Vampyr (1932)

Allan Grey, a young traveller, stays at an ancient castle where he begins to see strange, and even impossible, sights; a cloaked man with a scythe ringing a large bell, a man whose shadow has a life of its own, and more. Then, a strange man invades his room and leaves a package to be opened upon his death.

Soon the man is dead, and the package turns out to be a book detailing the legend of the Vampyr. Then one of the daughters of the lord of the castle dies of what appears to be anaemia. Allan begins to suspect that something dark, supernatural, and sinister is at play. It may be advisable to relocate to a new vacation spot.

Vampyr is a fantastic and surreal fantasy-horror film by German director Carl Theodor Dreyer. The film was actually completed in 1931, but was shelved until 1932 and thus released after the far more famous American film Dracula staring Bela Lugosi. Today Vampyr is largely forgotten, while Dracula will be remembered for eternity as one of the classics of horror cinema.

But in fact, Vampyr very much deserves to be remembered. The film features wonderful cinematography; complex, gliding camera work and unusual angles all of which must have come at considerable difficulty given the primitive camera equipment of the time. The films spooky, Gothic imagery create a perfect horror film atmosphere.

The film is largely silent in terms of dialogue, but was actually Dreyer's first sound film and does include a very interesting, effective musical score. Naturally the film is in German with subtitles. These aspects, plus the lack of a clearly linear plot make Vampyr a little difficult to follow for some. In fact, as the film progresses rather than moving toward a clear finish, it becomes increasingly baffling. Still, none of this overtakes the fact that Vampyr is a brilliant and beautiful, if under-rated and little-known piece of horror film history.

4 stakes out of 5
Unrated: contains potentially frightening imagery.