Nosferatu and Vampyr represent the very beginnings of the vampire genre, and both are excellent movies as well as classics.
Vampyr captures the fears that were racing through Germany in the 1920 and 30s. Vampyr is a surrealistic telling of the vampire myth, in which people who are evil in life die and become vampires. They walk on Earth as shadows, sucking the blood of the young and turning them into vampires. Only a stake through the heart during the day, when they sleep in their graves can stop them and free their victims.
Director Dreyer was also a member of the Der Sturm art movement, a German expressionist who was fascinated, as most of the movement were, by dreams and blurring the lines between reality and the subjective. We're not exactly sure what really happens in Vampyr and what is dream, and that's the way Dreyer wanted it.
The storyline follows a traveller, Allan Gray [Julian West]', whose study of the occult has blurred his ability to tell reality from fantasy. Arriving at a small town one night and taking a room at the inn, Gray is seized by horror and falls into a troubled sleep. From this point on, the movie blends scenes of seeming reality with scenes of clear surrealism, so that we are constantly guessing.
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Regarding Nosferatu, everyone knows the story, at least pretty well, given that it follows Stoker's Dracula fairly closely, with a few changes. Most notably is that, although Harker/Hutter knows what Orlok/Nosferatu is, he cannot stop him; there is no stake through the heart. Rather, Nosferatu dies because he is drawn to Nina/Ellen so strongly that he strays from his coffin too long and meets the dawn disappearing in a puff of smoke.
What makes Nosferatu a classic is that it is one of the best remaining examples of the Der Sturm expressionist movement, not only in look, but also in the themes that it explores beyond the traditional tale. Appearance-wise, the harsh contrasts of light and dark, walls that defy perspective, and use of ugliness to depict evil are all hallmarks of the expressionist style. But there is also a preoccupation with perception, sleep, and dreams that are central to German horror of the time.
The basic premise behind many Der Sturm movies is that reality is in the eye of the beholder. Nosferatu is hideous because his hideous nature manifests in others seeing him as repellently ugly. He moves like a corpse, his arms and spine rigid as if rigor mortis has set in; his skin is grey with death. Jonathan/Hutter is soft and pale, as is Nina/Ellen, beautiful because their souls are beautiful and they are perceived as young and innocent. Nosferatu's castle is oversized and overbearing, as the evil of the vampire is overwhelming.
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The addition of Le Vampire is an entertaining decision. This documentary tells of real life vampire animals, in the Chaco forest, home of the vampire bat. We see it walk, stalk its victim, and drain an incredible amount of blood from its host. The bat itself is a picture of real-surrealism, with its odd nose and lip giving it a sinister appearance. All in all, a good parallel with these two classics of the German cinema
