Vampyr (1934)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Absolutely Fantastic

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Vampyr" is a slow-moving, surreal film in which a student of the occult finds himself drawn into a world of murder, mysterious strangers, disembodied shadows, and an ancient vampire and her mortal henchman. The movie is designed to be unsettling, with numerous soft-focus and double exposure sequences, as well as some great 'independent shadow' shots (similar tricks were used effectively decades later in F.F. Coppola's "Dracula" (1992) and parodied in The Simpsons). The acting is fairly minimal and the dialogue limited but there still are some effective scenes (Sybille Schmitz is very creepy as a Leone, a victim of the vampyr who is now beginning to thirst for blood). The climatic destruction on the titular daemon and the death of her enabling servant are memorable. Early, expressionistic horror films are not to everyone's taste, but this is a must see for fans (or students) of the horror genre.

"Vampyr" is a German-language film from almost 85 years ago written and directed by Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer. It is not a long film, the original ran for 83 minutes while today's versions make it hardly past the 70-minute mark due to lost parts and/or an increase in frames per second. It is a black-and-white film, but not a silent movie anymore. Yet it feels like one for most of the time. It becomes painfully obvious during the watch that even expert filmmakers like Dreyer were very much struggling still with the seemingly unlimited possibilities that were brought to them through the introduction of sound. There is little talking in here and when there is, it really just feels like included for the sake of not being a silent film. Very awkward. The other noise work better, so I personally would rather like to call it a noise film.This is considered one of the greatest horror films in history, also by some of the other reviewers, but I cannot confirm that at all. The film delivered neither in terms of drama to me nor in terms of horror. I was not scared once while watching this film here. So I am actually fairly glad that it did not run for 2 hours or so. The cast includes a mix of actors who never appeared in film before or after this one, but also a handful actors who had prolific careers. The introduction of sound meant the end of many actors' careers, but it was also something that brought entirely new prospects not only to a new generation of actors, but especially to sound engineers. But it's all not refined at this point yet, at least not in this film. I cannot recommend "Vampyr". Thumbs down.

Ah films about Vampires, you either get your blood thirsty crazy looking vampires or your calculated vampires whose thirst for blood is much more creepy than scary. Vampyr the film from Carl Th. Dreyer is really the creepy kind with its weird looking sets, surreal events and just characters whose emotions are conveyed through body language much more than by words. Dreyer somehow manages to get that dark underlying feeling all successful horror movies must have but in my opinion does not create any kind of masterpiece here, good, but not as perfect for me as some say this is. The story revolves a young man who is introduced to the world of vampires and the supernatural, as the plot moves on we see more about what they are and what they can do.Dreyer uses a cast not very well known if not in some cases at all and puts Nicolas de Gunzburg in the lead role as Allan Gray the young man whose fascination with the supernatural takes him to a small inn in the village of Courtempierre. For me the best character is the village doctor played by Jan Hieronimko who was found on a Paris metro train of all places and cast into the film among many other amateurs. I feel that Hieronimko's performance is similar to others in this too, I mean the acting here is not exactly great, don't get me wrong it's not bad at all but sometimes they just move around a little sluggishly, reactions are sometimes over the top. Dreyer knows though how to use his actors well though, even if they aren't too believable, he does this in a spooky way and although they move around just a little strangely, at times that strange movement can be kind of freaky and used to nice effect.Dreyer co-writes the film with Christen Jul and the script but in more specifics the dialogue is very well, not much there, but that is one reason this movie works so well. At such a short running time that this film is you can't be adding too much small talk, in fact this film dives into the plot very quickly indeed and it works well because it makes this so much more interesting, straight away you are hooked in on the story and that makes this at least very watchable. The film was not exactly met with positivity when it was first released and was considered a low point in Dreyer's career, the thing about this film though is that although I feel this is a little too clunky to be anything better than good, it is still well as I said, good, a must see for any fan of cinema or horror.Vampyr is not the best horror film but it is as I can see considered a classic among it so I can't finish this review without recommending it. It won't make you jump, in fact it won't probably make you feel scared at all but that I feel is not what Dreyer is trying to convey, it is the surrealism of it that he tries to make you see and tells a story that is highly original and a very smart yet weird story. All the characters Dreyer creates are well done and although I mentioned the acting before it is fair to say they all do a pretty decent job at least all together as a cast. Oh and one more thing and this is pretty important really, the camera angles, Dreyer works extremely well with Rudolph Mate and they create a film that looks not just creepy, but also looks extremely surreal as well.

I'm not exactly a fan of most really old films, most of them just don't really hold up for me or are just not my cup of tea; could be a generation thing or just simply me I don't know. But this is one of those gems that I really can sink my teeth into.I'll admit to me this is probably one of the most bizarre horror films I've seen. It's a vampire film and yet it isn't; to me it's kinda more of an art horror film since there really isn't much in story or characterization, it's a film where were really in it for the visuals and this film had got some damn good visuals which help make this not just a classic but a great experience.The film to me is sort of has a dreamlike quality to it as if your walking into a nightmare. From just the use of light, shadow, as well as most of the countryside and shack they shot the film at they've succeeded in creating a world that is dark, foreboding, where there can be danger hiding within the shadows, or in the next room. The music is great it has a very eerie tone to it that evokes a feeling of unsettlement or even dread in some places.But of course the visuals are the highlight of the film, you might even have to watch this film again just to uncover more. From some room with skulls and strange items in it, a witches room? Shadows moving in places and disconnected from other presences. A character seeing his own death which I'll admit was creepy because like him I wondered when the heck did that happen, then turning into a ghost for a while. But my favorite and to me most creepy visual was the infamous bellman with a scythe, it looked like the grim reaper to me.I'm not sure whether the film has a theme or not, it sort of left up to you to draw your own conclusions on that. To me I always thought it was on the fear and inexcapablity of death, since images of death are invoked throughout the film. Or even our never ending fear and attraction toward the darkness of life and ourselves, since the main character always goes toward dangerous locations in the film and the lure and temptation of vampirism becomes strong for one woman bitten by a vamp. I don't know like I said it's up to you which to me is part of what makes the film special.Venture into the darkness if you dare.Rating: 4 stars