Nosferatu - The First Vampire

Starring:David Carradine, Type O Negative
Studio: Arrow Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Goth Girl's dream --- silent movie purist's nightmare
It's okay
NOT a bad mixture!
Nosferatu
Interesting idea, bad execution

Nosferatu - The First Vampire
Starring: David Carradine , and Type O Negative
Manufacturer: Arrow Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Alternative Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

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Type O Negative - After Dark
Symphony For The Devil - Type O Negative (2006)
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ASIN: B000055XO2
Release Date: 2003-03-18

Customer Reviews:

Goth Girl's dream --- silent movie purist's nightmare.......2006-06-22

i didn't read the labeling when i picked up a copy in a store for a few bucks and popped it in my dvd player and instead of cheesy organ music... type o negative! i just about hit the floor squealing with joy.

what impressed me most is that the person who edited the soundtrack did a good job matching type o songs to what's happening in the movie.

It's okay.......2006-06-16

I'm not really sure why this DVD was made, I like Type O and still wish they were still around, and of course I am a huge vampire fan. This just seemed kind of silly. It was interesting and all but find it cheap before shelling out some good money.

NOT a bad mixture!.......2006-01-27

First: it IS amazing this 1922 film exists at all! In '22 Bram Stoker's widow sued the film makers for plagurism... and WON! All negatives and known copies of "Nosferatu" were located and destroyed! Fortunately for us, a handfull of prints survived. Still, you can forget about a "complete" print, much less an original negative, ever surfacing. (In some prints the title cards do refear to the Vampire as "Dracula".)

Now- some "pureists" will object to a heavy metal soundtrack acompanying this silent classic. However, this is not the first time rock music has been used for a reissure of a silent film. In
1985 a "restored" version of Fritz Lang's "Metropolos" (1925) featured an 80s rock score (including Pat Benitar). And, for "Nosferatu", you CAN'T find more approprian music than Type O Negative. And, whoever edited this knew the right song (or song excerpt) for the right scene! (Too bad this project was completed before their "Life Is Killing Me" came out- there're a lot of songs on that CD that would fit here.) Other good bands for this would include Tristania, Tiamat, Moonspell, Tenebre and Bloody Mary.

Nosferatu.......2005-09-26

For beening made in the 20's it was very interesting. Not scary like now Vampires. But all in all made good. Also loved the music.

Interesting idea, bad execution.......2005-04-02

A rock soundtrack certainly could work with Nosferatu, and given the price I paid for this DVD I was willing to take a chance on it.

However, this is not a rock soundtrack--it is just rock music played over the film. Since this didn't seem like a bottom-rung cheapo release, I naively imagined that (1) the soundtrack would be instrumental, and (2) the music would have been composed to fit the film.

In fact, there are continuous vocals on the soundtrack and this is distracting in the extreme (it pretty much makes it unwatchable).

Further, I would guess that the music was not composed specifically for this version of the film, as the changes in tempo, key, and instrumentation seem to have absolutely no relationship to what is appearing on the screen. (If I'm wrong and this was originally written for the film, the band did a genuinely awful job).

Average customer rating:

Vampire mold
Nosferatu
creepy and creepy
Different soundtracks make big diffeence.
Quite good overall.

Nosferatu: The First Vampire
Starring: Max Schreck , Gustav von Wangenheim , Greta Schröder , Alexander Granach , and Georg H. Schnell
Director: F.W. Murnau
Manufacturer: Arrow Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005J6UY
Release Date: 2001-05-29

Amazon.com essential video

As noted critic Pauline Kael observed, "... this first important film of the vampire genre has more spectral atmosphere, more ingenuity, and more imaginative ghoulish ghastliness than any of its successors." Some really good vampire movies have been made since Kael wrote those words, but German director F.W. Murnau's 1922 version remains a definitive adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Created when German silent films were at the forefront of visual technique and experimentation, Murnau's classic is remarkable for its creation of mood and setting, and for the unforgettably creepy performance of Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a.k.a. the blood-sucking predator Nosferatu. With his rodent-like features and long, bony-fingered hands, Schreck's vampire is an icon of screen horror, bringing pestilence and death to the town of Bremen in 1838. (These changes of story detail were made necessary when Murnau could not secure a copyright agreement with Stoker's estate.) Using negative film, double-exposures, and a variety of other in-camera special effects, Murnau created a vampire classic that still holds a powerful influence on the horror genre. (Werner Herzog's 1978 film Nosferatu the Vampyre is both a remake and a tribute, and Francis Coppola adopted many of Murnau's visual techniques for Bram Stoker's Dracula.) Seen today, Murnau's film is more of a fascinating curiosity, but its frightening images remain effectively eerie. --Jeff Shannon

Album Details

Overture to the Opera the Vampire, Copmosed by Heinrich Marschner and Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror, Composed by Hans Erdmann.

Customer Reviews:

Vampire mold.......2007-06-27

For anyone interested in horror films, this is a must to add to your collection. The style has become the mold for countless generations of vampire movies, up to and including Bela Lugosi's version (His is the definitive modern version). The dark cinematography is enhanced by the otherworldly makeup. It's only after a few minutes that you realize that it is a silent movie, and you really don't care. A later remake with Klaus Kinski was made, but it hardly comes close, although it gets kudos for its homage to the original by keeping it as close to the original plot, with filler scenes added to make up for the short movie length. I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

Nosferatu.......2007-06-18

Still the eeriest and most atmospheric of all the Dracula films, Murnau's "Nosferatu" gave the German director an opportunity to explore experimental visual techniques--like stop-motion and negative exposures--in bringing Bram Stoker's version of the legend to the big screen. But his biggest coup was in casting the mysterious Max Schreck (rumored to be another actor's alias) in the title role. With his rat-like features, ghastly pointed ears, and long, talon-like fingers, Schreck doesn't seem at all like a creature from our planet. Murnau completed the effect by filming on location in Eastern Europe. The result is a Gothic chiller you simply can't miss.

creepy and creepy.......2007-06-08

a little long for me but good to have for nostalga's sake. very creepy at times. a classic.

Different soundtracks make big diffeence........2007-06-08

"Disgruntled" refers to a previous review and not Nosferatu.

There are a number of different "versions" of this movie distributed by different companies. I bought the Keno version, and the transfer and tint quality are excellent. However, I had previously seen the movie with a pipe organ arrangement and was dissapointed with the orchestral arrangements on the Keno DVD. Not that there is anything bad with the music, it's just that the pipe organ creates a creepier mood for me. I then bought the Image companies offering and am very pleased with the pipe organ soundtrack, though the DVD transfer is not quite as good as the Keno. I would have given 5 stars if the Keno video and the Image audio were on the same DVD. Oh, and the audio commentary is admirable in ponting out the symbolism and stlye of the film. great movie.

Quite good overall. .......2007-05-12

For a film released in 1922, the archivists in Italy did a very good job in their judicious splicing together of the few existing prints of this film (which are of varying quality) to produce the best possible transfer that we shall probably ever see. However, both musical accompaniments have their weak points. Still, I would recommend this film to any silent film fan or discerning fans of films based (or in this case "inspired") by DRACULA.

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