Klaus Kinski drives crazy Italian filmmakers batty in the gorgeous mess that is NOSFERATU IN VENICE, on Blu-ray from Severin Films.

Sensing the end of his days, vampire hunter Professor Catalano (Christopher Plummer, MURDER BY DECREE) accepts a vague invitation from Princess Helietta (Barbara de Rossi) of the Canins family, transplanted Transylvanian aristocrats whose palazzo was the sight of horrific events during the plague of 1786 believed to have been brought to Venice by Nosferatu (Kinski) who subsequently vanished. Against the misgivings of her grandmother (Maria Clementina Cumani Quasimodo, ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK), Helietta shows Catalano the family tomb beneath the grand canal in which there is a sarcophagus wrapped in iron bars which she believes to be the grave of Nosferatu. Catalano doubts this as Nosferatu was believed to have shipwrecked into a watery grave along the Bay of Biscay after leaving Venice. Catalano learns from Helietta's grandmother that Nosferatu had seduced and bitten Helietta's lookalike ancestress Letizia and both vanished after a tragic attempted exorcism. In attempting to prove that Nosferatu is in the tomb, Helietta brings into the palazzo a medium (Clara Colosimo, SILENT ACTION) to conduct a séance against the wishes of priest Don Alvise (Donald Pleasance, NOTHING UNDERNEATH). Helietta is briefly possessed by Letizia and her call to her "prince" summons Nosferatu from his moldering Spanish villa back to Venice in time for Carnival. Since Nosferatu had already been invited across the palazzo's threshold centuries ago, there is no way to prevent him from returning, and Catalano must convince Helietta's psychiatrist lover Barneval (Yorgo Voyagis, JULIA AND JULIA) of the danger before Nosferatu can reclaim his lost love.

An unauthorized sequel to Werner Herzog's 1979 version of NOSFERATU, NOSFERATU IN VENICE has a healthy budget due to the involvement of producer Augusto Caminito (MURDER ROCK) and his distribution deal with future prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (Dario Argento's OPERA). The Venetian location work is atmospheric – the cemetery island villa Nosferatu is using as his lair is actually Rome's Villa Grazioli from Mario Bava's KILL BABY KILL – and the production design is of a high standard, and all of it is lovingly captured by cinematographer Tonino Nardi (DOMINO) while composer Luigi Ceccarelli (RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR) adapts cues from Vangelis' album "Mask" to mostly good effect (although the imagery is not always up the operatic quality of the score, nor is Ceccarelli's instrumentation sometimes). In spite of seemingly extreme efforts of the production to please Kinski, the production was nevertheless derailed by his notorious behavior with Venetian carnival footage shot in 1986 with a Nosferatu double while Kisnki was working on another film by original director Maurizio Lucidi (THE DESIGNATED VICTIM) deemed unusable when Kinski rejected the idea of being made up to look as he did in the Herzog film, coming to blows with subsequent director Mario Ciaino (NIGHTMARE CASTLE), and Caminito himself directing in Ciaino's absence with Luigi Cozzi (STARCRASH) directing special effects sequences as well as following Kinski around Venice capturing roughly six hours of footage choreographed by the actor himself (only twenty minutes of which was interspersed throughout the film).

A certain incongruity of the visual texture of the film becomes evident with subsequent viewings, but far more apparent is how much of the script and/or shot footage was left out in reworking the film into something playable. Presumably Elvire Audray (AMAZONIA) had a larger role as Barneval's wife – she and de Rossi get credits for their wardrobe and furs – and the extramarital relationship between Helietta and Barneval is only superficially addressed. The upsetting liberties Kinski took with de Rossi in their seduction scene presumably resulted in Helietta getting sidelined for the climax in favor of her barely-introduced daughter or younger sister Maria (Anne Knecht) whose virginity will give Nosferatu his long desired death the moment he claims it. Plummer also exits the picture in a way that suggests he would not come back for reshoots. In spite of Kinski's difficult nature, Caminito would produce the actor's virtual one-man directorial debut PAGANINI.

