Vampyr (1932)

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Vampyr is a 1932 horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. It was his first sound movie but it felt like a silent film since he used title cards to explain the story over dialogues (they were there but in really small amount). The first title card says: "This story is about the strange adventures of Allan Grey. His studies of devil worship and vampire terror of earlier centuries have made him a dreamer, for whom the boundary between the real and the unreal has become dim." Sounds pretty promising, huh? But after the movie started, there was nothing at all that would indicate he is a student of the occult. Later in the movie he found a book about vampires and it seemed like he read about them for the first time. The vampire has maybe 2 minutes of screentime. The main villain is his human accomplice, the doctor who's treating the girl which Allan Grey must save. It was filmed in very experimental way that nobody tried before. The film was shoot through a piece of gauze held three feet away from the camera which resulted in fuzzy washed out look. I was really impressed with how they used shadows and lighting. Everything in this film seems dreamlike and surreal. At one point I wasn't sure if the main character is dreaming or it is really happening. But then again, I was dreaming a little bit myself hehe (Vampyr has that effect on you). Yes, awesome visuals aside, this trippy movie is just boring. I had to turn it off and finish it next day because I almost fell asleep. But it's not entirely Vampyr's fault because I always watch horror movies after midnight and I was already tired. My rating: 3.5/10 IMDB rating: 7.7/10 This is the movie that will bore you to death but you'll remember it for a long time for it's unique look. btw the version I've seen includes a title bonus- short stop-motion film from 1934 called "Mascot". I was really amazed by how well it was done. The movements were clear and looked very natural. I end up liking it more than Vampyr. The next movie I'm going to watch is Horror of Dracula with Christopher Lee. I'm sure it will be more fun than this. Have you seen Vampyr or Mascot? Tell me what you think.