Jonathan (1970) User Reviews

Absolutely beautiful vampire movie is a mess of confused tones and pretensions

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 17 September 2005]

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,

Hilarious

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 22 October 2007]

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! I caught this a few years ago at a revival theatre in Massachusetts. They had to special order a copy of it from Germany. I knew that it was a political vampire film--I believe it likened fascism to vampirism. Not a bad idea but the movie is a total mess. For starters some of the subtitles were misspelled ("piece" was used instead of "peace") and the plot was basically nonexistent. It just had a bunch of people in bad vampire makeup mumbling some political propaganda. My audience took it seriously--at first. Then when it became obvious that the film was going nowhere and repeating itself the audience began to laugh. When the villagers in the movie destroyed the vampires my audience was in hysterics. Gotta love the scene where a woman is slapping a dead person...and the guy obviously blinks! It all leads to a truly stupid ending with the vampires being forced into water and dissolving (????) So, the basic idea was not bad but this movie didn't know how to handle it in an interesting (or coherent) manner. Hard to find for obvious reasons. I give it a 1.

Enchanting experience

[videoflk · 10/10 · 16 February 2003]

I watched this movie in germany, when it was released for the theaters. It left a lasting impression on me. It captures an E.T.A. Hoffmann sort of atmosphere, talks to your romantic and advanterous spirit. Specially when you have grown up in the european countrysite , between ruined keeps in the midst of old forest. Little probably to tickle the northamerican imagination. I found the approach to vampire stories very genuine and without moral judgement. I was glued to my seat in the theater. I was searching for this movie ever since. I hope it will be rereleased on DVD.

Major plot holes keep this from being a memorable watch

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 20 February 2017]

"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.

a political vampire movie

[nicedood · 8/10 · 28 May 2006]

i was looking endless for this movie and finally got my hands on a DVD copy. its a very political movie, if you see it in the context of the time that it was made. it has a great camera, that starts of a certain point for example, then goes without a cut for some minutes through a scene and ends again with the scene from the beginning, continuing the story it had started in the first location. other parts of the movie remind more of a play performed on a stage. the surroundings and behaviour look very staged but though very familiar. and not to forget the great "dracula", the one second you think you might look through his mask, but the next second you notice he fooled you. great acting. i really can recommend that movie, even if the political aspect might be a little antique. its this old style though that makes the whole movie so refreshing. it should be a must in everyones vampire collection, thats for sure. i think i'll watch my DVD again soon, its definitely worth a second look.

Pretentious piffle.

[BA_Harrison · 1/10 · 7 January 2024]

Vampire hunter Jonathan (Jürgen Jung) embarks on a perilous mission to try and free prisoners from a vampires' castle and encourage them to join in a revolt against the bloodsuckers. Along the way, the coach in which Jonathan is travelling is attacked by two men who kill the driver and his horses and steal Jonathan's vampire killing equipment. Jonathan continues on foot, accompanied by a stranger who later tries to strangle him, before eventually arriving at the castle, where he is captured and tortured.

I've read that German vampire film Jonathan was intended as an anti-fascist allegory, the vampires representing Nazis, with a head vampire (Paul Albert Krumm) who resembles Hitler without a moustache. But even armed with that knowledge, I still found the majority of this arthouse horror completely incomprehensible, director Hans W. Geissendörfer chucking in lots of strange imagery that is presumably symbolic or metaphoric but which left me utterly bewildered.

Why is there a group of young girls in pink frocks at the vampires' castle, and what is the meaning of their dancing? Who is the panting hunchback in the shack surrounded by inverted crucifixes? Why does the girl who shares the shack with the hunchback pour water and dry ice over her leg while singing? Who are the dead people that Jonathan and his travelling companion discover in a farmhouse? Why is there a room full of villagers watching a couple having sex? And how does Jonathan suddenly go from being fully clothed in a barn to being totally naked and straddled by a hot babe?

About the only thing I liked about this baffling pretentious nonsense was the camerawork, with lots of long gliding shots that are technically impressive.

1.5/10, rounded down to 1 for some of the most abhorrent animal cruelty I have seen in a film, a man repeatedly stomping on a poor rat.

An original version of Dracula

[EdgarST · 9/10 · 17 June 1999]

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.

An Excellent Vampire Film

[tintin-23 · 8/10 · 30 June 2006]

I saw Jonathan in the early '70s, at the old Harvard Square Theater, in Cambridge, MA, and I have been looking for it to reappear on the screens ever since (or maybe on DVD). Contrary to the "classical" vampire film, Jonathan's plot is rather an original one, in so far that it carries a political message. A bunch of aristocratic, fascist vampires, led by the evil Count, have taken over the country. They have turned their peasant population into slaves and literally suck the blood out of them. In their midst, a hero appears, ready to destroy this scourge. I think it would be most "a propos," given the neo-aristocratic present administration of Bush "le petit," for this film to be reissued.

I do not remember all the details of the film, the cinematography, acting, etc, but I do remember being enthralled by it and kept riveted in my chair. Given these vague memories, it is difficult for me to give this film a precise rating, but I can safely give it a seven or eight stars. So let's go with eight.

nothing like anything else

[christopher-underwood · 9/10 · 2 April 2023]

This is really wonderful but just as difficult to describe. Obviously it is about Vampires but nothing like anything else I have seen. It is certainly dream like and rather surrealist but this seems so obvious by saying that. The only film I can think anything like this is the films of Jean Rollin but not really because this one is so strange even though it seems simple as well. Jonathan is probably the only one in the film who seems normal and not like anyone else. His journey in the coach is a long time and all seems okay but then suddenly he finds everyone is dead, the man and the horses and then walking he eventually finds the castle. There the vampires, in red, seems to almost move as in dance and it is scary as the way they move not quite as lovely as you might think and we see blood. Robert Muller cinematography is splendid being Dutch and of many films like Breaking the Waves (1996), Paris,Texas (1984), Repo Man (1984) and Dead Man (1995). The last one is that of Jim Jarmusch's and seems to usually do all his films. The music is by the composer, Roland Kovac and there is something of the style of the work of E. T. A Hoffmann. The director, Hans W Geissendorer like most of the cast is German but has had many TV and films although seems to be best known, apart from Lindenstrobe, it was his long TV series, a weekly soap opera (1985-2020) the lives of the people of Munich, the controversial issues through the years like Homosexuality, drug abuse, domestic violence, rape, xenophobia, prostitution and Aids, which had many awards and of course big in the day when his first film was made this also received a German award.