahoma)
I'd been reading about and hearing about this movie for as long as I can remember. And after watching "Shadow of the Vampire" with Willam Dafoe again playing the "elusive" Max Schrek,(and I still think he should have won the Oscar that year for Best Supporting Actor, thank you very much), I decided to finally buy Nosferatu.

I held off for years because of reviews I read about poor video quality, bad transfers, etc. All I can say about this issue from Criterion is that IT ROCKS!!!! I'm not a big fan of black and white movies, much less silent films (Metropolis excluded). But I was very impressed with this one. The picture is crisp and clear, you see all of the great lighting nuances. It looks fantastic. And as for the villian, he is easily the ugliest, creepiest vampire ever. I don't know where they dug Max Schrek up from, but he was either one of the greatest character/method actors of all time, or "something else" entirely. Not that it matters.

Now I understand why they tried to [...] his look in the original film version of Stephen King's "Salem's Lot" instead of sticking with the way King described his vampire in the book as starting out as an old gentleman gradually getting younger with the more victims he has his way with. I first saw that when I was very small, and the first time they showed "the monster" I bailed off the side of the couch and that's where I stayed to watch the rest of the show on tv.

This version of Nosferatu is wonderful and well worth the money. I'm glad they introduced the original score back into it as well. It adds a lot of ambiance. I'm extremely pleased with my purchase of this wonderful classic film and I'm ecstatic that it managed to survive, despite the fact that all copies of it were supposed to be destroyed just because Bram Stoker's widow had her [...] in a wad over copyright issues.

4/5 two soundtracks; two utterly different experiences
  by Ralph Ferdingstadt (Ashland, OR)
My experience with the 2002, Keno K253 edition of this well known F.W. Murnau silent, with two utterly different soundtracks, is perhaps not too odd. But first, I will say to those who think sound doesn't make much difference in how a movie plays out; consider that if a Rock band makes a video, what makes or breaks that video is often how the music orchestrates the imagery. For instance, If the film is of the band sitting around a coffee table having tea, and they kill the conversation and play light Classical over the film, you may think they're discussing the weather. But if they play Metal, or something along that line, you're rather inclined to think they're plotting the overthrow of western civilization: It's the power of suggestion.

Bearing that in mind, when I first watched this edition of Noferatu, I listened to a bit of Donald Sosin's traditional score, and decided to watch it with the psycho Hourbette and Zaboltzeff soundtrack instead. This I found very enjoyable. I found the imagery startling, the story undeniably nightmarish, and the music dotty, but not at all inappropriate.

The next morning, I spoke with my son, who had already seen the movie, and he informed me that when he watched it, he was not utterly unimpressed, but didn't think it was anything special. So I watched it again, with the Sosin score, and found it plodding, occasionally creepy, and generally rather boring. In short; if I had to decide whether to keep, or lose this movie on the basis of the Sosin score, it'd be gone.

Fortunately, I watched it with the alternative score first, which made the whole experience edgy, strange and generally freaky to the point where I could not help but feel compelled to retain the DVD for future viewing. The Hourbetter/ Zabolteff soundtrack made that much difference.

Take it for what you will, but here is prime example of how an old movie can actually be the horror icon it is so touted to be, with the right soundtrack. With the standard score, it just felt like an old movie. Thanks, Kino, for making this film the undead again.