Product Details

• Format: Color, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: German
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
• VHS Release Date: January 19, 1999
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305263299
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #443,260 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Werner Herzog's remake of F.W. Murnau's original vampire classic is at once a generous tribute to the great German director and a distinctly unique vision by one of cinema's most idiosyncratic filmmakers. Though Murnau's Nosferatu was actually an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Herzog based his film largely on Murnau's conceptions--at times directly quoting Murnau's images--but manages to slip in a few references to Tod Browning's famous version (at one point the vampire comments on the howling wolves: "Listen, the children of the night make their music."). Longtime Herzog star Klaus Kinski is both hideous and melancholy as Nosferatu (renamed Count Dracula in the English language version). As in Murnau's film, he's a veritable gargoyle with his bald pate and sunken eyes, and his talon-like fingernails and two snaggly fangs give him a distinctly feral quality. But Kinski's haunting eyes also communicate a gloomy loneliness--the curse of his undead immortality--and his yearning for Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) becomes a melancholy desire for love. Bruno Ganz's sincere but foolish Jonathan is doomed to the vampire's will and his wife, Lucy, a holy innocent whose deathly pallor and nocturnal visions link her with the ghoulish Nosferatu, becomes the only hope against the monster's plague-like curse. Herzog's dreamy, delicate images and languid pacing create a stunningly beautiful film of otherworldly mood, a faithful reinterpretation that by the conclusion has been shaped into a quintessentially Herzog vision. --Sean Axmaker

Additional Features

Herzog shot the English and German language versions simultaneously, the actors performing the spoken scenes separately for each language, and Herzog edited them individually, resulting in slight differences in pacing and performance. The films both run about 107 minutes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One step beyond Specter artistry at its finest., November 23, 1999

By 

Johnny S Geddes "OC" (Enlgand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nosferatu Phantom der Nacht/German [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I've already reviewed the English version so please consult that for the essence of the movie in general. However, the German version does have the edge on the English one in that its feel is fluent and unstrained. I'd give the German one 5.5 stars but the gauge would'nt let me. I watch this movie every night (almost) to fall asleep to, simply because the imagery conjured is a hallucigen in itself. My only gripe with the German version is that the subitles are too small for my lowering eyelids to negotiate. This movie is an opiate for your soul and the type of terror it will evoke from your mind has not been seen since Weine's 'Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' or Murnau's orginal 'Nosferatu'. Now buy the film, make sure you have a special room where you can drift off alone with it and join our clique. It is no accident or through sentimental ties that this is my favourite film of all time.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful but distancing remake of the classic original, November 5, 2000

By 

AmazingMrKimble "amazingmrkimble" (Rio Rancho, New Mexico, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nosferatu Phantom der Nacht/German [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Certainly a beautiful film but I could not get past the pacing, which just dragged on way too long. I was surprised I enjoyed this the least of Herzog's films since I am certainly predisposed to like both the director and the genre. However, unlike many remakes I do not think you have to be familiar with the original silent classic "Nosferatu" to enjoy this film, as Herzog's work stands on its own. Ultimately it is worthwhile to sit through the film just to get to the conclusion, which is far and away the best part of the film.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than the origanal, March 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Nosferatu Phantom der Nacht/German [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Werner Herzogs Nosferatu is one of the most Erie and chilling remakes of Dracula this shows when Lucy is walking in the count's new residance , Adjani and Kinski work great together. The german version is better than the english, Roland Topar and Bruno Ganz give a good supporting cast but I was disapointed in Van Helsing though my rating 11/10