completely awful!

Aylmer

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.

score 2/10

Aylmer 15 February 2008

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1820145/