Written by: Michael Den Boer on March 17th, 2010
Theatrical Release Date: Germany, 1922
Director: F.W. Murnau
Writer: Henrik Galeen
Cast: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Alexander Granach, Georg H. Schnell, Ruth Landshoff, John Gottowt, Gustav Botz, Max Nemetz, Wolfgang Heinz, Albert Venohr, Eric van Viele, Karl Etlinger, Guido Herzfeld, Fanny Schreck, Hardy von Francois, Heinrich Witte
DVD released: March 23rd, 2010
Approximate running time: 91 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Full Frame
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English Text
DVD Release: IMDFILMS / Quality Cheese Productions
Region Coding: Region 0 NTSC
Retail Price: $12.95
Orlok the Vampire, or as it is better known as Nosferatu is widely consider one of the greatest horror films ever made. The plot for Nosferatu was adapted from Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. And because Nosferatu was an unofficial adaptation the film nearly faded away into obscurity when all prints of the film were ordered to be destroyed after the Bram Stoker estate successfully sued for copy write infringement. Fortunately a few prints of Nosferatu survived destruction and the film lives on to this day.
Over the years Nosferatu has been released numerous times by countless budget VHS / DVD companies which specialize in product that is or is assumed to be in the public domain. This release which presents the film for the first time ever in 3-D is yet another PD release which fails to give this legendary film the presentation it deserves. Besides presenting this film in 3-D even though it was meant to be seen in 2-D. The film has been completely re-scored, sound effects like laughing and grunting have been added and many of the inter title cards which bear the dialog have been altered. The 3-D presentation is a mixed bag and while the option to view the film in a 2-D version has been provided with this release. The 2-D version included with this release features the same changes present in the 3-D presentation, minus the 3-D effect.
Extras for this release include a pair of 3-Glasses, a text based extra on how to properly view 3-D and a wise cracking introduction before the film from Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman who says that this film is a shot by shot remake of Schindler’s List. Overall there are much better presentations of Nosferatu then this DVD release which completely changes the tone of the film.