Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Country: GB/US/LUX
Technical: DeLuxe/Super 35 92m
Director: E.Elias Merhige
Cast: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, Eddie Izzard, Udo Kier, Catherine McCormack
Synopsis:
F. W. Murnau makes a bargain with a genuine vampire for the filming of his silent, Nosferatu: the latter will add a touch of authenticity in return for the leading lady.
Review:
Absurd, tongue-in-cheek homage, which contrives to be both a painstaking reconstruction of the filming, complete with imitations of old film stock and exact copies of original decors, and a genuinely frightening experience. The filming methods on show certainly do not bear much scrutiny, however, and the unevenness of tone could be a problem for some, but the real import of the piece appears to be that Murnau, and any other obsessive film-maker, is as much a bloodsucker as the Count and, like Dreyfus's Stroheimian creation in Inserts, not above using the odd corpse in a shot if required.
Country: GB/US/LUX
Technical: DeLuxe/Super 35 92m
Director: E.Elias Merhige
Cast: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, Eddie Izzard, Udo Kier, Catherine McCormack
Synopsis:
F. W. Murnau makes a bargain with a genuine vampire for the filming of his silent, Nosferatu: the latter will add a touch of authenticity in return for the leading lady.
Review:
Absurd, tongue-in-cheek homage, which contrives to be both a painstaking reconstruction of the filming, complete with imitations of old film stock and exact copies of original decors, and a genuinely frightening experience. The filming methods on show certainly do not bear much scrutiny, however, and the unevenness of tone could be a problem for some, but the real import of the piece appears to be that Murnau, and any other obsessive film-maker, is as much a bloodsucker as the Count and, like Dreyfus's Stroheimian creation in Inserts, not above using the odd corpse in a shot if required.
Country: GB/US/LUX
Technical: DeLuxe/Super 35 92m
Director: E.Elias Merhige
Cast: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, Eddie Izzard, Udo Kier, Catherine McCormack
Synopsis:
F. W. Murnau makes a bargain with a genuine vampire for the filming of his silent, Nosferatu: the latter will add a touch of authenticity in return for the leading lady.
Review:
Absurd, tongue-in-cheek homage, which contrives to be both a painstaking reconstruction of the filming, complete with imitations of old film stock and exact copies of original decors, and a genuinely frightening experience. The filming methods on show certainly do not bear much scrutiny, however, and the unevenness of tone could be a problem for some, but the real import of the piece appears to be that Murnau, and any other obsessive film-maker, is as much a bloodsucker as the Count and, like Dreyfus's Stroheimian creation in Inserts, not above using the odd corpse in a shot if required.