Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29128 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-01-21
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Made in 1922, FW Murnau's Expressionist masterpiece Nosferatu--A Symphony of Horrors is an unofficial but reasonably faithful condensation of parts of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Alongside Metropolis (1926) it is one of the very few European features from the 1920s that is still regularly shown, and apart from being the first great horror film it laid the foundations of the vampire genre to the present day. Wearing astonishing rodent-like make-up Max Schreck cuts such an iconic figure as the undead Count that the 2001 comedy-horror Shadow of the Vampire suggested he wasn't acting at all! Although Murnau's film was revolutionary and technically adventurous for the time, a modern audience will have to make some allowances for the fact the movie now seems both dated and technically primitive: Murnau's stylised lighting and camera effects have been endlessly imitated and improved upon since, and even its greatest defenders generally admit the film barely raises a shudder, let alone a full-blooded scare. Nevertheless, Nosferatu holds a strange dreamlike grip on the imagination and its incalculable influence on fantasy and horror cinema means this is essential viewing for anyone seriously interested in the development of motion picture art.

On the DVD: Presented in Academy at 1.37:1 and with James Bernard's new orchestral score in well-recorded stereo Nosferatu looks and sounds as good as it has in decades. Bernard, composer of Hammer's Dracula (1958) among others, has written a superior score that captures the film's subtitle, "A Symphony of Horrors", and truly brings the images alive in a way previous scores have not. This restored version presents for the first time on video or DVD the blue and brown tints of the original cinema prints and replicates the original hand-designed inter-title cards which with their distinctive designs make the film much more of a compete visual experience. More importantly, this DVD offers approximately another quarter of an hour of material over the usually distributed American version. However, the restoration has not extended to repairing the many lines, scratches, variations in brilliance and other evidence of print damage present throughout. The film is perfectly watchable, being very much what one would expect from the early 1920s. There are text biographies and notes on Murnau and James Bernard, DVD-ROM material on the restoration of the print and a perceptive 23-minute discussion by film expert Christopher Frayling on many aspects of the movie. --Gary S Dalkin

Special Features
1.33 Full Screen
Region 2
Stereo
Video Essay By Christopher Frayling
Biographies
Essay On Restoration Of Film

Synopsis
F.W. Murnau's silent classic is the original, and some say scariest, DRACULA adaptation, taking Bram Stoker's novel and turning it into a haunting, shadowy dream of German Expressionist horror and dread. Count Orlok, the rodentlike vampire frighteningly portrayed by Max Schreck, is perhaps the most animalistic screen portrayal of a vampire ever filmed. The design was copied by Werner Herzog in his 1979 remake and by Tobe Hooper for his telefilm of Stephen King's SALEM'S LOT that same year. Names had to be changed from the novel when Stoker's wife charged his novel was being filmed without proper permission. Charged with now-legendary cinematic imagery, NOSFERATU is a landmark of the horror genre that should not be missed.

Customer Reviews

Perfect
If youre a fan of Nosferatu and want to see the original uncut version with the best quality out there (restored by the Munchner Filmmuseum and the Cineteca del Comune di Bologna - It replicates the tints and tones revealed in the nitrate ORIGINAL)..... then this is the BEST release of Nosferatu out there.

The soundtrack is great, music score by James Bernard (who scored many horror movies including 58s Dracula).

The DVD also includes a film essay by Professor Sir Frayling, Bio of Murnau and Bernard and DVD-ROM notes on the restoration of the film.

There are other versions out there, one including 2 dvds and a NOT COMPLETE version of the movie, with lousy misplaced soundtrack.

This is the only version you need if you want the REAL thing.

BFI version is the best available
The BFI version of this film is the best version available. Do not get tempted to buy other versions of this classic because they are either cheaper or boast an additional disc with audio commentary. These version have either scenes missing or have terrible music.
The BFI version on the other hand has:
1. Brilliant music by James Bernard - the same man who scored the classic hammer horror films. It is quite simply the best music that has accompanied this film and really adds to the atmosphere.
2. The nights scene are actually tinted blue when it is night time. This makes the story easier to understand, after all the hole point of the story is that Nosferatu will die in day light.
3. The picture quality is pristine given the films age.
4. A really interesting documentary by Christopher Frayling on the films origins and restoration.
5. The film is restored by Photoplay Productions - which should be recommendation enough.

This film should be added to any DVD fans collection, but please, please make sure that you buy the BFI version, you will not bw sorry.

The Classic vampire movie!!!!
Nosferatu is the classic vampire movie of all time, even when compared with the vampire movies of today with all their gore and special effects, this film still remains as atmospheric as ever and has to be classed as one of the best ever made.