‎Shadow of the Vampire (2000) directed by E. Elias Merhige • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Shadow of the Vampire

2000 Directed by E. Elias Merhige

An Unspeakable Horror. A Creative Genius. Captured For Eternity.

Director F.W. Murnau (John Malkovich) makes a Faustian pact with a vampire (Willem Dafoe) to get him to star in his 1922 film "Nosferatu."

John Malkovich Willem Dafoe Udo Kier Cary Elwes Catherine McCormack Eddie Izzard Aden Gillett Nicholas Elliott Ronan Vibert Sophie Langevin Myriam Muller Milos Hlavac Marja-Leena Junker Derek Kueter Norman Golightly Sascha Ley

Alternative Titles

La sombra del vampiro, Тень вампира

drama horror

92 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by russman ★★★

This movie is so meta since Willem Dafoe is a vampire in real life as well.
Review by DirkH ★★★★★ 21

To any fan of the original Nosferatu and of horrorfilm in general this underrated film is a must see.
It is a fictionalised retelling of the making of the mother of all vampire films. It has as its premise that Max Schreck, the actor playing the vampire, actually was one himself. As silly as this may sound, thanks to an amalgamation of perfectly executed visuals, superb storytelling and some majestical acting, it works perfectly.
Director Merhige treats his film, above all, as an ode to the original. He manages to conjure up that feel of the early silent movies really well and he actually uses footage from the original film. To his credit, the scenes he shot feel very authentic…
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★ 1

Part satire, part dark comedy, part revisionist history, E. Elias Merhige's "Shadow of the Vampire" tells the story of the making of F.W. Murnau's classic "Nosferatu." Actually, the Merhige's film tells a version of the story, and his version imagines that lead actor, Max Schreck, may have been a real-life vampire, or, at least, a really good actor. It is a shadowy and slowly paced film that will engage both fans of Murnau's film and film history.
With Willem Dafoe as Schreck and John Malkovich as Murnau, "Shadow of the Vampire" paints a portrait of a film set harassed by an extremely committed actor. Biting his costars, eating bats, and refusing to remove his makeup, Dafoe's Schreck is a grotesque…
Review by Hollie Horror ★★★ 8

In my senior year of high school I had a teacher who was a bit of a film-buff. I remember letting him borrow my Anchor Bay VHS Clamshell of The Beyond which he returned to me with delight. I remember him telling me to watch this "new" vampire film called "Shadow of the Vampire" and I rented it from the local video store at his recommendation. Somehow in the past 14 years I have almost completely forgotten the movie besides its basic plot and cast. Long story short, I decided to re-watch it today.
Unfortunately it didn't hold up very well. The premise and some of the performances are beyond admirable, they're borderline brilliant but for whatever reason everything else…
Review by travis kyker ★★★

Very eccentric, very theatrical (and surprisingly un-cinematic for a film that's totally about the mysterious, mythical power of cinema). 10/10 would let Willem Dafoe turn me into a vampire.
Review by Cinema Strikes Back ★★★★

Wer "Begotten" gesehen hat, hätte bestimmt nicht gedacht, dass Regisseur E. Elias Merhige danach so einen Film präsentieren würde.
Wer Murnaus Nosferatu gesehen hat, kann sich an diesem Film erfreuen, auch wenn ich mir persönlich gewünscht hätte, der Film hätte seine Grundzutaten - nämlich Horror, Komik, Skurrilität und ein wenig Tragik - ein wenig mehr ausgeschöpft. Gerade das Ende fühlt sich ein wenig überstürzt an und über den ganzen Film hinweg stellt sich nur ein schwacher Sog in diese Welt ein, wobei es der Film doch gerade am Anfang schafft ein Tor in die deutsche Filmlandschaft der Weimarer Republik zu öffnen. Großartig sind hier die Darsteller: Willem Dafoe, John Malkovich und natürlich Udo Kier!
M.

Recent reviews

Review by Austin Leih ★★★½

Eerie and darkly satirical. Dafoe embodies the mysterious legacy of Max Schreck, the actor who played the famous Nosferatu. Shadow of the Vampire adds to the mythos and legend of F.W. Murnau's timeless piece of bona fide horror.
Review by Nic Walli ★★★★★

Goddamn. Still genius.
Review by Han ★★★★

you have a nosferatu willem dafoe 👀 but his name is shrek 😰 would u push the button
Review by Pat_K

1080p RM
Review by Alex Coddington

Started after 1 AM, fell asleep with half an hour left but... there's a lot going on.
Review by Marc McDonald ★★★★

A lot simpler and more straightforward a film than I recall. The narrative is quite linear and uncomplicated. A really fun premise and well told. Malkovich is obviously very talented, but something about his delivery rubs me the wrong way. Udo Kier is great as always, and of course Dafoe steals the show....but he has an unfair advantage.
Holds up.
Review by price2003 ★★★★

Willem Dafoe is the reason to watch Shadow of the Vampire. He steals the entire movie as Schreck and he embodies the character so well, you can see why he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Review by Keith LaFountaine ★★★½

Watchlist Purge: Horror Edition V - #29
Nosferatu is one of my favorite films of all time. As such, Shadow of the Vampire is immediately interesting to me, because I loved the meta nature of its construction. Even when the narrative takes its own (obvious) path and rewrites history, I still loved the scenes with Malkovitch behind the camera, directing scenes (which I know may not have been of interest to other viewers).
Dafoe is great as Max Schreck. He carries the brooding atmosphere I would expect, yet he also surprised me with some comedic moments.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with Shadow of the Vampire. Not perfect, but still largely enjoyable and interesting.
Review by Eathen ★★★½

love all the little face willem is pulling