Nosferatu becomes Orlok the Vampire in 3D!

wear 3d glasses red/cyan


Chris Heuer
Stevensville Maryland

©2009 Chris Heuer and CreativeCOW.net. All rights reserved.

Article Focus: "Nosferatu," the first vampire movie, and some say still the best, rises again in 3D! In this "Creative COW Magazine Extra," Chris Heuer used desktop tools including AE and Mocha to breathe new life into this classic of world cinema.


When asked what it would take to turn the movie Nosferatu into an anaglyph 3D movie, I thought for a moment and then replied “Seventy thousand dollars, a team of 10 to 15 visual effects artists and 3 months.”

Curious, I then asked “What do we actually have to work with?”. Keith Carter, the Director of the project (and a good personal friend) replied “A very small budget... and YOU.”

Now to fill in some details. The reason I was able to quote a price so quickly (which I would now consider way under budget) is because this story begins about a year earlier.

Carol Bidault de L'isle of Media Fusion in Washington, DC had acquired a library of recent independent films. Carol and Media Fusion help independent filmmakers that cannot find access to the marketplace. “Sometimes it is just a matter of repackaging these films, sometimes it’s re-editing that can make the difference," she says.

Among these new titles was an odd copy of "Nosferatu," by F.W. Murnau. "Nosferatu" was the first film to be made (although without permission) based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula," and has developed a massive cult following since its release way back in 1922.

In the end, the film is a wild ride with lots of new features, including an introduction by Troma Entertainment’s Lloyd Kaufman (“Toxic Avenger,” “Class of Nuke ‘Em High”). The DVD version will also have a popup trivia version, a Director and Producer commentary version, the “Making Of,” two pairs of 3D glasses – and for the die-hard fans, a special edition with a comic book prequel and an action figure, complete with a miniature rat!