In ‘Nadja,’ Dracula’s Daughter Goes Downtown

Michael Almereyda’s 1995 film Nadja, taking its title from André Breton’s novel, transposes the premise of the 1936 film Dracula’s Daughter to ungentrified, black-and-white NoHo with an offbeat cast. Elina Lowensohn stars as Nadja, a Romanian-born vampire who leaves Romania for Lower Manhattan and trawls downtown bars; the death of her distant father prompts her to seek her estranged twin brother Edgar (Jared Harris), who lies ill in Brooklyn cared for by Cassandra (Suzy Amis).

A low-budget production partly shot with a toy PXL camcorder and newly restored in 4K, Nadja was released during the AIDS crisis and was sometimes read as reflecting the epidemic, though the film now reads as more concerned with dysfunctional family ties; the film also features the Van Helsing clan, Peter Fonda, Martin Donovan, Galaxy Craze and a cameo by David Lynch, and makes notable use of desolate NoHo locations and the illuminated windows of the old Tower Records.

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