VAMPYR: masterpiece of horror or pretentious and overrated? in Golden Age Horror Forum

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VAMPYR: masterpiece of horror or pretentious and overrated?

Author	Comment
Mr Overture		#61	[-]
Sep 14 08 3:45 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think it's one of best of the German expressionist films out there
killer meteor		#62	[-]
Sep 14 08 10:47 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Mr Overture wrote: I think it's one of best of the German expressionist films out there I'm not sure if it counts as Expressionist, and its German credentials are limited, as far as I can tell, to one performer, perhaps some funding, and one of the three languages it was dubbed into. If anything, its French, with a Danish director
lencandraw		#63	[-]
Sep 14 08 10:53 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm with Killer on it not really counting as Expressionist. It also hardly counts as a "Carmilla" story either- I see almost no resemblance (Hammer's VAMPIRE LOVERS is the close one). For all of its merits, and there are several, I find the film overrated and certainly boring, though I hesitate to call it pretentious. It is one of the few good or decent films that I have trouble sitting through.
Doc Dynamo		#64	[-]
Sep 17 08 6:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Vampr is sort a rich man's Strangler of the Swamp. It contains several beautiful, dreamlike classic scenes. But in between them its more coma-like than dream-like.
drlouisjudd		#65	[-]
Sep 21 08 9:03 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I agree that the score resembles the slow movement of a late Beethoven quartet. The restoration was great. I felt like I saw AND HEARD the film for the first time. Thanks for posting the interesting essay, Bosko 52. Last Edited By: drlouisjudd Sep 21 08 9:13 AM. Edited 2 times.
killer meteor		#66	[-]
Sep 22 08 7:48 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The music is certainly great. I love that harsh growl of music on old mono films. Watching the extras on the UK DVD has helped get a better sense of the film Although released in 1932, it was made in 1930, and was nearly finished by the time the Lugosi Dracula began production. I wonder, therefore, if London After Midnight had any influence on Dreyer, however small. The very odd references between David Grey and the Doctor to children and dogs that are not there seems to refer to a now lost scene where the old woman unleashes wolves on a young boy, or something like that. Dreyer apparently cut this after the botched German premiere, which had ended in a riot. A shame, because the vampire woman in the film needs more scenes. Watching the scenes from the French version presented as extras, and without sound, on the DVD, corrects a fault I had with the main feature. In the German version, the old servant stakes the vampire in long shot, quick cutaway to the sky and that's it. In the French version, the servant merely jabs the corpse and is unable to continue, so David Grey, with a wonderful mad look on his face, hammers the spike in again and again, whilst the servant looks away in horror. Marvellous stuff, and such a shame this, or the doctor's desperate cries of pain, have not been restored, nor the French version as a whole And "Julian West" is a great asset to the film. Even in still photos of him at social gatherings, he has that slightly alien, slighty unreal look to him, and yes he does look like H. P. Lovecraft! If anything, he's more creepy than the vampire!
professor liebstrum		#67	[-]
Oct 13 08 3:16 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just got the recent UK Masters of Cinema disc that Killer Meteor mentioned above on Saturday. Some nice extras on there. The deleted scene of the Doctor suffocating in the flour mill seems to go on forever and is genuinely unpleasant. Went to bed and had a pretty restless night, the first time a film has ever affected me like this. I had always assumed Brownings Dracula came first so that was a surprise. One of the docs mentions LAM but with reference to the murder in which the accused claimed to have had his head turned by Chaney's appearance.
killer meteor		#68	[-]
Oct 21 08 6:41 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I wonder if the white hair of Dreyer's vampire was influenced by Chaneys?
Wich2		#69	[-]
Oct 21 08 9:32 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	KM, "The Man in the Beaver Hat" didn't have white hair. Best, -Craig W.
killer meteor		#70	[-]
Oct 21 08 9:37 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well the stills implie longish hair but I'm clutching at straws
Wich2		#71	[-]
