Nadja (1994)

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Love this film! Saw it twice at River Oaks Theatre. It cracks me up how some reviewers complain about the quality in some parts of the film...the director actually used a Fisher Price video camera for the scenes where Nadja seduces her victims. I knew about this going in to the theatre thankfully, or perhaps I would have been disgruntled about the quality too. I wish I owned it, seems difficult to obtain, just like many of my favorite art house vampire movies.

A sometimes-interesting black and white independent art house cheapie produced by David Lynch that's sort of like a homage to "Dracula's Daughter (1936)". In New York City, another daughter of Bela Lugosi's Dracula (public domain closeups of a bearded Bela from WHITE ZOMBIE are utilized to sub for her Old Man) deals with her own vampirism and hopes to be freed from her curse, since her infamous dad was recently destroyed by Van Helsing (Peter Fonda!). The leading actress is good but Fonda is rather awkward. Of course the film finds it necessary to over-do the lesbian angle. Too many distorted camera shots at times, but worth a look for the heartfelt tribute to old Universal Horror. It's played very serious, at least ... perhaps too serious. ** out of ****

Nadja is hands-down one of the worst films I've ever had the misfortune of sitting through. The film is basically a different take on the classic vampire story. It's shot in black and white and features a contemporary soundtrack. Director Michael Almereyda obviously thought all this was very cool; but in reality it's extremely dull. The plot actually makes the film sound like it might be worth watching and focuses on Dracula's death, and the resulting plight of his dysfunctional family, who are also being hunted by Dracula's nemesis, Van Helsing. The film reminded me of something that could have been directed by Jim Jarmusch, although it's only a cheap imitation. The plot runs really slowly and it wasn't long before I was starting to get bored with it. It's all very arty, though unfortunately the artiness isn't used in the best way possible. Sure, there are a few memorable images; but not enough considering what the film was trying to achieve. The director shows his experimental side by shooting some of the film with a Fisher Price Pixelvision camera, but to me it just came off as arrogant and pointless. Overall, Nadja is a very disappointing and boring attempt at a vampire film and I'd recommend everyone avoids it.

Nadja starts in New York one night as a Vampire named Nadja (Elina Lowensohn) talks to a man (Nic Ratner) in a bar & explains that she & her slave Renfield (Karl Geary) have travelled to New York from her homeland of Transylvania because her Father Count Dracula (Peter Fonda) is dead & that it is hard to find good food in New York after 10 O'Clock. Shortly after in a car Nadja drinks his blood. Meanwhile Van Helsing (Peter Fonda again) is tracking Nadja down with the intention of killing her & he enlists the help of his friend Jim (Martin Donovan) to aide him. Jim's wife Lucy (Galaxy Craze, yeah right that has to be a false name) has met Nadja & taken her back to her apartment where Nadja & Lucy engage in a bit of lesbianism & blood drinking. Van Helsing & Jim become aware that Lucy is under the control of Nadja & in another bizarre coincidence Van Helsing's Sister Cassandra (Suzy Amis) is looking after Nadja's ill Brother Edgar (Jared Harris) who Nadja intends to visit, both Van Helsing's & Jim's desperation to kill Nadja becomes even greater as the people they care for the most are in danger because of Nadja's blood drinking activities...Written & directed by Michael Almereyda I hated just about every second of this supposed film. The script is slow & boring, nothing memorable really happens & is a bit of a chore to sit through. There are only a few character's in the film & I didn't care one bit for any of them, I've heard of minimalist but this is just ridiculous. As a whole Nadja doesn't make a lot of sense & just didn't grip, engage or entertain me in any way whatsoever. So the story & character's are crap can the film deliver in other areas, well no because Nadja is one of the worst looking films I've sat through. If black and white is your thing then fine & I have no problem watching black and white films but Nadja just looks so dark, bland & uninteresting. Then there's the shots which look like they were shot on a faulty camcorder, I'm sorry but they are incredibly annoying as the screen becomes an absolute mess of pixelation & blocks. To add insult to injury director Almereyda uses various irritating techniques to try & convince the viewer that their watching 'art' like soft focus, blurring, slow motion, shots where the background action runs at a different speed to the foreground, jerkiness, skipping frames & bizarre scene transitions. I hated how Nadja looks & was literary praying it would finish within the first 30 minutes but never let it be said I don't give a film a chance & I (just about) stuck it out to the end which was also crap. With a pretty reasonable budget of about $1,000,000 Nadja is a poor show, very few character's, no effects & a cheap feel throughout & I have to ask myself where all the money went exactly. There is no atmosphere, scares or tension & while I accept some people may like this black and white art-house nonsense I don't & that's all that matters to me, I simply cannot see how anyone could gain any sort of viewing pleasure from such a film as this & I certainly didn't. There is not one single aspect of Nadja that I can say I enjoyed apart from the central performance by Romanian actress Lowensohn who makes for a striking & seductive female Vampire. Fonda just looks stupid sporting long hair & reflective shades. Forget about any special effects or any proper blood or gore. If you like this sort of bizarre boring, black and white art-house stuff then Nadja is probably right up your street so I can recommend it to you but if your looking for a proper film with decent horror & an actual story then avoid this piece of crap like the plague, that's just my opinion & I'm sure there is an audience out there for a film like Nadja but it's not for me.