Buy Orlock The Vampire 3D (2010)

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People will be attracted to this DVD for one or both of two reasons: 1) they are anaglyph 3D fans; 2) they know Nosferatu's stature in film history and the horror genre. At the outset, I will state that Chris Heuer's 3D rendering of the scenes is superior to most anaglyphic 3D work I have seen. Unfortunately, most of the film is flat. The scenes with Max Schreck are predominantly the ones rendered in 3D. That said, however, Chris Heuer (the 3D technician) is to be congratulated for his fine work. It is the only reason to purchase this DVD, and the only reason it gets one star.

As far as the other members of the production and distribution teams go, for their ignorance, dubious taste and contempt for the viewer's intelligence, they deserve to be buried in excrement in the lowest circle of hell. Some examples:

1. For no good reason, the setting is relocated to London (which is obviously contradicted by the scenery [canals] and iconic architecture of Wismar and Lubeck).

2. The re-cut of Nosferatu places scenes in nonsensical order. The rat-laden ship arrives bringing plague before Nosferatu himself arrives on the same ship, diluting the dramatic impact of the Count's arrival.

3. Scenes from different movies are amateurishly grafted into the film. Extremely annoying is a bat-logo that bursts in among title cards serving no purpose whatsoever, except that maybe someone in the editing room thought it was "cool."

4. Many of the title cards are changed and rendered in weak contemporary paraphrases that are jarringly anachronistic (e.g., Hutter saying "okay"). Many new and unnecessary titles are added, breaking up the dramatic flow of the film. Worst of all, the new intertitles contain wisecracks about "Transylvanian hospitality," etc., that completely undermine the horror aspects of the film.

5. The new musical score is the worst I have ever heard in any silent film. It is rank amateur. It is more suited to a slaptstick cartoon, nothing but cliches. The cheap synthesizer work is abominable; the piano bits are putrid, other bits of stock spook music are used idiotically. No one can adequately describe how absolutely horrid this soundtrack is. It sets an all-time standard for rotten, annoying and puerile.

6. Worst of all, and what makes watching this DVD with sound completely unbearable, is the addition of "voice effects" -cackles, heh-heh-heh's, mumbling, snoring, snickers, giggles, etc. -which sound like noises made by drunks who think they're being funny. The result completely undermines any horror sensibility and is unbearable.

These are but a few of the nearly infinite faults of this piece of exploitive trash. The topper is the unfunny introduction by self-aggrandizing idiot Lloyd Kaufman of Troma. You understand immediately that this release was made for drunks and imbeciles, probably by money-grubbing drunks and imbeciles.

And, by the way, it's supposed to come with 2 pairs of 3D glasses. Mine didn't come with any, of course.

If you care anything at all about F.W. Murnau, this miserable obscenity will make you feel dirty and violated for having purchased it. Do yourself a favor get the Kino DVD Nosferatu (The Ultimate Two-Disc Edition) and experience the raw power of great cinema that is the real Nosferatu.

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This DVD is loads of fun and I strongly recommend it for horror buffs, fans of 3D and anyone who loves Nosferatu. Purest may not be happy with this version of Nosferatu since it contains some newly inserted scenes, new titles, some new camera work (mainly close-ups). The inter-titles are also new and in some cases different from previous releases of the film. However, it is all in fun and makes for a real entertaining experience, especially if you are already familiar with the film. Fun is the key word here. If you want a serious viewing of Nosferatu, as a student of film, watch the restored version available from Kino. If you want to have fun and laugh at this masterpiece, get this 3D version. The 3D effect worked great for me and the transfer of film to DVD also looks great. In the final scene of the film when Orlock is bending over "Mina", the clarity is superb. I felt like I saw more details and a sharper image than in nearly any previous DVD of the film that I have watched. The scene of Orlock vaporizing in the sunlight also seemed sharper to me than in most other DVD releases. The DVD also contains the film in 2D which I have not yet watched. I hope to see more from these guys. Caligari in 3d? Golem? Dreyer's Vampyr seems like it would it be the perfect target.

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Chances are if you're reading this you must have stumbled on to it by accident, because typing in "Nosferatu" will not show this dvd in the search results. At least the first page. I just happened to type in "silent vampire movies" and this came up. Most of what's presented here is really enjoyable or really annoying, depending on whether you're a purist or not. Much of the music is like what you might hear from a Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton film. There's some of that "Dastardly villain" music and occassionally the stereotypical spooky Halloween music along with the gothic choral vocals. I personally enjoy the added sound effects, even the screams and gasps of fear the characters make. But, I thought they could have done without the excessive giggling and snickering. AS FOR THE 3D itself: Unfortunately the 3d is not constant, but if you really want to see how much 3d there is, watch the 3d version without the glasses first. (Don't worry the picture is watchable) and look for the red and blue outlines. The 3d works two ways. Some of it will be objects popping out of the screen and some of it is to give an effect of depth going inward. My only personal gripe is that it has no chapter stops in either the 3d or 2d. One final comment the effects of the 3d is going to be contingent on what kind of TV you have. My 19 inch glass tube doesn't seem to deliver the intended effect, but my shoot em on the wall projecter has Count Orlock halfway into my living room. Real... spooooooookey... late at night all by yourseeeellllllf...

Honest reviews on Orlock The Vampire 3D (2010)

Not much of this movie is converted to 3D. It seems only when the Count is in the scene or at his castle is it in 3D. When it is , it is good. I like the idea of converting the old movies like this one to 3D, but convert the entire movie.

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I've long been a fan of the first-ever vampire film, "Nosferatu," which almost didn't survive, due to a lawsuit by Bram Stoker's estate which resulted in the destruction of nearly every copy of the film.

The print here is superb, the 3-D conversion excellent, the soundtrack well done. I was not entirely happy with the re-writing of the dialogue titles, but they weren't bad.