Vampyr Movie Review

The films of Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer require considerable patience from audiences, even horror film devotees. To a certain extent, Dreyer anticipates the viewers’ perceptions and plays with them. (In a slow way.) (Very slow.) Vampyr, AKA The Strange Adventure of David Gray, stars the film's backer, Baron Nicholas de Gunzberg, AKA Julien West. The vampire in this film is an old woman in a village, a fact the hero may not comprehend but is forced to accept when he sees what happens to her fellow villagers. Dreyer shows that ordinary surroundings take on a different atmosphere when we know that vampires are in the vicinity. Many Dreyer aficionados consider this to be his masterpiece. My rating reflects the boredom/fidget factor. Note: The sad real-life story of leading lady Sybille Schmitz inspired Rainer Werner Fassbinder to make 1982's Veronika Voss. AKA: Vampyr, Ou l'Etrange Aventure de David Gray; Vampyr, Der Traum des David Gray; Not against the Flesh; Castle of Doom; The Strange Adventure of David Gray; The Vampire.

1931 75m/B GE Julian West, Sybille Schmitz, Harriet Gerard, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Jan Hieronimko, Albert Bras; D: Carl Theodor Dreyer; W: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Christen Jul; C: Rudolph Mate, Louis Nee; M: Wolfgang Zeller. VHS, DVD