Stars:
Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, and Bruno Ganz
Writer:
Werner Herzog
Director:
Werner Herzog
Feature
length: 107 minutes
Extras:
Audio Commentary With Director Werner Herzog and Norman Hill, The Making Of
Nosferatu Featurette, Theatrical Trailers, and Talent Bios
Languages:
German Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Surround Sound 2.0, and
English Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and English Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Two-Disc Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 25
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Surround Sound 2.0, and Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1979/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home
Video Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Internationally
acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog’s remake of the F.W. Murnau’s classic
“Nosferatu” is one of the most visually dynamic and bleak vampire films I
have ever seen and yet the film is so compelling with the breathtaking locations
shot all around Europe and haunting music that elevates the film above many of
the other contemporary genre films that were released during this same summer of
1979. In fact the only “Dracula” film from the last 30 years that I think is
a contender in terms of visual style is Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram
Stoker’s Dracula,” but the comparisons end there. While Coppola chose a
completely different approach to creating the world for the film, Herzog’s use
of various European locations give the film a gothic feel and a production value
that cannot be duplicated with the same heir of authenticity and spirit that
cannot be duplicated in a studio or with computers. I think the film is even
better than the low budget gothic styles of the Hammer Studio Dracula series of
films, which onto them have a particular visual charm that very seldom has even
been matched.
Perhaps it is the strange friendship and hatred between Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog is what separates “Nosferatu” from other genre films and helps to elevate it to the level of cinematic art that again could never be duplicated or mimicked again by someone else. It just would not and could not be the same. An interesting take on the classic tale, Herzog brings historical context to the film regarding the fear of “The Black Plague” and rats and so on while creating a world where the authority figures including Dr, Van Helsing are all but ineffectual because thematically speaking they have become so dehumanized by the age of reason and religion of science that they have lost their basic instincts and understanding of nature and spirituality. Isabelle Adjani’s Lucy is perhaps the most proactive character outside of Kinski’s vampire and ultimately is the film’s only character with the resolve and strength to defeat Dracula because she has not lost touch with her instincts, which include a psychic link between her and her husband and Dracula of course, and she has not abandoned her spiritual beliefs, which enables her to defeat Dracula, but not without a terrible price. By the time Van Helsing reasons his way into believing her it is too late.
Herzog
shot both an English and German version of the film simultaneously and Anchor
Bay’s Two-Disc Set presents both versions separately each on their own disc.
Mind you when I say English and German Language versions I am not suggesting
that the film was merely dubbed. Herzog actually shot two complete feature films
in two different languages using the same cast and locations twice so in effect
he produced two entire feature length films at the same time. The first disc
contains the American version of the film presented in an anamorphic widescreen
(1.85:1) aspect ratio with a Two-Channel English Monaural Soundtrack and
optional English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired. The American version
suffers from an uneven transfer as a result of available source materials so
some scenes reveal more grain than others and even a hair or two. The English
Monaural Soundtrack is clear and effective. The (1.85:1) American English
Language Trailer for “Nosferatu” concludes the extra features on disc one.
The
German Language version is considerably cleaner in appearance with far less
grain and imperfections as well as sharper and fuller colors. The German
Language version is also presented in an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect
ratio with a choice of German Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and
Dolby Surround Sound with optional English Language Subtitles and the quality of
both mixes elevates the atmosphere and score creating a more haunting if not
otherworldly sense to the film despite the real locations used. Writer and
Director Werner Herzog gives a very intelligent and interesting feature length
discussion of the film with Norman Hill on the second disc that covers in great
detail the way the film presents the Vampire Myth while touching upon how the
Nazi regime had caused a great gap in German cinematic history that ultimately
created a generation of filmmaker’s seeking to draw from the pre-World War Two
German Expressionist Cinema as a line of ancestry to inspire his generation and
the next generation of filmmaker’s with a continuing heritage of cinema that
did survive in other countries through the war like France and Italy. He also
speaks a bit about Kinski, giving some singular insight few outside of Herzog
could ever truly account from with first hand experience and with the same level
of authority.
The
original behind-the-scenes Fox produced promotional featurette for the making of
“Nosferatu” (13:04) is included on the second disc along with very detailed
information and select film credits for Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski and the
same American English Language trailer found on disc one as well as the English
Subtitled German Language American release trailer, which is far more effective
because it presents the only the score from the film with the images from the
film without a narrator spoiling the mood of the trailer. A Spanish Language
theatrical trailer wraps up the extra features on disc two.
The
main menu on both discs is animated with motion transitions to standard
interactive still frame menus and all are easy to navigate. There is an insert
with images of both the American and German one-sheet art inside within the
two-disc Alpha style keep case. Werner Herzog’s artistic adaptation of
“Nosferatu: The Vampyre” is unparalleled even by modern cinema.
“Nosferatu: The Vampyre & Phantom Der Nacht: Two Disc Set” is available
on DVD-Video now from Anchor Bay Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.