Nosferatu's horrific reputation is unchanged today; The sight of the vampire (Max Schreck) is every bit as grotesque now as it's ever been. The story is familiar Dracula, however the genesis of German film expressionism is clearly engrained; Nosferatu was one of a handful of films that changed the industry and made people think in ways that were never explored before.

The music score of this DVD is wonderful pipe-organ music composed from many early-19th century compositions. It's crafting completely compliments the story and adds not only tonal accuracy, but also a believable thread that brings us closer to the time of the film's creation.

But the unexpected hit of this DVD is the audio commentary track from Lokke Heiss, and expert on German films. Heiss's commentary is absolutely compelling and points out many similarities that the average viewer wouldn't easily pick out. In fact, I would recommend watching the movie with the organ score, and immediately watching it with the commentary so "see" all the parts you may have initially missed.

The DVD transfer is about as good as you can get, understanding that it all came from smuggled copies. The film is also 're-tinted', a film technique that provides different exposure colors to express changes is daytime or location.

I highly recommend this DVD to all silent fans, and anyone who wants to see a peice of history, as well as get an excellent historical and documentary analysis.


Everlasting Life and Greta Schroeder   November 11, 2001
 80 out of 82 found this review helpful

I bought "Nosferatu" on Halloween night, to screen a double-feature with "Shadow of the Vampire". This turned out to be a terrific idea and caused me to wish, for the first time since childhood and my array of Star Wars costumes, that Halloween came eleven or twelve times a year.

"Nosferatu" may be 80 years old, but its influence is, amusingly enough, going to be eternal. The "Symphony of Horror" special edition DVD is absolutely a must-have, with three audio tracks that basically create three different versions of the film, and with three excellent mini-features.

The basic audio track is an organ score derived from early-19th-century Romantic composers. Married to the film's flickering tinted images, this makes ideal Halloween (or, indeed, any post-midnight) viewing. The second audio score is more experimental, more modern, and much, much more fun. Whereas the organ track basically lies underneath the movie and provides a traditional (if static) experience, the "Silent Orchestra" compositions give the undead film a new life. This rock-jazz-classical track positively breathes in the way that Dracula never could.

The final audio track is the commentary by German film expert Lokke Heiss. Don't be fooled by the man's voice and delivery, which is about as dynamic as balsa wood and interesting as an American cheese sandwich on white bread. He cites both scholarly film treatises and Stephen King as he discusses Murnau's influences, the film's light-dark composition, and the use of mirrors and windows within the movie. This is a terrific commentary track in that it increased my understanding of the move ten-fold. Pity they couldn't have had someone with an actual voice (like Christopher Lee) read Mr. Heiss's words.

The featurettes range from cute to weird. Weirdest is the "Nosfera-Tour", ten minutes worth of home movies narrated once more by Heiss (oy vey) as he presents pictures of what the film's "Wisborg" looks like in the year 2000. The "Phantom Carriage Ride" is very eerie, spotlighting as it does one of the truly *bizarre* moments in the film. Finally, the art/photo gallery is splendid, one of the best galleries I've seen on a DVD. The real treasure comes at the beginnng -- the charcoal drawings that were producer Albin Grau's original renderings of Nosferatu.

The DVD packaging -- cardboard case with plastic snap -- may be cheap, but it contains within one of filmdom's finest moments, and provides far more than just 81 minutes of enjoyment. Highly, highly recommended.


Not happy with this release   February 11, 2001
 31 out of 40 found this review helpful

Don't get me wrong - I've loved this movie since I saw it as a child, but this release leaves much to be desired. There are many good points of course: the commentary by Lokke Heiss, production and concept art, the restoration quality of the film, and even the design of the case, with a great Albin Grau painting of Max Schreck as Count Orlok.

On to what I didn't like about it: first, the tinting of the film. I've alwasy seen Nosferatu presented in stark black and white, and this always added to the creepy feel of the movie. However, Image Entertainment has chosen to use bright tints on the film in order to more clearly present moods, locations, times of day, etc. supposedly, this is how it was originally presented? It is quite distracting, and I feel it takes away from the quality of the video. My second issue is with the soundtrack options, of which you get two new ones. The first, by the Silent Orchestra, gets the right mood sometimes, but is too full and modern for this movie. It's very out of place. The second, an organ score by Timothy Howard, is too quiet, very bland, and adds nothing to the mood of the film. This being a silent movie, the music is a very important part, and I feel that both of these fail miserably at reflecting what is occuring on the screen.

It makes me long for earlier VHS editions I've seen, which, even though their video quality wasn't as good, were in regular B&W and had appropriate soundtracks which succeeded at mirroring the action on screen. Oh well, I can wait for another...


The definitive DVD version of the definitive vampire film   May 24, 2002
 30 out of 31 found this review helpful

Filmed in 1922, the director F.W. Murnau set out to film an adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. Although he couldn't get the rights to the novel, he pursued filming it anyway, changing the names of the characters and some of the plot points in the process. Stoker's widow sued the makers of Nosferatu for copyright infringement and won. All known prints of the film were destroyed as per the settlement. The German character actor Max Schreck played the vampire (now named Count Orlok) and was ready for international stardom. Since the film didn't make it to the theaters, fame eluded him in his lifetime.

Luckily years later, a print surfaced and the reputation of Nosferatu was restored. But why does it get such acclaim? A lot of viewers today find it old and dated, without the shocks and scares of modern gore-fests you currently see in the theaters and video stores. That's a shame because Nosferatu influenced a lot of those movies.

Modern viewers are more used to a "sexy" vampire. Since illicit sex is often the theme in vampire films, it makes more sense to be seduced by an attractive, exotic vampire. Count Orlok doesn't match that description in the least. He is repulsive-looking and resembles a rat.

And yet the underlying sex theme is still there. As it's pointed out on a DVD commentary, Count Orlok is the doppelgaenger of Hutter, the male lead. Both vie for the attentions of Ellen. Though she is married to Hutter, she doesn't return his affections as strongly as he gives her. But to save the town, she gives herself freely to the vampire.

Of course, others see different themes in Nosferatu. Some view Count Orlok as a precursor to Hitler and the plague to Nazism, which would come a few years later. He even seems to give a Nazi salute as he dies.

And still others point out the many viewpoints through windows and the use of forbidding shots of nature, which show an influence of 19th century German painters like Caspar David Friedrich. Not to mention the equal influences of early 20th century German Expressionism with its use of stark shadows and unlit corners.

But you don't need to see any of that at first. You can enjoy it on its own merits as a very creepy horror film. One of my earliest memories of watching horror films was watching Nosferatu one October Saturday afternoon on TV. The scene where the vampire's shadow ascends the stairs on the way to his prey gave me nightmares for weeks and lingered in my memory until I saw it again twenty years later on video.

How ironic that Nosferatu is called A Symphony of Horror, when it's a silent film. But the audio tracks offered on the DVD from Image Entertainment do embellish the film well. Hitting the audio button on your DVD while the film plays will take you to your choice of three audio tracks recorded especially for this DVD. The first is a modern, quirky score by The Silent Orchestra. The second is a more traditional organ score by Timothy Howard. The third track is an illuminating commentary of the film by Lokke Heiss.

The goodies on the DVD don't stop there. The print itself has been remastered from high quality 35mm film and is restored to its original running time, as well as to its original color tints (although I think I preferred it in just black & white). A favorite feature of mine is the photo album of the locations used in Nosferatu as they appear in the film and how they look today.