Nosferatu ... the name alone can chill the blood!". F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, released in 1922, was the first (albeit unofficial) screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Nearly 80 years on, it remains among the most potent and disturbing horror films ever made. The sight of Max Schreck's hollow-eyed, cadaverous vampire rising creakily from his coffin still has the ability to chill the blood. Nor has the film dated. Murnau's elision of sex and disease lends it a surprisingly contemporary resonance. The director and his screenwriter Henrik Gaalen are true to the source material, but where most subsequent screen Draculas (whether Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Frank Langella or Gary Oldman) were portrayed as cultured and aristocratic, Nosferatu is verminous and evil. (Whenever he appears, rats follow in his wake.)The film's full title--Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror)--reveals something of Murnau's intentions. Supremely stylised, it differs from Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919) or Ernst Lubitsch's films of the period in that it was not shot entirely in the studio. Murnau went out on location in his native Westphalia. As a counterpoint to the nightmarish world inhabited by Nosferatu, he used imagery of hills, clouds, trees and mountains (it is, after all, sunlight that destroys the vampire). It's not hard to spot the similarity between the gangsters in film noir hugging doorways or creeping up staircases with the image of Schreck's diabolic Nosferatu, bathed in shadow, sidling his way toward a new victim. Heavy chiaroscuro, oblique camera angles and jarring close-ups--the devices that crank up the tension in Val Lewton horror movies and edgy, urban thrillers such as Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice--were all to be found first in Murnau's chilling masterpiece. --Geoffrey MacnabOn the DVD: This two-disc set gives you the choice of watching Nosferatu in either a sepia-tinted version or the original black & white. Both, however, feature the same modern electronic music score by Art Zoyd (at the movie's lavish 1922 premiere a live orchestra performed a newly composed, quasi-Wagnerian score by Hans Erdmann). The anonymous commentary track is a scholarly critical appraisal of the movie that exhaustively documents every aspect of it, from Murnau's aesthetic use of framing devices to the homoerotic subtext of the Hutter-Orlock relationship. In the "Nosferatour" featurette the movie's locations (principally, the Baltic cities of Wismer and Lubeck) are shown as they are today, and there is also a look at the original artwork that served as Murnau's inspiration. Two text features provide a brief history of the vampire myth from Vlad the Impaler onwards, as well as a discussion of the controversy caused by the movie's release. Appropriately, a trailer for the John Malkovich-Willem Dafoe movie Shadow of the Vampire, which imagines that "Max Schreck" actually was a vampire employed by Murnau in his obsessive pursuit of verisimilitude, is also included. --Mark Walker
The BAFTA-award winning series starring David Jason is back for another installment of underhand dealings that Frost has to sift through...
A must for all fans of BAFTA winning David Jason detective series, A Touch of Frost. This 10-disc set features all the episodes from series six to ten.
With over three hours of films Cinema 16: American Short Films is essential viewing for anyone with an interest in the moving image. The majority of the films are accompanied by audio commentaries almost always by the directors themselves. Highlights include early films from Hollywood powerhouses Todd Solondz Tim Burton and George 'Star Wars' Lucas! Films Featured: 1.The Lunch Date (Dir. Adam Davidson 1990 11 mins) 2.Carmen (Dir. Alexander Payne 1985 18 m
From Roy Ward Baker - 'the Grand Old Man' of British horror comes a collection of stories that will reach out and grip you in a vice of fear. Based on the spine-chilling comic-books ""Vault of Horror"" & ""Tales from the Crypt"" and featuring a sensationally star-studded cast these are the tales of five hapless men huddled together in a vault beneath the Thames each awaiting the fulfilment of their own prophetic nightmares. See Curt Jurgens as a murderous magician with a few rope
The Six Men: A dramatic story tracing the activities of a gang of crooks whose long run of successful coups has the police in a panic. A Matter Of Murder: Melodrama of an embezzler implicated in his girlfriend’s murder. The House Of Black Mail: In a remote mansion Army Officer (William Sylvester) and Carol (Mary Germaine)
Prepare yourself for the darkest day of horror the world has ever known!A Night of living terror led to a Dawn of false hope, but nothing before will prepare you for the darkest Day the world has known!Below ground in a fortified installation, scientists conduct experiments to understand the virus that has turned humanity into flesh-hungry zombies. Isolated and deprived of natural light, the researchers begin clashing with their military protectors and it soon becomes apparent that their co-dwellers are just as dangerous and unpredictable as the zombies gathering to enter their safe haven...Director George A. Romero follows Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead with this stark, unflinching sequel that stands as the series' most gritty and astoundingly gory instalment.