Unreleased in the United States, NOSFERATU IN VENICE was only accessible in English-friendly form during the home video era as an import widescreen VHS from Japan with a Dolby Surround-compatible soundtrack achieved by adding delay between the left and right channels of the original mono track. A letterboxed, non-anamorphic DVD appeared in Spain with English MP2 audio while the unauthorized German DVD was a slight improvement visually. The film appeared on DVD under the radar from MYA offshoot One 7 Movies of dubious legalilty, if only because the company felt the need to retitle it PRINCE OF THE NIGHT for no reason. Italy's Cinekult DVD featured an anamorphic transfer but only the Italian dub. Severin Film's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen Blu-ray – bearing the alternate English title card VAMPIRES IN VENICE – is sourced from the original camera negative and looks spectacular, caressing details of the production design and Nardi's handsome lighting while also calling attention to the difference in visual styles of the directors. When the film was released on VHS, it had a Dolby Surround-compatible soundtrack but that was achieved by presenting the left and right channels of the mono mix with delay. The Blu-ray features English and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono tracks of similar quality, with the helpful English SDH subtitles for the English dub and English subtitles for the Italian dub calling attention to just how much the filmmakers attempted to fix the film in post-production with additional dialogue on the Italian track inserted virtually whenever a character in a scene is offscreen or moves into darkness and cannot be seen not speaking.

The disc's major extra is Josh Johnson's feature-length documentary "Creation is Violent – Anecdotes from Kinski’s Final Years" (81:44) covering Kinski's life and films from 1985-1991, including Diane Salinger fighting him off in CREATURE while suggesting that some of his behavior might have been motivated by being emasculated when younger, and REVENGE OF THE STOLEN STARS lead actor Barry Hickey recalling the actor's dismissal of him and refusal to share scenes or even the frame with him, make-up artist/co-star Joycelyne Lew creeped out by his Asian fetish, and director Ulli Lommel deciding that the best solution to Kinski's continuity-destroying behavior was to make him a ghost so he could wander about the sets delivering his dialogue. Of CRAWLSPACE, director David Schmoeller (PUPPET MASTER) recalls wanting to recast Kinski despite his name value and the Italian crew begging him to kill the man – resulting in a short film Schmoeller directed so he did not have to constantly rehash his anecdotes – while co-star Abbott Alexander and make-up effects artist Gabe Bartalos (LEPRECHAUN) recall a nicer side of the actor (the documentary is interspersed with footage of an interview in which Kinski refused to directly answer the prompter's questions, instead hearing the questions and responding to Bartalos who walked alongside him and the cameraman). The meat of the documentary is, of course, NOSFERATU IN VENICE, with Cozzi, Caminito, and sound man Luciano Muratori discussing its origins as a lower budget project under producer Carlo Alberto Alfieri (GHOSTS OF SODOM) and Caminito becoming involved, the Berlusconi deal, Kinski putting off the shoot, his unwelcome groping of de Rossi, Pleasance's lack of outrage at Kinski's behavior, and Plummer starting out professional but eventually giving up any pretense. Caminito spends much of his screen time downplaying and contradicting the other accounts.

Caminito and Muratori are joined by production manager Stefano Spadoni (DOLLS) and actress Debora Caprioglio (PAPRIKA) to discuss PAGANINI. Spadoni recalls Kinski getting arrested for driving his Ferrari onto the protected gardens of the estate where the film would be shot, and having to complain on behalf of the crew to Caminito. Caprioglio recalls her three year relationship with Kinski after a set visit to NOSFERATU IN VENICE, his belief that he was the reincarnation of Paganini and spending the entirety of the film's planning and pre-production in period clothing, and exploding at a journalist during the Cannes screening of the film (actually a calculated move on his part to give the film notoriety). The conclusion of the film encompasses the recollections of Phyllis Winter, who worked at post office in Lagunitas, California where Kinski had a chalet, and her competitive mountain biker daughter Sara Ellis who befriended the actor in the last year of his life. One might scoff at having to watch a feature-length documentary just for background on the disc's feature presentation, but the entirety of the documentary is a rewarding viewing.