"AN AMAZINGLY VIBRANT RESTORATION" - Richard Brody THE NEW YORKER

THE VAMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Grade: A
A gloriously restored version of the 85-year-old masterwork Nosferatu chills to the bone
"Over the years I've watched a half-dozen versions of F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu in theaters and on VHS, laserdisc, and DVD. Sad to say, they've looked uniformly crummy, even those touted as "restored." The available prints of Murnau's '20s horror masterpiece show their age with scratches, jerky cuts, and annoying flickering frames. But Kino's glorious new restoration eliminates all those distractions -���¯���¿���½ a three-minute featurette explains how - allowing us to see this silent granddaddy of all vampire movies as if for the first time. Quite simply, it's miraculous. The clarity and stability of the image unleash the director's precise framing, painterly lighting, and adroit editing, which delicately links characters to one another as the vampire casts his hideous spells. The lack of visual clutter also enhances the performances, particularly Max Schreck's Orlok; always the creepiest of vampire turns, his clawed otherworldliness is now truly horrific. Bravo also for this edition's re-creation of composer Hans Erdmann's lush orchestral score. In addition to a version with German intertitles, the two-disc set includes a lengthy doc about Nosferatu's creation. It's fine, but what really counts is the splendid, long-overdue face-lift of a sagging classic." - Tim Purtell, Entertainment Weekly

"This is an excellent film, one of the all-time classics of silent cinema. This new restoration improves on the earlier release, which didn't look bad at all. With the new documentary about Murnau and the improved image, this disc is worth getting even if you have the earlier disc that Kino put out. Highly Recommended." - John Sinnott, DVD Talk

"This is very definitely the best release we've had thus far on this title. You have a 5.1 stereo surround recording of the original score created for this in 1922. The transfer is stunning. There������¯������¿������½s a near hour long documentary about the making of the film and how the filmmakers dabbled in the occult...This is a fantastic set. It should be bought for the transfer on NOSFERATU....It's great!" - Harry Knowles, Aintitcool News

The cliche is true: you have literally never seen F. W. Murnau's pioneering vampire film until you���¯���¿���½ve screened this crystalline new copy from Kino, one of several titles (including Sergei Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin") that this boutique distributor has recently licensed from the German film archives. The primary source is a first-generation print from 1922, crisp and clear enough to have been shot last week. Accompanied by a reconstruction of Hans Erdmann���¯���¿���½s original score, this is not the scratchy, battered ���¯���¿���½Nosferatu���¯���¿���½ of public domain but a visual and sonic experience that justifies its subtitle, "A Symphony of Horror." - Dave Kehr, The New York Times