Men In Black: Secret agents 'K' (Tommy Lee Jones) and 'J' (Will Smith) work for a highly funded yet unofficial government agency which tracks civilisation-infiltrating extraterrestrial. K and J must prevent an alien terrorist (Vincent D'Onofrio) from assassinating two galactic ambassadors on Earth for a conference dooming the Earth to certain destruction! Men In Black 2: Agent J and Agent K are back! Agent J (Will Smith) needs help with a new breed of alien terror i
Gilbert And Sullivan's Pirates Of Penzance: Having mistakenly been sent as an apprentice to pirates young Frederic is happy to leave his indentures on his 21st birthday. Falling in love with the beautiful Mabel one of the many daughters of Major-General Stanley he decides to marry. However the pirates are all to keen to marry the rest of Stanley's daughters! A spectacular interpretation of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic! Gilbert And Sullivan's Mikado: A lavish 1982 production of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera in which Nanki-Poo the son of the Mikado escaping a distasteful marriage arrives in the town of Titipu disguised as a musician... Gilbert And Sullivan's HMS Pinafore: A sailor falls for the captain's daughter. They become thwarted in their attempt to keep their love alive but a strange twist in the tale offers these lovers another chance... A thrilling adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's opera.
Red-hot stars ignite the white-hot thriller 'White Sands' a volatile mix of action and suspense directed by Roger Donaldson (Species) and filmed in an around New Mexico's glistening White Sands National Park. Willem Dafoe plays Sheriff Ray Dolezal a small-town lawman in big-time trouble. To untangle a mystery he assumes the identity of a murdered FBI agent and goes undercover inside a global crime ring. This precarious new life steers him toward a sinister weapons runner (Mickey R
A Young Boy's Hero. A Married Woman's Desire. Russell Crowe stars as East Driscoll a bachelor horsebreaker who won't settle down. He becomes the idol of Alan a young boy with polio who dreams of riding just like his hero. As Alan struggles with the hardships of growing up he meets Grace an older English aristocrat for whom he develops feelings. The situation gets further complicated when the married Grace falls for the much younger East and Alan unwillingly is caught in the middle...
Eurydice is married to Orpheus but has started an affair with a local shepherd called Aristaeus. However Aristaeus is really Pluto in disguise and he becomes so besotted with Eurydice that he lures her to a field where she is bitten by a snake. He then reveals his true identity and whisks her away to Hades so they can be together. Orpheus now a free man is happy about this new situation until his mother insists he rescues Eurydice from Hades. Meanwhile King Of The Gods Jupiter ha
A Touch Of Frost Series 6-15 (29 Discs)
A musical comedy about six very different people all travelling to Nebraska in the hope of wining a major karaoke competition!
In this third and final shocker in the legendary trilogy from writer/director George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead Night of the Living Dead) a small group of scientists and soldiers have taken refuge in an underground missile silo where they struggle to control the flesh-eating horror that walks the earth above. But will the final battle for the future of the human race be fought among the living or have they forever unleashed the hunger of the dead? Lori Cardille Joe Pilato Richard Liberty and Howard Sherman star in this controversial classic with groundbreaking gore effects by Tom Savini and featuring the most intense zombie carnage ever filmed.
Nosferatu ... the name alone can chill the blood!". F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, released in 1922, was the first (albeit unofficial) screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Nearly 80 years on, it remains among the most potent and disturbing horror films ever made. The sight of Max Schreck's hollow-eyed, cadaverous vampire rising creakily from his coffin still has the ability to chill the blood. Nor has the film dated. Murnau's elision of sex and disease lends it a surprisingly contemporary resonance. The director and his screenwriter Henrik Gaalen are true to the source material, but where most subsequent screen Draculas (whether Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Frank Langella or Gary Oldman) were portrayed as cultured and aristocratic, Nosferatu is verminous and evil. (Whenever he appears, rats follow in his wake.)The film's full title--Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror)--reveals something of Murnau's intentions. Supremely stylised, it differs from Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919) or Ernst Lubitsch's films of the period in that it was not shot entirely in the studio. Murnau went out on location in his native Westphalia. As a counterpoint to the nightmarish world inhabited by Nosferatu, he used imagery of hills, clouds, trees and mountains (it is, after all, sunlight that destroys the vampire). It's not hard to spot the similarity between the gangsters in film noir hugging doorways or creeping up staircases with the image of Schreck's diabolic Nosferatu, bathed in shadow, sidling his way toward a new victim. Heavy chiaroscuro, oblique camera angles and jarring close-ups--the devices that crank up the tension in Val Lewton horror movies and edgy, urban thrillers such as Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice--were all to be found first in Murnau's chilling masterpiece. --Geoffrey Macnab
A New York teenager struggles to find some sanity while surrounded by an eccentric grandmother, a crazy new girlfriend, and a longing younger brother.
Dragon Hunter
Is It Magic? Or Wholesale Slaughter? Montag the Magnificent (Ray Sager) The Wizard of Gore is a seedy small time magician with a shocking stage act. Hypnotizing pretty young women from the audience to be his obedient volunteers Montag then proceeds to mutilate them in a series of Grand Guignol illusions. A woman is cut in half with a chainsaw another is drilled through the stomach with a giant punch press a metal spike is driven through one gal's head and two ladies are forced to swallow swords. Trouble is after the show the illusions become all too horribly real. Intrigued by Montag's act but unaware of his true powers television talk show hostess Sherry Carson (Judy Cler) invites Montag on her show. Montag promptly hypnotizes the viewing audience and leads Sherry toward a fiery new illusion... Blood guts and offbeat surrealism in another crackpot classick from The Wizard of Gore himself director Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Bud and Lou take on a babysitting job and find themselves involved in the Jack And The Beanstalk fairy tale.
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