Nosferatu a Venezia, or Vampire in Venice as it's more commonly known as to English speaking audiences, starts with the arrival of Professor Paris Catalano (Christopher Plummer) in the beautiful European city of Venice. Professor Catalano has dedicated his whole life to the study of Nosferatu (do you think that pays well?) who disappeared in Venice during 1786, he has received a letter from Helietta Canins (Barbara De Rossi) who claims that a coffin in her basement contains the body of Nosferatu (Klaus Kinski). Catalano checks it out but disagrees, to try & prove her point (I think) Helietta organises a séance & hires a medium (Clara Colosimo) to try & contact Nosferatu. It turns out Calatano was right & Nosferatu isn't in Helietta's basement but the séance does raise Nosferatu from his 200 year sleep & after consulting with a gypsy (!) Nosferatu heads off in search of those who summoned him. Oh, & to add to the excitement he also has a few nice boat rides down various Venice canal's...

This Italian production was written, produced & in part directed by Augusto Caminito & is a loose sequel to Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyr (1979) although the actual connection with that film is nothing more than Kinski reprising his role as Nosferatu & even then he looks completely different in each film. The script by Caminito is a bit on the dull side, takes itself very seriously & is an absolute mess. I would imagine that the various reported production problems were the reason, nothing in the film makes any real sense & things, people, sub-plots & unnecessary flashbacks just come & go with little regard for narrative cohesion. There are a few odd flashbacks, Donald Pleasence's character Don Alvise just rambles on about God for a few scenes before he is completely dropped, why would Professor Catalano spend his entire life studying Nosferatu & when he finally finds him decides to commit suicide, what was in the coffin, why did half it's face glow red & then turn to dust & what the hell are all those gypsies & that woman's magic crystal ball all about? The whole film feels fractured & that various different people with opposing ideas & aims worked on it. Having said that it's watchable & just about strange enough to maintain ones interest plus the ironic ending where Nosferatu who is tired of eternal life & wants to die is hunted by some Vampire hunters who actually kill Helietta instead & since Nosferatu needs the unconditional love of a virgin to die the Vampire hunters have in fact achieved the opposite of what they wanted to do.

Right, now lets get this straight shall we. Apparently producer Caminito hired Maurizio Lucidi as director & he even shot a few scenes but Caminito fired him. Caminito then hired Pasquale Squitieri to write & direct, however his screenplay was apparently too expensive to shoot so he was sacked as well. Caminito then hired a third director Mario Caiano, unfortunately on his first day Kinski got into a 'violent argument' with Caiano & he too left the director's chair. Caminito then decided to just direct the thing himself but had no experience so he was helped by his assistant Luigi Cozzi, but it doesn't end there folks because it is also reported that Kinski shot a fair amount of the film himself. The saying 'too many cooks spoil the broth' comes to mind & I think it's a perfect phrase to describe Nosferatu a Venezia. The film is undoubtedly stylish & has some great scenes but they're lost within the mess of a story. Forget about any gore, a bit of blood & a few people fall on some spiked railings, that's it. There's some nudity as well if that's your thing.

Technically the film is very good with some great costumes, sets & Venice itself makes for an unusual location. It has nice cinematography & music, it's just a shame the film had so many behind-the-camera problems. The acting was OK although am I the only one who thinks Kinski looks terrible in this? He looks like Peter Stringfellow on a bad day!

Nosferatu a Venezia was a disappointment, if the story had been stronger this could have been a decent sequel, as it is it's a curious mess both in front of & behind-the-camera. Could have been so much more, watch Nosferatu the Vampyr again instead.

I'm a tremendously massive fan of the works and persona of Klaus Kinski, but apparently I should praise myself lucky that I never had to work with him or maybe even meet with him person. Kinski allegedly was an incredibly arrogant individual and literally an impossible person to interact with professionally. During this particular period – the late 80s – he also was at the heights of his violent temper, which (nearly) ruined all the movies he starred in. Director David Schmoeller made the ironic short film "Please Kill Mr. Kinski", based on the disastrous experience that he had with him during "Crawlspace" in 1986 and even the long-running professional relationship with the acclaimed director Werner Herzog got destroyed in 1987 during the filming of "Cobra Verde". According to the documentaries Herzog and Kinski got into several vicious fights and openly threatened to kill each other. Also this "Nosferatu in Venice" suffered enormously from Kinski's eccentric quirks. He chased away the initially hired director Mario Caiano, he physically assaulted two of the lead actresses and he refused to cut his hair or wear any make-up. And yet, it's a Kinski film and I'd move heaven and earth just to see it!

I liked "Nosferatu in Venice" a lot, but not exactly because it's a good film… I'm much more fond of the whole idea and concept of the film. What a brilliant idea to set a vampire movie in the wonderful city of Venice! And not just any ravenous and mad-as-hell vampire, but a melancholic vampire figure like Nosferatu! That's just fantastic. The story initially follows Prof. Catalano, who's searching for the mysteriously vanished Nosferatu, but at the same time the professor is convinced that he is fed up with his immortal and roaming existence. Deep in the basement of a Venetian family mansion there is a tomb, and the heiress thinks that Nosferatu is buried here. They hold a séance to awaken him, but he resurrects somewhere on a tropical island. Nosferatu promptly travels to Venice, hoping to find love and eternal peace. "Noferatu in Venice" is slow-brooding and talkative, and thus definitely not recommended for the nowadays new generation of horror/vampire movie fanatics that swear by fancy computer-generated effects and monstrous transformations. This movie thrives on macabre atmosphere, moody set-pieces and sober cinematography. The plot is very messy and often doesn't make a lick of sense, and yet it's captivating from start to finish. This is also a very unconventional vampire story. Kinski's Nosferatu doesn't suck the blood from the virgin's necks, but he impales old ladies on fences and tears off the lips of jealous boyfriends. Kinski doesn't have to do a lot apart from demonstrating his naturally sinister charisma. The cast contains another two phenomenal actors, Donald Pleasance and Christopher Plummer, as well as a couple of beautiful actresses, like Barbara De Rossi.

Klaus Kinski plays Nosferatu, an ancient vampire who is summoned during a seance, awakened from his centuries old slumber to feed upon a band of gypsies, and Helietta (Barbara De Rossi), daughter of an influential Venetian matriarch. Christopher Plummer plays Professor Paris Catalano, an expert on vampirism who is hunting Nosferatu, and horror legend Donald Pleasence is utterly wasted in the pointless role of a priest. The professor eventually tracks the bloodsucker and his victims to a 'plague cemetery on Dog Island' (great name for a prog metal album!) where he confronts the monster.

Vampire in Venice is slower and more aimless than a gondolier who's knocked back a few too many Bellinis during his lunch break. Klaus Kinksi dons rat-like fangs again for this sequel-of-sorts to Werner Herzog's 1979 Nosferatu remake, but being the uncontrollable type, the actor refused to appear in full vampire make-up this time, instead opting for hair extensions that make him look like a member of The Lost Boys who actually grew up. Halfway through the film, it seems as though Kinksi decided not to wear the fangs either. It's that kind of film: a shambolic mess, not helped by the fact that it passed through the hands of several directors, including Italian trash legend Luigi Cozzi. The result is a boring, drab (Venice is shot in a washed out palette of monotonous greys and blues), incomprehensible piece of garbage that takes itself way too seriously: it makes Herzog's film look like a barrel of laughs in comparison.

1.5/10, generously rounded up to 2 for the gaping gun-shot hole in Nosferatu's stomach, the old lady impaled on the railings, and the hot, stark-naked gypsy girl who lucky old Kinski gets to romp with.