Sexylocher
Masterful Movie
TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Myron Clemons
A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
Fulke
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
dbborroughs
Christopher Plummer goes to Venice to investigate the last known appearance of Nosferatu during the Carnival of 1786.Plummer seems to think that the vampire is searching for a means to put an end to his torment and actually be dead. He stays with a family who legend says, has the vampire trapped in a tomb in the basement. After a séance "the vampire" appears and then it becomes a question of how do you put the evil back into the box.Thats a poor description for a very moody, very good rethink of the vampire legend. In theory this is a modern day sequel to Werner Herzog's remake of the FW Murnau's silent original. However other than the fact that Klaus Kinski plays the vampire the films are pretty much separate films. Here the vampire is a force outside of nature, he goes out during the day, religious objects don't affect him and he has powers beyond those of normal vampires. To be honest this film's idea of vampires and their creation is very different than what is considered "normal" vampire lore.This is a film thats a bit more form over content, but its still weaves a magical spell. Its a very atmospheric haunted Venice story where mood and feeling is all. Its a film designed to make you feel creepy and uneasy and not so much scary in "the jump and scream variety". It helps that the film rethinks what a vampire is. Going back to folklore where things other than a bite on the neck was required to turn someone undead, this film keeps you off balance since you can't be sure what is real with in the film's world. Adding a great deal to the film are the performances of the excellent cast. Christopher Plummer's vampire hunter is a wonderful man of science who's pronouncements give a weight to the proceedings that would me missing in lesser hands. We believe in whats going on, because he does. Even in the early scenes when there is some doubt as to whats real and what isn't Plummer's intensity keeps things on track. Klaus Kinski as the vampire is a brooding, sad, sexual menace that says very little but wanders through his scenes with a power and intensity lacking in most vampires. Here is an ages old world weary soul who is forced to play peoples stupid games but who really just wants to be loved and most of all to die. The cinematography of this film is extraordinary. Venice is a character in every shot. You get a sense of place and of dread with every picture. This is one of the most beautiful films I've seen, and its fog shrouded vistas of Venice in the morning deserve to be hung on the wall.This is an amazing film, more creepy than scary, but one that is none the less haunting. This is a lost treasure for those who can appreciate horror films as being more than just the traditional sort. 7.5 out of 10 (7 out of 10 for IMDb purposes)
cannee
This has it all. Klaus Kinski playing Nosferatu. A perfect match of this tortured magnetic egotistical actor who had imaginings of being something far greater: he toured for a time proclaiming himself as Jesus; albeit a rather more angry and vituperate Jesus. Kinski had played the role before in A Herzog film. So the experience alone should assure success. This Nosferatu is more glamorous and set in a decayed cosmopolitan Venice. For the audience a clue that things were going to go seriously wrong as they sat in the cinema was the appearance of more than one director. This always heralds serious problems in production. It starts promisingly a Gypsy camp summons up Nosferatu as their benefactor. Then he is off to Venice to avenge the royal family that have tried to destroy him. Here the narrative starts going awry and long periods of soft focus camera panning accompanied by string quartets show th holes left in the scripts due to arguments. The film tries to find its focus again by giving Nosferatu a love interest in the shapely black actress Maria. But its too late and too little point. Assuming that the intention is to see Nosferatus demise, the audience would already be asleep to see the interesting climax, which I am not going to reveal. You have to track it down and stay awake to the end
d1senior
Warning the other characters (and, presumably, the audience) that the seance in which they are about to take part could "provoke reactions of quite terrifying proportions," Christopher Plummer proves himself a less-than-reliable guide through this hideous mess. With pompous, over-cooked music blaring out of every scene, regardless of what is actually taking part on screen, and the kind of existential angst that would make a 14 year old goth blush, 'Vampire In Venice' lurches from one flaccid cliche to another. Gypsies dancing around a fire on the beach at night? Check! Street carnival with masks and silly frocks aplenty? Check! Vampires musing on the pain of spending eternity alone? Please, no more.The 'horror' scenes appear to parody the entire genre. The film's running time - the video case claimed it was just over 90 minutes, an outright lie - stretches out into the black wastes of infinity, making the experience of watching it akin to sitting through one of Warhol's experiments in cinematic endurance. Klaus Kinski, so watchable in almost anything else, never seems sure whether he's the devil incarnate, or an aging rocker out of retirement for one last comeback gig. Even Donald Pleasance drifts by, unable to make a dent in the vast wall of boring, self-satisfied predictability. The horror of eternity was surely never supposed to be THIS bad.
MaxLange
This is an extremely boring version of the classic Dracula legend that should be removed from the shelves of the video stores. Save your $2.95 and rent Bela Lugosi's "Dracula" or Christopher Lee's "The Horror of Dracula".