Nosferatu opens Lake County Film Festival

Classic Silent Film Nosferatu Gets New Score from Del Rey & The Sun Kings

WHAT: F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu" with Del Rey & The Sun Kings score
opens Fifth Annual Lake County Film Festival
WHEN: February 28, 2008
WHERE: The Libertyville Civic Center, 135 W. Church St., Grayslake, IL
COST: FREE!!

GRAYSLAKE, IL- Del Rey & The Sun Kings, the band led by Jackson Del
Rey, founding member of influential L.A. postpunk bands Savage Republic and 17 Pygmies, have produced a new score for F.W. Murnau's classic 1922
silent vampire film "Nosferatu" The film, with its new score, has been
selected as the premiere screening of the Fifth Annual Lake County
Film Festival.

ABOUT NOSFERATU: Released on DVD on 12/31/07, "Nosferatu" is Del Rey &
The Sun King's second installment in a planned set of four new
soundtracks for classic films made during the silent era of motion
pictures. Their first release was a radically re- worked (and
surprisingly, highly popular) score for Sergei Eisenstein's 1925
classic film "Battleship Potemkin."

F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu" (subtitled Eine Symphonie des Grauens (A
Symphony of Horror) is the first screen version of Bram Stoker's novel
"Dracula." "Nosferatu" was unofficially adapted from Stoker's novel,
with the names of the characters changed in an effort to disguise the
source. In the case of "Nosferatu," though, the ruse failed, and on
the film's release Bram Stoker's widow sued, seeking the destruction
of all prints. Fortunately, for the sake of posterity as well as
anyone who just enjoys a well-made film, she did not achieve her goal,
and "Nosferatu" survives today as one of the great silent classics.

Due to the popularity of the bloodsucking subject matter, there are
many new scores for "Nosferatu," some vibrant and interesting, others
less so. But for Jackson Del Rey, something seemed to be missing in
all of these soundtracks, because at its core, "Nosferatu" is more a
love story than a horror story. To express this sentiment, Del Rey &
The Sun Kings chose to blend classical instruments with industrial
sounds to help enhance the film's themes of duality (light and
dark/man and woman/man and monster/woman and monster, etc.). And so as
there are indeed many "pretty" passages of music, there is a healthy
amount of dark and edgy material.

"Nosferatu" also pays homage to several of Del Rey's favorite film
composers, most notably Tangerine Dream, Popol Vue, Rachel Portman and
Thomas Newman.

With a number of live performances planned and a built-in audience
composed of (or is that decomposed of?) those who enjoy the
death/glam/Goth lifestyle, not to mention the potential of midnight
performance for actual vampires, Del Rey & The Sun Kings' "Nosferatu"
should have no problem building upon and surpassing the strong
commercial showing of its predecessor "Battleship Potemkin." From
there, it's two down and two to go. Do I hear boxed set potential,
anyone?

Del Rey & The Sun Kings NOSFERATU DVD
Track Listing:
1. Main Title/You Can't Escape
Destiny By Running Away
2. Land Of Phantoms
3. Blood! Your Precious Blood!
4. Coffins…coffins Filled With Earth
5. Carniverous Plant (Nina's Waltz)
6. Captain Of The Black Ship
7. Destiny Redux
8. I Too Have Been Saved
9. A Woman Pure In Heart

For more on Del Rey & The Sun Kings, visit
http://www.myspace.com/thesunkings

For a complete list of films at the Lake County Film Festival,
screening times and locations, visit www.lakecountyfilmfest.com . More
information can also be obtained by calling the Lake County Film
Society at (847) 362-5666.

Jackson Del Rey is available for interviews, and review DVDs of Del
Rey & The Sun Kings' "Nosferatu" are available upon request.
http://www.trakwerx.com/label.htm