Thehibikiew Not even bad in a good way

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

unbrokenmetal A vampire hunter (Christopher Plummer) goes to Venice where the infamous vampire Nosferatu (Klaus Kinski) was last seen 2 centuries ago, and soon Old Two Teeth starts biting necks again, as old habits die hard. Traditional methods like sunlight or the sign of the cross do not scare Nosferatu, but it is said the love of a virgin might be dangerous to him, is any of the ladies interested? It's not a good movie, it's not a bad movie, it simply is a pile of various bits and pieces, ranging from genius to rubbish. After several directors were fired, producer Caminito finished the movie somehow - I imagine it must have been a case of "it's better to make a painful break than draw out the agony". Venice, however, is a perfect setting for a vampire movie with its ancient, dark, decaying buildings. The warm, colorful carnival scenes provide stark contrast for the cold blue light of the early morning chases when Nosferatu is looking for victims. Unfortunately, when the tension is rising, often something ridiculous happens, for example the attempt to shoot the vampire with a shotgun (results in a cannonball hole to see through) which will immediately destroy the efforts. It's too clumsy to appeal to an art movie audience (who may have enjoyed Herzog's Nosferatu) and too confusing to be Saturday night fun for horror flick fans. Under the circumstances of its production, it's no surprise that 'Nosferatu a Venezia' failed, but I admit it is at least an interesting failure which is not just another vampire movie.I watched the Italian language DVD which has no subtitles in other languages.

Michael_Elliott Nosferatu in Venice (1988) ** (out of 4) Klaus Kinski returns to the role of Nosferatu in this Italian film that was originally suppose to be a follow-up to Herzog's 1979 film. After various production issues including two director's being fired, the film ended up pretty much being 100% on its own with the only connection to the earlier film being Kinski. In the film, vampire hunter Paris Catalano (Christopher Plummer) travels to Venice, the last known location of the vampire Nosferatu (Kinski). Catalano tries to locate the whereabouts of the vampire who he believes has a desire to finally die. This is a rather interesting failure that has a lot going for it but it's obvious the production issues caused a lot of problems especially during the first part of the movie. The film starts off very ambitious as it centers on the Plummer character in current times but we then have several flashbacks to the earlier days of Nosferatu and how he became who he is. This was an interesting idea but it never really works for several reasons and one of them is a bizarre rock score that doesn't fit anything we see. Another reason these flashbacks never work is because at times it's hard to follow what exactly is going on and why certain flashbacks might be happening. Then, around the fifty-minute mark, something strange happens and the film actually turns extremely entertaining as Nosferatu finds himself in current times and falling in love with a young black lady who might just hold the key to his eventual death. Yes, Kinski drove several directors away from the film and this is partly to blame of the uneven film but you also have to give him credit because he turns in a great performance. He has his long blonde hair flowing and there's no chalk make-up so we get to see this Nosferatu in a very human-like state and the actor makes us feel sorry for this person who simply won't die. I found Kinski really intense throughout the film and this certainly spills over for several entertaining scenes but I think the romantic side works the best. Plummer is also pretty good in his rather thankless role and we even get Donald Pleasence in a role but he's pretty much wasted. Barbara De Rossi and Anne Knecht are both good as the ladies in the pack. Augusto Caminito, Mario Caiano, Luigi Cozzi and Maurizio Lucidi all did some work on the film but it was Caminito who ended up shooting the majority of the film. Even Kinski was apparently in charge of directing his scenes so who knows what was really going on with this production. It's certainly a very troubled movie but at the same time there's just so much here that does work in the end. We get some rather strong atmosphere and being 1988 and from Italy, there's much more sex, nudity and blood than normal, which is a plus. I doubt art house fans are going to enjoy this thing but if you're a horror fan and like Kinski then it would be worth your time to check this out. It's certainly not going to replace the Herzog film but it's an interesting little movie.

Michael A. Martinez It's hard to discern sometimes, but a movie has either "got it" or it does not. This movie has absolutely no ability to engage to its storyline, which doesn't even make sense in the first place.Granted, I'm not the biggest fan of Herzog's "Nosferatu" which I found to be pretty slow and tedious. At least I found some appreciation in its stylishness and Kinski's heartfelt and somewhat sympathetic performance as the impish Count Dracula.None of that returns for this shallow retread. Kinski plays an entirely different character, more of some punk rock demigod than a Vampire. The film doesn't even appear sure what time period it's taking place in, and several subplots (two involving unconnected groups of vampire hunters) feel completely extraneous and do nothing for the film. The only thing it has going for it is a reasonably good cast, though unfortunately they here provide the worst performances of their respective careers. Plummer looks particularly embarrassed... so much so that rumor has it he suffered an unexplained heart attack during the chaotic filming.One of the worst, most useless horror films to come from Italy in the 1980's, and yes, I've seen GHOSTHOUSE.

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".