October 19th: Shadow of the Vampire
Shadow of the Vampire
Released: 2000
Directed by: E. Elias Merhige
Starring: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Udo Kier, Suzy Eddie Izzard, Cary Elwes, Catherine McCormack, John Aden Gillet, Ronan Vibert
I watched Nosferatu earlier this month. It is a fantastic film that truly should be seen by everyone. It is brilliantly directed by F. W. Murnau, and Max Schreck is honestly the baseline for how to portray a hideous monster, human or otherwise. What if Murnau was an obsessive lunatic? Not unusual for a director. See Stanley Kubrick. What if there were unexplained deaths on the set during the filming of Nosferatu? Okay, perhaps lost to history. What if Max Schreck wasn’t a theater character actor but actually a real vampire brought in by Murnau to make his movie the most realistic portrayal he could have? And that vampire was offered the life and blood of the lead actress in return for his performance? Well, that…that’s very specific. And highly unlikely. Isn’t it? Shadow of the Vampire presents an alternate history of the making of the film. But is the horror Schreck or Murnau? Or both?
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Shadow of the Vampire has potential, it really does. Dafoe gives the performance of a lifetime. He is not just a grotesque monster, but someone whose own life is sad. He says as much when he describes his life: “I feed like an old man pees — sometimes all at once, sometimes drop by drop.” Another great scene is when he describes reading Dracula and how it made him sad that Dracula had no servants. He had to prepare a meal and a bed for Jonathan Harker when he hadn’t needed to do so for centuries. It shows the pathos Schreck brings to his performance. Malkovich is also great as Murnau, getting more and more manic in his attempts to perfect his vision for his story. Most of the rest of the cast is fine at best. Udo Kier, who played a vampire in Blade and is often the smarmy villain, is almost out of place as the voice of reason to Murnau. Cary Elwes, another vampire movie veteran from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, isn’t given much to do as the replacement cinematographer. Overall, the scenes with Dafoe and Malkovich carry the movie.
Small Observations:
- It is fun watching the direction of a silent film with the director constantly giving precise descriptions and micromanaging the action. At least, I guess that was how it was done. They didn’t need to worry about live sound, so a director would get precisely what he wants by just saying it.
- Suzy Eddie Izzard gives a fun performance as Gustav von Wangenheim, who plays Hutter, the protagonist of Nosferatu. She makes him look kinda silly much of the time with all the over-the-top emoting needed for silent films.
- Nicolas Cage produced the movie with the intention of playing Schreck himself. Dafoe gives an amazing performance, but part of me wonders what a Cage version of Max Schreck would have been. Insane, probably.
- MCU actors: 1 with 1 whose part is in a deleted scene and 1 from the Blade movies
Overall Rank: B
I think Malkovich and especially Dafoe carry this movie. There is a lot of potential, but not as much follow-through. I can’t tell what’s missing, but something isn’t all there. Dafoe is worth it, though. You might want to give it a shot.
