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…

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…

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…

Super Black May Noir 2020
6/31

Das dringend benötigte Wohlfühl-Programm
nach Human Centipede Zwo — der ganz vollen Sequenz, autsch.

E. Elias Merhige’s film about filmmaking will work well for you if
— you want to see Willem Dafoe in one of his most humorous roles (specifically written for him)
— you believe that bats make for a delectable amuse-bouche
— you do always appreciate the exquisite work of a nail salon
— you also think that dear John Malkovich shines brightest as rotten, nasty, scheming & plotting asshole climbing at full speed on that peculiar ‚Shining‘-level craziness
— you have heard the name -> Konstantin Tanislavski before or enjoy jokes hinting at representatives of naturalism
— you happen to be…

Shadow of the Vampire' is a difficult film to review as I'm not certain what it intends to be. It's a fantasy-biopic, which is also funny and horrific, but altogether entertaining. The premise is that Max Schreck, the actor who portrayed Nosferatu in the 1922 film of the same name, really was a vampire. Murnau the director, fanatical to achieve realism, cast him with this in mind yet failed to inform the rest of the cast and crew. What follows is a comedy of errors as Murnau tries to rein in Schreck's natural tendencies while still capturing his masterwork on film.

Is this supposed to be taken seriously? I don't think so, and it is indeed very funny in places.…