Happy Halloween! The countdown is over and Halloween is finally upon us. Tonight, hopefully, you'll be relaxing, eating some candy, and watching a scary, or not-so-scary, movie. There are a lot of options for tonight and I hope I've been of some help. Here is my final recommendation to help bring an end to Shocktober:
Night 13: Happy Happy Halloween!
“He’s a Stanislavsky lunatic! That’s what’s wrong with him!”
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
The idea behind Shadow
of a Vampire is a novel and clever one: director F.W. Murnau found a real
vampire to star in his 1922 silent horror masterpiece, Nosferatu. As you can imagine, this would cause problems with the
shoot. Shadow of the Vampire is not
just a horror movie, or a vampire movie, it is about the creation of one of the
most important and scariest horror films ever made. Nosferatu is still a chilling and unsettling film to watch. Shadow of the Vampire exists in the
shadow of Nosferatu, but it is no
less a creative, creepy, and spooky film.
John Malkovich plays German director F.W. Murnau, an auteur
if there ever was one. Only a real vampire can satisfy his need for
authenticity and desire to make a film that transcends entertainment and
becomes immortal art. He is addressed by his crew as “herr doctor” and
poetically pontificates about cinema and art. On the train ride to the shooting
location in Czechoslovakia he says, “we are scientists engaged in the creation
of memory, but our memory will neither blur nor fade.”
When the production
leaves the safety and control of the studio in Berlin they finally meet the
mysterious character actor Max Schreck who is to play the vampire. Schreck’s
methods are “unconventional” and his background is hard to pin down. Murnau
claims that Schreck studied with Stanislavsky, the Russian who pioneered acting
techniques that would become known in modern times as “the method.” Schreck
will only appear in full makeup, will remain in character for the entire shoot, and
will only shoot his scenes at night.
Willem Dafoe plays the vampire in question, who Murnau
introduces to the cast and crew as Max Schreck. The real Max Schreck gave one of
the most chilling and iconic performances in horror film history. If you’ve
never Nosferatu, you’d likely still
recognize the pale vampire or his stiff silhouette and strangely long knifelike
fingers. At all times he seems otherworldly and monstrous. Schreck so
disappears into the character of Count Orlok that is not difficult to accept
the idea that he might have been a real vampire.
Portraying Schreck’s vampire
in a movie about the making of Nosferatu
is a tall order, but Dafoe is more than up to task. For his superb performance
Dafoe received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Dafoe, still
slightly recognizable under all that vampire makeup, also disappears into his
role as the vampire. He plays Schreck with a dark sense of humor. This vampire
seems to be aware of the absurdity of being a vampire pretending to be an actor
pretending to be vampire. However humorous Dafoe undeniably is as Schreck, he is
also menacing and chilling. In one scene he answers the questions of two drunk crew members
about being a vampire. They think he is being "in character," but his answers are simultaneously unnerving
and melancholy. Schreck’s payment for participating in the shoot is the lead actress,
Gretta (Catherine McCormack).
Crew members fall mysteriously ill and the rest of the cast
and crew are uneasy around Schreck. As the vampire feeds off the crew he
jeopardizes the production which infuriates Murnau. Malkovich plays Murnau as an
artist obsessed. He is willing to achieve his vision at all costs. His
interactions with Dafoe as Schreck result in some darkly comedic scenes. Murnau
condescends to Schreck and Schreck is mischievous and petulant. Shadow of the Vampire is a movie about
making movies, a favorite genre of mine, and there is some good showbiz humor.
Murnau yells at Schreck for feeding on the cinematographer, “why not the script
girl?” Later in the movie Schreck suggests that the writer is no longer
necessary. In one scene, Eddie Izzard, playing one of the actors in the film within a film, accidentally cuts his finger for real in a scene with Schreck only to be
attacked by the crazed character actor. Izzard’s character shouts, “He’s a
Stanislavsky lunatic! That’s what’s wrong with him!”
Several memorable scenes and images from Nosferatu are
recreated in Shadow of the Vampire. The film does not draw unnecessary attention to
these scenes and they match same spooky tone and atmosphere of the rest of the
movie. Dafoe’s vampire in the recreated scenes is equally as striking and frightening as the real Schreck’s vampire. The supporting
cast is outstanding and includes: Eddie Izzard, Cary Elwes, Catherine McCormack,
and Udo Keir.
This film does an excellent job creating an eerie, portentous
atmosphere transporting you to another time and place that feels paradoxically
ethereal and all too real. There is very little blood and gore.
Instead of a few horrific set pieces, Shadow
of the Vampire opts for a sustained ominous mood punctuated by the presence
of a monster. Directed by E. Elias Merhige and written by Steven Katz, Shadow of the Vampire is an homage to a landmark horror film and also an effective horror film in its own right.
