Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

Nosferatu in Venice Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 19, 2021

If a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, chances are Nosferatu in Venice by any of its many other release names would still smell as — well, you choose whatever non-sweet adjective suits your fancy. Known globally under a somewhat humorous array of titles (the credits of the film actually utilize Vampires* in Venice rather than the name on the cover of the release), this film was evidently a tortured production that saw star Klaus Kinski at his most irascible, to the point that he reportedly was forced to apologize to the entire crew after one of his frequent tirades before the crew would return to their posts. This is one of those films where the actual movie is “problematic” (which may be putting it charitably), but where all the backstage drama is so undeniably fascinating that, for some, anyway, it may be a “must see”. As is expansively documented in the feature length documentary about Kinski’s final years included on this disc as a supplemental feature, the actor had gone so far off the rails by this point in his life and career that he was in every traditional sense uncontrollable. There are numerous interviews in the documentary with a number of people who worked with him during this period, and while at least some of them mention Kinski’s evident charm and intelligence, a number of others compare working with him to some kind of living hell, with at least one of them stating he would never collaborate with Kinski again (if “collaboration” was ever possible to begin with) even if torture were involved. At some point, Italian film impresario Augusto Camanito had the bright (?) idea to produce a sequel to Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre, and perhaps against considerable odds he somehow managed to land Kinski in one of the actor’s signature roles for the follow up. While it’s perhaps arguable that the relative proximity of their production dates meant that Camanito hadn’t yet heard of Kinski’s outbursts on Cobra Verde, the 1987 film that proved to be his last with Herzog, hindsight makes it clear that Kinski’s increasingly irrational and neurotic (if not outright psychotic) behavior was spiraling down some kind of disastrous drain, and with that kind of retrospective perspective, it becomes almost inevitably clear that Nosferatu in Venice was most likely doomed from the get go. The final film is an odd mishmash of story elements and even acting styles, but it has a certain moodiness that helps it elide some of its manifest issues, and Kinski is, for better or worse, a force of nature to be reckoned with.

* Note: Yes, plural, though the film was evidently also released as the more singular Vampire in Venice.

As patently gonzo as much (all?) of Nosferatu in Venice undeniably is, there are certain outré pleasures to be had, including the ludicrous but kind of fun entrance made by this film's version of Van Helsing, Professor Paris Catalano (Christopher Plummer). Catalano makes his way into Venice in a boat, as only makes sense, except that he stands at the bow as a veritable king of the world. He's on the hunt for Nosferatu (Klaus Kinski, of course), though belying vampire "tradition", the creature may indeed actually be dead (rather than undead). The truth of course is that Nosferatu may want to be deceased, but that state of affairs has eluded him. In the meantime, a woman named Helietta Canins (Barbara De Rossi) may hold the key to both Catalano's search and Nosferatu's quite different quest.

While there is the semblance of a story here, what often makes Nosferatu in Venice so weirdly interesting if also unabashedly incomprehensible is that a retinue of directors was evidently unable to get enough decent takes of Kinski in various important scenes that the rest of the film had to kind of be cobbled together with a huge missing element smack dab in the middle of things. As troublesome as the actual plot may prove to be, perhaps quite surprisingly Nosferatu in Venice has its own distinctively moody atmosphere, one helped by good use of locations and a generally gothic feeling production design. Kinski gets a little competition in the hyperbolic performance department courtesy of the late, lamented Donald Pleasance, here as a priest with some occult knowledge which may help to raise the (un)dead.

Nosferatu in Venice Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Nosferatu in Venice is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Both the back cover of this release as well as a press sheet accompanying the disc state this was "scanned in 2K from the original negative". This is by and large a nice looking, and at times rather impressive, transfer, especially in more brightly lit moments, where the palette really pops with a good deal of authority and detail levels are consistently appealing. There are quite a few optical dissolves and double exposures in the film, and kind of surprisingly detail levels can remain relatively high in those as well, though you can often see a degradation in dissolves in particular. There is one very unfortunate hair that almost looks like a caterpillar smack dab in the middle of the frame during the credits, but otherwise damage and other age related wear and tear is at a minimum. Grain can be pretty thick at times, though again perhaps surprisingly, it's not always dependent upon how dark scenes are. There are some admittedly dim but not shrouded scenes, like the first scene between Plummer and Pleasance, that are pretty gritty looking, but other really dark moments can reveal a more finely resolved grain field. Sometimes there's a slightly pixellated purplish quality to the grain that can be spotted in some of the darker screenshots accompanying this review. My score is 4.25.

Nosferatu in Venice Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Nosferatu in Venice features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks in English and Italian. The English language track has noticeably higher amplitude and better dynamic range, but there are still a few oddities which I'm frankly tracing to the source. One example is in some of the dialogue, as in the supposedly outdoor material underlying the credits, or even Plummer's first voiceover, both of which sound pretty "wet" and reverberant, as if things are emanating from an echo chamber. Other dialogue material sounds more natural. There are some editing choices in the score that are a bit disjunctive, and some of the cues can sound thin and a bit brash. Optional English and/or English SDH subtitles are available for both the English language and Italian language tracks.

Nosferatu in Venice Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Creation is Violent (1080p; 1:21:44) is a really well done piece on Kinski's final years, filled to the brim with reminiscences of him by a variety of folks. There's also some great archival video of Kinski, and even one fascinating anecdote about how some of the archival video came to be. This may well be worth the price of admission alone for some fans.


• Creation is Violent Outtakes

  Nothing Bad Can Happen (1080p; 8:12)

  
  

  Gypsies Should Be Played by Real Gypsies! (1080p; 2:28)

• Trailer (1080p; 2:22) kind of almost looks like it's listed under (actually next to) the Outtakes submenu. This is for the Italian version which bears the title Nosferatu a Venezia.

Nosferatu in Venice Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is one of those releases where the actual film may be lackluster, or at least problematic, but where the backstage stories are so over the top that you kind of want to see it, anyway. Severin has done fans of Kinski and the film a major service by providing the really excellent documentary charting Kinski's final years. Technical merits are generally solid for those who are considering a purchase.