Nosferatu - UK gets Double DVD Edition!

[PoochJD]

Hurrah,

The classic German horror movie, Nosferatu, has been given a good (but odd) double-disc release!

On Disc 1, you get the sepia-tinted version of the movie, in its original uncut 92 minute, 4:3 version, with an all-new, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound soundtrack. The print looks reasonable, bearing in mind it has been taken from the only remaning print in the world, and with the film being nearly 80 years old! Yes, plenty of scratches and print-damage still exist, but it's not as distracting.

A new instrumental score has been included, which captures the mood quite nicely, although purists may want to simply watch the movie in silence.

The extras include a short documentary (about 5 minutes) plus some written material on the movies controversy, and a potted history of Vampires.

Two trailers are also included, of which one is for the brand new movie "Shadow Of The Vampire" starring Willem Dafoe, and John Malkovich. (It's a behind-the-scenes movie ala Ed Wood was for Plan 9 From Outer Space. Looks impressive, and has had good reviews in the USA.) The other trailer, is a newly created one, set in an old 1920's style cinema, advertising Nosferatu itself. Strange but clever.

Disc 2, contains the exact same version of the movie, only in its original black-and-white format. Oddly, two of the extras (the documentary and text material) are repeated.

Film is great, very haunting, and impressive! The DVD is also worth a look, and one of the more unusual double-disc DVD's available to the UK! All we need now, is the great Region 1 Anchor Bay disc, of the Werner Herzog remake from 1979, which contains two versions: a 107 minute german-language cut, with subtitles, and the 96-minute english-language version. Apart from the lengths, the movies use different shots in each film, so essentially they are two differing editions!

Pooch