Shadow of the Vampire: A Symphony of Horrors
Anyone who has ever seen Nosferatu, F.W. Murnau’s marvelous, silent vampire flick, is likely to never forget the appearance of Count Orlock, the bald, rat-like bloodsucker with long fingernails that look like claws. It’s the ugliest vampire in the history of cinema and in my opinion it is also the scariest. How remarkable that a feat like this was accomplished as early as 1922. Count Orlock was played by a man called Max Schreck (“fright” in German) and he is so believable that 78 years later a film claiming that Mr. Schreck was a real vampire was produced.
Of course this isn’t true. Max Schreck was an ordinary human being who just happened to be a very good actor. But this fantasy is nevertheless very entertaining. Writer Steven Katz follows Mr. Murnau’s (John Malkovich) crew as it is shooting Nosferatu, a rethinking of Bram Stoker’s novel that carries a changed title and a new name for the Count. Things are not going too smoothly and several members of the cast and crew find the mysterious fellow (Willem Dafoe) who’s playing the bloodsucker pretty annoying. He always stays in character, doesn’t seem to care much for the film, demands fresh blood and has a strange effect on the poor cameraman. The director won’t tell anyone where he’s found this Max Schreck but has a gut feeling that his contribution to the film will be invaluable. As the final scene is about to be shot, Schreck prepares to meet the lady of his dreams and Murnau hopes to capture something with his camera that will make Nosferatu immortal.
Mr. Murnau’s work is an example of what German Expressionism looked like on film. Everything is twisted, the atmosphere is chilly and dark and there is little hope or joy—in other words, the perfect atmosphere for a horror film. Director Merhige and his crew have designed this film in a way that at least reminds one of German Expressionism. There’s no realism, the Central European landscape looks very unpleasant indeed and the pale-faced characters have few similarities with real human beings. The audience is never told whether Max Schreck is a real vampire or not and it doesn’t really matter. It is as if the very art of German Expressionism blends with reality; we all realize that the Nosferatu shoot was probably a lot duller than is portrayed in Mr. Merhige’s film, but we’d like to think otherwise. Perhaps it doesn’t sound like a film one can enjoy on a Friday night—but it is. There’s a healthy sense of humor here; Schreck’s behavior (attacking cast members and eating bats) does not make his colleagues think he’s a monster, but rather a very tiresome idiot who acts like a pig.
The actors contribute a lot to the humor. Mr. Malkovich is fun to watch as the intense filmmaker who is consumed by his work and will not allow the eccentric Schreck to ruin what he’s trying to achieve. Standup comic Eddie Izzard is well cast as one of the dazed actors. But the movie does belong to the barely recognizable Mr. Dafoe—you’d like to think that just like Schreck he also stayed in character throughout the filming of this story. Impressively, he creates a person who is revolting, frightening and funny. By the way, have we completely ruled out the possibility that Mr. Dafoe may be a vampire?
The YouTube clip shows the trailer.
Shadow of the Vampire 2000-U.S.-Britain. 95 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Nicolas Cage, Jeff Levine. Directed by E. Elias Merhige. Screenplay: Steven Katz. Cinematography: Lou Bogue. Music: Dan Jones. Cast: John Malkovich (F.W. Murnau), Willem Dafoe (Max Schreck), Cary Elwes (Fritz Wagner), John Aden Gillet, Eddie Izzard, Udo Kier.
Quote: “I feed like an old man pees – sometimes all at once, sometimes drop by drop.” (Mr. Dafoe)
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