In this quite tedious, amateurish film with a few redeeming factors, Klaus Kinski is probably the highlight, followed by some of the scenery and choice of film stock, giving the film a grainy, desaturated and grim quality.
The rest, I'm afraid to say, has left me quite bedazzled as to why so many respectable film critics deem this piece so masterful.
The camera work is decent at times, atrocious at other times. Shots out of focus, camera shadows, visibly artificial light that sometimes moves within the shot - all that makes the presentation amateurish and sloppy.
The acting was mostly wooden, and to have German actors speak English with that accent was unintentionally funny. Add a thin story with poor dialogue and artificial behaviour by most of the cast (some of which even look at the camera a few times), and you have a pretty poor result.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just unable to see the great genius of this remake, but I'll take the 1922 original over this here any time of the day.
The rest, I'm afraid to say, has left me quite bedazzled as to why so many respectable film critics deem this piece so masterful.
The camera work is decent at times, atrocious at other times. Shots out of focus, camera shadows, visibly artificial light that sometimes moves within the shot - all that makes the presentation amateurish and sloppy.
The acting was mostly wooden, and to have German actors speak English with that accent was unintentionally funny. Add a thin story with poor dialogue and artificial behaviour by most of the cast (some of which even look at the camera a few times), and you have a pretty poor result.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just unable to see the great genius of this remake, but I'll take the 1922 original over this here any time of the day.