Sarentrol Masterful Cinema

MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

lasttimeisaw Dreyer's first sound feature, VAMPYR is an archetypal induction of the blood-hankering undead onto the celluloid screen (but not in its stereotyped appearance), made in a time when the story is foisted to unspool predominantly through title cards with minimal dialogs (sound recording is still a nascent embryo in Europe then), the film's chiefly non-professional cast serves as props rather than fully embodies flesh and occurrences are sometimes painstakingly tardy in their paces. Yet, Dreyer's modus operandi prospers in the somber, eldritch and never-wracking mise-en-scène, dispersed with thanatological symbols (the Grim Reaper in the beginning betokens its mythos), enhanced by a dream-like soft-focus tactility, and most extraordinarily, Dreyer's legerdemain of coaxing shadow and light into his narrative, a coup de maître where a soldier emerges with his seemingly discrete shadow denotes the mystic separation and unification of body and soul. During the thick of its vampyr-myth debunking sequences, our protagonist, the spiffy young man named Allan Gray (played by the French scion and later illustrious magazine designer Nicolas de Gunzburg under the alias of Julian West, who invests the movie with his own money to secure his dabbling into filmdom, which is his only screen credit) is afflicted by an out-of-body experience and witnesses a burying ceremony of his own body, swapping between camera's (subjective/objective, body/soul) viewpoints, the film reaches its most eerie, preternatural actualization of a blurred vision between real and unreal. German actress, Sybille Schmitz, whose real-life tragedy inspires Fassbinder's VERONIKA VOSS (1982), leaves behind an indelible image as the mostly bed-ridden vampyr-bitten girl, by dint of Dreyer's stock-in-trade expressive close-ups. Poetic justice prevails in its simplistic ending (why the girl's father who is in possession with the book doesn't try to extirpate the scourge if he is assumedly equipped with the know-how? A title card explanation would be apposite), but the scene where the evil village doctor impelled to receive his comeuppance potently flags up Dreyer's ingenious flight of fancy, and this time, without being curtailed in the religious solemnity and rigidity, Dreyer's VAMPYR surges with its top-drawer German expressionist idiom and avant-garde techniques that have timely reappraised the cachet of a film maudit.

Leofwine_draca Despite having dialogue this feels very much like a silent film. This dated, spooky little gem concentrates on visual imagery rather than concentrate dialogue and this fact gives it a dreamy, ethereal quality rarely seen in modern cinema. Indeed the film works best as a series of haunting visual images as our hero experiences weird events, hallucinations, and frightening dreams. Although difficult to watch and not exactly entertaining, VAMPYR is nonetheless a fascinating horror film which taps into some of our deepest fears.Despite having a vampire, this is a film which actually feels like a ghost story due to some spooky scenes of character's spirits coming out of their bodies and walking about in dream states. Exceptional use is made of shadows as they are given lives of their own in a very unsettling way. The acting is understated and efficient, but there is little in the way of a linear plot or storyline - it's just the images, linked together to form a puzzling whole. This is definitely a unique item and a good example of expressionistic cinematography, and it stays in the mind long after viewing.

Uriah43 From what I understand this movie was originally filmed in German, French and English but for some reason the English version was either lost or destroyed. As a result, the movie I watched was in German but had English subtitles. Now normally this wouldn't be an issue but the director (Carl Theodor Dryer) chose a unique film style which incorporated both silent and sound techniques. Flash cards were used on occasion and what dialogue was available was somewhat minimal. Likewise, the film quality was a little blurry in some areas but surprisingly this tended to blend in with the overall plot rather than detract from it as the director made excellent use of shadows to create a dream-like state. Or in this specific case—something resembling a nightmare. Be that as it may, although I am not particularly fond of silent movies, for some odd reason this film proved to be the exception to the rule as it seemed both artistic and surreal. As a result I have rated this movie accordingly. Above average.

GL84 Arriving at a secluded inn in the countryside, a man becomes caught up in the realm of the supernatural descending upon it's inhabitants and finds that the cause is a vampire let loose upon them and he must stop them before he succumbs as well.This here turned out to be quite an overall confusing entry to rate as the fact that this one is so silent for the majority of it's running time that there's so many stretches of of nothing going on that it becomes a little laxed at times. Thankfully, the haunting, dream-like atmosphere present is of far greater significance and importance to this, which results in both impressive visuals or creative ideas. This is filled with both, from shadows that take on a life of their own independent of their owner, deformed figures or what seems like a complete ignorance of the person within their individual space, or just a series of arresting, unique camera angles that are just from interesting placements or give a different vision than expected, so when it comes to the supernatural take-over of the cabin in the later half it's quite creepy and chilling with it's Gothic impositions and concepts. While the film might be headache-inducing trying to literally follow the plot, since nothing seems to make sense or events contradict earlier scenes, it's not nearly enough to hold it down but it does loose some for these scenes, and overall it's quite enjoyable.Today's Rating-Unrated/PG: Violence.