Oct 21 08 10:10 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Maybe the hair WAS straws!
MYST0		#72	[-]
Oct 26 08 6:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yes..Vampyr is very strange. I spent the whole day trying to get close to it. The Criterion version is quite an excellent transfer and the extras are quite opulent. The scene with the child's skeleton still creeps me out. The old lady vampire is very unusual. The stare of the vampire's victim is a skin crawler. The gravedigger meeting the grave dirt with his shovel in shadow is unique. The shadow meeting the body of the one-legged man is very well done. The out-of-body-through-the-coffin-window is QUITE well done. (Hey, Why IS there a window on that coffin lid, by the way? I guess corpses have every right as we have to see what is going on?) The haze of the supernatural is very striking. The grinning skull…. All these should make up a great film from the early days of the talkies, right??…Well, it still took me 3 tries to get through it. I GUESS I like it, but damn that dream-like state it has always put me in ever since I sprang for the laserdisc. Yes, I spent the whole day with the film, but more that half of it was spent sleeping or nodding out! I am now reading the screenplay that comes with the disc and it is quite good. I will probably spend the rest of the night with the film again. Someday it is going to click with me again. I can remember seeing this at Rutgers University back in the late '60s and really enjoying it. If I live to be 100, I Will enjoy this film again! It is like an insomniac gritting his teeth and telling himself…."This time I WILL get some sleep." Doctors should prescribe this for sleep disorders. Aside: If you DO have a hard time getting to sleep, Dr. Mysto prescribes the first 5 minutes of Murder By Television. But back to Vampyr… The darn thing just doesn't let you stay in that alert state. Maybe there is something to this hypnotizing effect the film has. Pretty scary! I only wish the film was… Later: I am now brewing a fresh flask of coffee and have some Extra Strength Excedrin ready. I think this will be the night! And why does this remind me of those pre-marital nights of so long ago where I would wait for the doorbell to ring with the hopes of something EXCITING about to happen? It hardly ever did then either. But once in a while…Well, you never know.
killer meteor		#73	[-]
Jan 5 09 4:31 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well I watched it again, and damn its beginning to work on me. I'd prefer it without the endless book extracts and I still dislike the way the finale is handled...but I'm gonna show it to my friends!
Koukol 5		#74	[-]
Jan 5 09 5:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well I watched the Eureka! dvd, this holiday season, and was very impressed with the release. I love this film so much that I ordered the cleaned up Criterion dvd. Brilliant movie!
CreepingBride		#75	[-]
Jan 5 09 9:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	todmichel wrote: "Vampyr" was shot in France as a silent, then Dreyer and his cast post-synchronized the movie in three different languages: French, German and English. I'm sorry if I'm being pedantic, but this thread should be moved to the "Foreign Horrors" folder. If I were looking to see if there was a thread on Dreyer's VAMPYR, that would be the first place that I would look. (In truth, I'm secretly gathering evidence for the need of a Scandinavian classic horror box set.)
Koukol 5		#76	[-]
Jan 6 09 5:04 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I agree CreepingB.
CreepingBride		#77	[-]
Jan 6 09 6:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Koukol 5 wrote: I agree CreepingB. It's unclear from the context of your post, so I'll put you down as "agrees there needs to be a Scandinavian classic horror box set." (Please humor me.)
Koukol 5		#78	[-]
Jan 6 09 8:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I would love that too!
MYST0		#79	[-]
Jan 7 09 10:39 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hopefully it would include the werereindeer film Valkoinen peura aka White Reindeer(1952) I have always wanted to see that. If anyone has a copy I want it! PM me.
CreepingBride		#80	[-]
Jan 8 09 10:40 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	MYST0 wrote: Hopefully it would include the werereindeer film Valkoinen peura aka White Reindeer(1952) I have always wanted to see that. If anyone has a copy I want it! PM me. There's a recent thread about VALKOINEN PEURA in the "Foreign Horrors" folder, in case you've missed it.

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VAMPYR: masterpiece of horror or pretentious and overrated?