Shadow Of The Vampire

I like movies like Shadow of the Vampire. Films that blend fiction and reality, twisting a normal story and making it twice as interesting. In Shadow of the Vampire, the tweaking involves the making of the vampire classic Nosferatu, the F.W. Murnau film that circumvented legal rights to Bram Stoker's Dracula. In the film version, we follow Murnau as he makes the film, but hires "Max Schrek" to play the vampire Count Orlok. In reality, Schrek did in fact play the vampire character, but in the film, Schrek is a cover identity for a real vampire Murnau hired to play the part. See, isn't that fun. Willem Dafoe plays Schrek, and he does a fantastic job. He disappears into his role. I also enjoyed how the script started slow and slowly escalated into a horror/comedy blend. While certainly not perfect, and the beginning drags a bit, there is little to complain about. We get some wonderful acting and a peek at what filming Nosferatu might have been life, save for the actual vampire part. The world of film pack then was another beast entirely from the films we know today. And at the time of viewing, I hadn't seen the original Nosferatu, but Shadow of the Vampire has encouraged me to really seek it out. I won't be looking at it in the same light.

Genre - Drama (3.25)

Screenplay (3)
Acting (4)
Production (3)
Directing (3)