Vampyr
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Writer: Christen Jul, Carl Theodor Dreyer
Based on: Sheridan Le Fanu‘s book In a Glass Darkly, which contains the novella Carmilla
Cast: Julian West, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz, Maurice Schutz

Plot:
Allan Gray (Julian West) arrives in a small village where he is soon swept up in somehow supernatural affairs. It starts when a strange man enters his hotel room and leaves apparently his last will and testament there but gets even worse from thereon out. Allan is haunted by weird dreams that lead him to the local castle and the daughters of its owner, Giséle (Rena Mandel) and Léone (Sybille Schmitz). Léone appears to be anaemic, but there are also strange bitemarks.

Vampyr was shown right after Invocation of My Demon Brother at the Filmmuseum and they both share a certain disorienting quality. It was much more of a fault for Vampyr, but the film’s atmosphere and the wonderful visual effects make up for it.

RIght at the beginning of the film, there is a long dream sequence which, to me, was the highlight of the film. For one, there is this amazing bit where Allan follows a shadow that does something entirely different from the man it belongs to. That sequence was just really well done and also creepy.

It was also right at the start of the film where you really didn’t have to know yet what’s going on. But as the film went on and it still didn’t become entirely clear, it started to become annoying. I mean, yeah, of course you get the general gist of it, but there were just too many details that remained unclear.

And it’s of course a very sad affair that they took one of the few lesbian novellas of the time and made it a completely straight story. If the film had been any more recent, I would have boycotted it. But times were different back then. Still, it’s a pity.

Despite its confusing nature – or maybe because I feel like I’ve been missing some crucial things – I can see myself watching this film again. If all else fails, there are at least the awesome visuals.

Summarizing: Worthy classic.