Synopsis
An Unspeakable Horror. A Creative Genius. Captured For Eternity.
Director F.W. Murnau makes a Faustian pact with a vampire to get him to star in his 1922 film "Nosferatu."
Shadow of the Vampire
2000 Directed by E. Elias Merhige
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Alternative Titles
La sombra del vampiro, Тень вампира
Popular reviews
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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…
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Set during the filming of the pretty much groundbreaking horror film Nosferatu as the line between reality and fiction gets blurred, where FW Murnau is not only a perfectionist but the film becomes his own moby dick and he will go to the extremes to make the perfect vampire movie... even if that means to hire a real vampire.
While Herzog's version was a really good adaptation, this one is vastly superior in many ways. Not only the BTS approach makes of this a much unique movie, but director E. Elias Merhige actually attempts and mostly succeed on making the shooting scenes as if we are looking at footage from the 20s. The score by Dan Jones also helps building…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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”How dare you destroy my photographer?
….Why not the script girl?”
“The script girl?….I’ll eat her later.”Here’s the movie that begs the question:
Can method acting ever go too far?Willem Dafoe literally kills it portraying an unknown actor who discovers a role he can really sink his teeth into.
And if that’s not enough you also get the added bonus of watching him face off with Malkovich in an actor vs director vs vampire bout that's one for the ages.
”I will finish my picture.”
“This is hardly your picture any longer.” -
For those who haven't watched this sort of obscure, and not talked about near enough film, I can't recommend it enough.
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Willem Dafoe as Nosferatu in a movie about the making of Nosferatu set in an alternate reality where Max Schreck, the actor from Nosferatu was a real life vampire?! And people don't talk about this?!
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Hooptober 5.0 - 2018 - Film #3
1 silent film as a tribute to A Quiet Place (1/1)Ok this is not silent, but loosely about a silent film
Max Schreck, Schreck meaning terror in German. Quite a fitting second name for the actor who played Nosferatu.
Rumour has it that Max Schreck was indeed a vampire, leading to this film.
I'd say Willem Dafoe has Nosferatu nailed, the creepiness, the black humour of the cast & crew nervously laughing at Schreck's antics. I especially enjoyed him having a drink with some of the crew and promptly catching a bat, killing it and drunkenly scoffing it like it was a nacho.
The biggest monster here being the Director Marnau, played by John Malkovitch. He sacrifices everyone around him to get his art.
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Spook-A-Thon 2020
boxd.it/8JrGQ
Film No. 15 - Shadow of the Vampire (2000)For me personally; Shadow of the Vampire falls effortlessly in the "most passable movies ever" category. There's nothing special about it or even anything particularly bad. You enjoyed watching it, but you forget the majority of the film once it's over. It's got two great leading performances by Dafoe and Malkovich; with some decent supporting performances and make-up effects that probably should have won at every awards ceremony that year. Also including a score that's oddly reminiscent of the Coen Brothers' Fargo which fits the movie really well and absolutely not at the same time. Even though the film is a fictional depiction of how F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu was made; I personally like to think that this is what really went down almost 100 years ago when they were making film history.
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To most little boys and girls Mummies, Vampire's, Werewolves, Frankenstein's are the stuff nightmares were made of! However I wasn't your typical little girl! Things that went bump in the night were my best friends!
This film captured the glorious days of black and white horror films! Everyone and his brother has seen Nosferatu, it's the highlight of every Halloween! This film honors its great contribution to the horror film genre!
I started watching the film with great anticipation. At one point I asked myself when is Willem Dafoe going to appear. Finally I paused the dvd and did some research online, I was shocked to learn that Willem Dafoe played Max Schreck! I was totally blown away! I still can't believe that was him!
It truly is a creepy little film worthy of a look see!