| |
|||
 |
|||
|
|||
|
|
Vampyr
Carl Theodor Dreyer had already made one of the greatest of all silent movies—The Passion of Joan of Arc—by the time he directed Vampyr in 1932, a film in which he outdoes himself with haunted images of the macabre. Like his previous masterpiece of silent cinema, Dreyer’s take on the vampire legend is moody, surreal, and almost completely silent. It also contains some of the most poetic, evocative images ever captured on screen. It is in those images that Vampyr really comes to life. Dreyer, understanding that horror has more to do with mood than with story, puts the plot second to the powerful, dream-like atmosphere. In doing so, he creates the most visually appealing vampire film ever made (with F.W. Muranu’s 1922 superior Nosferatu coming in at close second; Werner Herzog’s 1979 Nosferatu and George A. Romero's 1977 Martin tied for third). The story concerns an occultist/vampire expert Allan Gray (Julia West, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Zeppo Marx) and his journey to a small village and his bizarre encounters with the supernatural, including two sisters and their attacks from a bloodthirsty (is there any other kind?) vampire. As Gray experiences supernatural events one after another, including living skulls and dancing shadows, he eventually realizes that it’s up to him to save the two women from the vampire’s curse. As I have already indicated, Vampyr is not a film to be judged on the merits of its plot. In fact, throughout most of the film, I really wasn’t sure what was going on, or why. Characters come and go without any motive or explanation, and everyone plays one-dimensional parts with such monotone, dream-like stiffness so that it is impossible to tell who is good or evil. In fact, Vampyr is best viewed as Dreyer’s nightmare, with Gray as our quiet tour guide. Consider the opening moments, in which Gray observes the nightmarish shadows, dancing quietly in an empty room. Their dance is slow and methodic, and it casts a haze of evil over the entire picture. It is later revealed that we have been watching the shadows of murderers, who aid the vampires in evil deeds. By the time we know this, we’ve already guessed as much simply because of the sinister dread that Dreyer has created through their demonic dance. The entire movie is loaded with images like this, and Dreyer creates them with only one motivation in mind: They are meant to stimulate our imagination, darken our mood, and stir thoughts of horror within us. Other notable images include Gray’s vision of Death as an ominous skeleton holding a bottle of poison, as well as the final, tragic confrontation with the vampire, and Gray’s out of body experience. All of these scenes included some groundbreaking special effects for their era, but don’t let that “for their era” phrase fool you—they still pack a horrific punch today. Dreyer’s best approach, I think, is his choice to play Vampyr as mainly a silent movie. There are subtitles when the few lines of dialogue are spoken, but they are hardly needed. The words are spoken in quiet, muffled tones that add to the surreal qualities, and the facial expressions and terrifying images are enough to convey the film’s stunning effect. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Vampyr is one of the greatest silent horror films ever made. In all honesty, I found myself so mesmerized by the power of the visuals that I didn’t care that I the story and characters did nothing for me. So what if the plot doesn’t make any sense, or if it doesn’t even try to? Here is a film that lives exists entirely on a dreamlike plain, creating horrific and haunting images using simple methods that still conjure up chills today. It is the closest film I’ve seen to replicating the surrealistic, mind-bending alternate realities that we find in our own dreams. Cast: A Tobis Filmkunst production. Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Written by Christen Jul and Meyer, from the book In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu. No M.P.A.A. rating, but contains images of surrealistic horror; no sex or violence. Running time: 75 minutes. Original year of release: 1932. German with English subtitles. Questions? Comments? E-mail me: danel_the_tinman@hotmail.com |
||
