Purely Joyful Movie!

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The reason I had wanted to get hold of this pretty rare DVD is because of the wealth of truly picturesque publicity stills that have been featured in horror compendiums, websites and the like. On that front, I was far from disappointed – the visuals look extravagant and beautiful throughout. Reminiscent of what Hammer might have achieved had they the budget – not that this seems to have had money thrown at it, but every set is crammed with detail, every building is huge and forbidding, every location seems endless.The telling of this unique take on Dracula is austere and joyless, however, with not a moment of charm or lightness to offset the brutal, screaming mixture of gore and politically enhanced narrative. Released 25 years after the end of WW2, The Count (Paul Albert Krumm) seems to be modelled on Hitler; his still, commanding presence, given to rattling out extensive chiselled barks and speeches. His male acolytes, who delight in torture and beatings, are more soldiers than vampires (not that the two must be mutually exclusive). There are no mist and bat transformations for this vampire, just a very assured solidity and many romantic musical flourishes as he administers the bite. He and his pasty-faced entourage do not fear daylight, and yet running water continues to be a fatal obstacle for them all.Scenes are often carefully and delicately choreographed, contrasting the bombastic vampire brigade with ravishing, arty scenes of beauty (hence the impressive stills that drew me to the project), with splashes of colour (often red, of course) bringing to life otherwise colour-drained scenes. Director Hans W. Geißendörfer had apparently just left university when he began shooting. His flourishes are stylised, operatic, like a ballet. As Eleonore (Ilona Grübel) lies dying, shot down after being pursued across a vast rolling, frosted lawn, we hear only the softly, teeth-clenching creaking of the weathered ropes holding a wooden swing, occupied by silent children. The Count's men storm past in unison. This might be my favourite scene. Later, bodies floating in the water, seem to sink or disappear, leaving only their red cloaks and capes floating, like petals on the surface.This brutal, rural horror is a mixed bag, really. There are parts I really like, and yet the lack of any comfort whatsoever drags the uncompromising production occasionally into one-note greyness.

"Jonathan" is a West German movie from 1970, in the German language, so this one approach its 50th anniversary as well. It was written and directed by Bavarian filmmaker Hans W. Geissendörfer (his very first work as writer and first full feature work as director) and is loosely based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. I think the connection is very vague though because honestly the fact that vampires are in here and one of them is the count is not really enough to make this connection. I am not entirely sure if this film plays in the past or future, but it is the story of the character in the title and how he was chosen to stop the domination of the vampires. There are some major problems with this film though. First of all, from the poster it may look like a soft porno, almost a Schulmädchenreport, but honestly it is a completely different movie and I guess they just wanted to use this series' popularity to get as many people to theaters as possible. Anyway, there are also issues with the plot. We have really strong vampires here apparently, who managed to adapt evolutionary in a way that not even sunlight can't hurt them anymore, yet we are supposed to believe that a young man is powerful enough to put an end to them. I just can't buy it. Other than that, the film occasionally offers an approach on the subject of vampire films that can still be considered fresh and different almost half a century later. So I think there was definitely the possibility for this to turn into a really interesting work. But because of major plot holes I think it can really only be appreciated as a guilty pleasure today or for its general awkwardness. In contrast to many other German films from the 1970s, the film does not include actors in the cast that are still known today, not even to big film buffs I'm afraid. This also includes lead actor Jürgen Jung. Still I think that is not the major problem here. Of course, none of the performances stand out at all or are memorable, but they also aren't worse than the mediocre rest in all areas of this projects. I give it a thumbs-down and nobody except vampire film completionists should check it out.

This a weird retelling of the Dracula story reconfigured as to be some sort of anti-fascist film. Its a beautiful film to look at but more than a bit strange in execution.The plot, if I picked it up correctly, has to do with a town that has been held in the grip of a band of vampires who all dress in what reminds one of fascist uniforms. Their leader bears more than a passing resemblance to Hitler, but with out the mustache. Deciding that they have had enough of the terror they form a plan to drive all of the vampires into the ocean. In order to get better information on the vampires they send in one of their own to the vampires castle.What transpires after that is both interesting and very pretentious, unfortunately the pretentiousness wins out. You have speeches and discussions that are less than veiled discussions of politics and completely ruin any normal sense of horror. You have a group of young girls who appear in many scenes of the vampires performing odd ballet or synchronized moves and in so doing distract you from the main action of the scene. It wouldn't be so bad except that much of the film can't make up its mind as to what its about, is it a horror film or a political film? I don't think it fully knows. The result of the confusion is a film that often comes off as being very funny, the problem is I can't be sure how much of it is suppose to be funny.The best part of this film is the look of it. This is one of those movies that amazes you with every shot. No matter what is going on, silly or serious, it all looks great. It sucks you in simply because you want to see the images that pass before your eyes. This film has tracking shots and haunting images that will stay with me forever (Two high points that come to mind are the first time we go to the vampires castle and travel among all of them; and the final sequence on the beach which has some haunting imagery.) Can I recommend this film? Truthfully, not to anyone who isn't a vampire completest or a film nut who loves to see beautifully shot films since the cinematography is what makes this work despite its pretentious flaws,

Geissendorfer's first feature was an original approach to Bram Stoker's Dracula, but it is seldom mentioned in most studies of vampirism on film. Jonathan must fight against wild and aristocratic vampires, who do not stop at anything to satisfy their thirst for blood. Cows, sheep, chickens, anything is left bloodless in this outrageous film, which luckily is also funny.