Nosferatu in Venice

Summary

“Nosferatu is a supreme lord of evil second only to the Devil.”

Severin Films has recently released on Blu-ray the 1988 Italian film production Nosferatu in Venice (originally released as Vampires in Venice in the United States.) The film was meant to be an unofficial sequel to the classic Werner Herzog film, Nosferatu. Nosferatu in Venice starred volatile actor Klaus Kinski alongside great character actors Christopher Plummer and Donald Pleasance. The film was a fairly extravagant production from the Italian company that funded the film with the assistance of Silvio Berlusconi’s distribution group. The production was troubled from the beginning due to the erratic and abusive behavior of star Klaus Kinski. First off, Kinski refused to wear the makeup, canine teeth, and bald cap that defined his prior performance as Nosferatu. This meant that twenty minutes of expensive footage shot with a double during the Venetian carnival was unusable. Then, after the first day of shooting, the original director Mario Caiano walked off the set after Kinski physically accosted him. Due to the contractual time limit of only three weeks to direct Kinski, producer and script doctor Augusto Caminito became the director of the film. The resulting film is an interesting mess.

As the film begins, a hunting party wanders through a field. They shoot a bat. A woman says it is bad luck to kill a bat, but her companion disagrees. He states that it is good to kill a vampire. Professor Paris Catalano (Christopher Plummer) arrives in Venice via boat. He has received a letter requesting his help from a Princess. Paris is the leading authority on vampires. A priest named Don Alvise (Donald Pleasance) stays on the grounds of the Venetian home inhabited by the Princess and her family. Her daughter (?) Helietta (Barbara de Rossi) greets Paris and after dining together, she leads Paris thirty feet below the grand canal to their family tomb. In the tomb is a casket with iron bands on it. Helietta explains that legend has it that a vampire was buried within that casket two hundred years earlier. She wants to open the tomb and rid her family of the vampire. Against the protestations of Don Alvise, a seance is held to communicate with Nosferatu. This brings the dormant vampire Nosferatu (Klaus Kinski) out of his casket located somewhere in Venice. He begins seeking lovers and followers with a mixture of eroticism and violence. Don Alvise and Professor Catalano attempt to stop the supernatural creature from absconding with Helietta.

Okay. If that plot sounded somewhat difficult to follow, that was the very best that I could make out of the proceedings in the film. Somewhere along the way, it feels like the original script of the film was discarded so that the whims of star Klaus Kinski could be followed. In fact, the extensive documentary on Klaus’s last years of acting before his death featured on this disc sheds a lot of light on why the film turned out the way it did. That documentary is so well made and informative that it earns a strong recommendation and justifies a purchase even if the film itself is going to be best appreciated by fans of the actors involved who want to see them what can best be described as a mess of a film.

Aside from scripting issues caused by the last minute replacement of the director and the madness of Kinski, the biggest hindrance to the film is that there seems to be no urgency. Everyone in this film moves around as if they have taking melatonin. Everyone moves so slowly. I don’t think that this is simply an editorial failing, but honestly a failing of the director to ask his people to move around more quickly. Sequences that should take a few seconds may last half a minute long simply because of the way that the actors dragged their feet – especially Kinski who only has one sequence that I recall in which he moved quickly. There are also some moments that become unintentionally hilarious such as a sequence where a cross burns the hand of Paris. Plummer was an excellent actor, and it seems that they must have used the worst possible take for this sequence. I also (spoiler alert) had difficulty for a moment understanding that Plummer’s character had jumped into a canal because instead of showing that onscreen, there was only a sound effect used. This was a baffling choice. Also, despite the film taking place in the Eighties, almost all of the characters dress as if they are in a period piece.

It’s too bad that the film suffered so many issues, because the film has a good look, has a story that could have come across as interesting, and has a fantastic setting. The cinematography by Tonino Nardi is quite nice and shows off a good eye for detail. The sets are beautiful and show great craftsmanship. There is plenty to enjoy visually. The cast is a good ensemble that never was given a chance to say any lines of importance. The film has a bevy of beautiful actresses as well.

As an interesting disaster, I am glad that I saw Nosferatu in Venice and I am thankful to Severin for releasing it. That said, the film itself suffers from bad pacing and an incomprehensible plot. Fans will be amazed to see the great visual work done by Severin for the film and the documentary on Kinski’s final days is worth the purchase price.

Video

Severin Films has provided a great transfer in 1080p of Nosferatu in Venice in its original aspect ratio of 1.77:1 with an MPEG-4 AVC encode. While the film itself may suffer from som issues, the visual presentation by Severin is top notch. Cinematographer Tonino Nardi puts some really interesting imagery into the film and has a great eye. There are portions of the film that are visually captivating. There is a fine level of grain over the image which is to be expected. Fine detail is solid and the presentation should please all fans of the film. This is another great presentation from Severin.

Audio

Severin Films has provided a very well done DTS-HD MA 2.0 track that can be listened to in either Italian or with the English dub. The sound quality on both tracks is pretty good. I watched the film with the English track given the actors involved and I believe that is the better of the two tracks. There is one sequence where some of the audio had some distortion (when the priests approach Nosferatu,) but for the most part the track sounded pretty good.

Supplements:

Creation is Violent – Anecdotes From Kinski’s Final Years –

This is one of the best special features I have watched in the last year. In this exhaustive feature length documentary directed by Josh Johnson, interviews with collaborators of Kinski from his final six years of his career shed light on his absolutely bizarre and unprofessional antics. They paint a picture of a self centered narcissistic abusive actor who could just as easily be charming or friendly. The described sexual harassments in the story paint a stark picture of the talented but difficult actor. One of the best interviews is with Debora Caprioglio who was his final wife before he died. She talks about his kinder side and the bursts of rage that frequented Kinski that passed almost as soon as they began. The documentary even documents a friendship that Kinski made at the end of his life with a Post Office worker and her mountain biker daughter in Lagunitas, California. This documentary is so damn good, it justifies purchasing the set in my opinion. Truly fascinating and the amount of work put into this documentary is incredible. Interviews are featured with Diane Salinger, Stefano Spadoni, Michael Schultz, Barry Hickey, Abbott Alexander, Deborah Caprioglio, Beat Presser, Gabe Bartalos, David Schmoeller, Ulli Lommel, Joycelyne Lew, Luigi Cozzi, Augusto Caminito, Mario Caiano, Luciano Muratori, Phyllis Winter, and Sara Ellis. 

Additional Cast & Crew Interviews

Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – 5/5

Overall – 4/5

Nosferatu in Venice is a Italian film from the Eighties starring Klaus Kinski, Christopher Plummer, and Donald Pleasance. It suffers from a nearly incomprehensible script, and a true lack of urgency. That said, as a curiosity for film collectors like myself I am very glad that Severin Films decided to bring this film to Blu-ray. The technical specifications of the Blu-ray release are very good. The feature length documentary on Kinski’s final years, with an extended portion dedicated to the hellacious making of Nosferatu in Venice, is one of the best special features I have watched this year. It’s fascinating to hear the stories of how manic and, at times, detestable Klaus Kinski was. Severin has basically turned a mess of a film into a fantastic release through their exhaustive documentary and great technical presentation of the film. Fans of the film will be over the moon about how great of a job Severin did on this release, but for more casual film collectors the film itself is definitely of very questionable value aside from as a curiosity. Recommended for those that are as curious as I was!