Customer Reviews

Vampyr

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I can't improve on the fine reviews of the movie itself, but there are two major factors connected with the making of the film that may have been overlooked.

If by "poor quality," the reference is to the washed out, somewhat spotty look of the print, please be aware that this was deliberate. Cinematographer Matté had accidently opened a can of exposed film, and when Dreyer saw the result, he was delighted. It was just the effect he had been looking for.

This film was originally shot as a silent. It was only later half-dubbed with voice-overs. Again, however, like the fortuitous "damage" to the print, the sparse and somewhat vague, even incoherent, dialogue contributes to the sense of dislocation which, I believe, is one of the great virtues of this genre masterpiece.

This is a great film, one of the most spectral and haunting of all vampire movies. Admittedly, the available prints have been spotty at best. There was a restoration back in the late '60 that took the best footage from a German print and an English language dub print. Truly that effort did justice to Rudolph Matte's imaginative photography. Sadly, this is not that print. By far it's the worst transfer to DVD I've seen yet. The subtitles take up the lower half of the image, and they are gothic German letters on a black masked background! Who's guilty for that? It's become clear that old classics like this are getting rushed into release with little regard for quality, so buyer beware. With a hack job like this out in the market it'll be a long time (if ever) till we see a beautifully restored version of Carl Dreyer's masterpiece on DVD. If you're looking for quality check out Criterion's release of Dreyer's "Passion of Joan of Arc". It's a model of what can be accomplished on the restoration of an old film. With Richard Einhorn's score "The Passion of Joan of Arc" is as fresh and alive as any movie currently in theaters.

Another release from the same folks who produced "Nosferatu" (Film Preservation Assosiates/Blackhawk Films). Excellent print transfer to DVD (and VHS)! I have seen several versions of VAMPYR and this DVD (and VHS version) are by far the best available. Much of VAMPYRS' "poor production" IS intentional, so consider this fact when reading other comments regarding print quality. This is about as good as it's gonna get! BUT I'd like to know who in the F.P.A. is responsible for allowing the atrocious subtitles (same is true for NOSFERATU)????!!! They should be taken out and covered in flour or fully exposed to the sun on a hot summer day! The gothic fonts are not easy to read and Dryer is Danish NOT German! The original (and very cool) opening titles have been replaced with a psuedo aged effect that is not necessary and in some scenes, the subtitles are really huge and also not necessary. What were they thinking??? Obviously, not much! Hey guys, leave the cutesy stuff for another day and just give up the facts! So for you, dear reader: if you can forgive them for annoying subtitles, then this version is well worth the investment!

Directed in France by the legendary Danish director Carl Dreyer,Vampyr is not only one of the best horror films but also probably one of the greatest films ever made. Unlike the American horror pictures like Frankenstein that were being made at the same time, Vampyr has relatively little action but a sustained atmosphere of strangeness like that of few other movies. The action takes place during one night and the entire film has a slow, trance-like quality. The picture quality of the DVD is vastly superior to that of the older videotapes--the film was photographed by the great Rudolph Mate--but the sound recording is shaky at the best, and the dialogue is hard to follow even for someone who understands German. The music comes across more effectively but is boomy in some passages--it's a good idea to reduce the bass before viewing. The DVD like an earlier video has quite large subtitles in Gothic type--designed I think to eliminate Danish subtitles--which unfortunately mask a third or so of the picture in some shots.

Wait for a Criterion release (or equivalent). This is a very poor quality DVD- especially evident given the strength and creativity of Dreyer's original material. The subtitles in large gothic script are extremely annoying. The only haunting feeling one has from viewing this DVD is that of being robbed by Image Entertainment.

Carl Dreyer, one of Scandinavia's finest directors, brought this film to the screen in 1932. It is image driven, with not a lot of dialog. Dreyer creates a number of scenes, with the atmosphere raised to the peak, with scary music playing throughout the film. We see Allan, an occult researcher staying at a house. He sees some very scary, werid things there. It seems vampires are controlling the people there, and it is up to him to save them, destroy the vampire, and escape. We follow him investigating the gothic home, with images of death in every room. In one scene he dreams of his own burial! We don't see much of the vampire though, mostly the haunting effects it has on the residents. This film is really creepy, and atmospheric. I'd recommend it highly to those who enjoy the old style, slow, spooky, gothic horror films. 4 stars.

I suppose if this is the only way we can see Vampyr, it is better than nothing. But just barely. First of all, there are no DVD menu of features at all, just chapter selections. So you can't choose to see the silent version but are stuck with dubbed German (unless you want to turn the sound on your t.v. off) and English subtitles. And the subtitles have been atrociously done. They appear with a black background behind them, which often blocks out a third of the image or more, and they are written in large Gothic script. How stupid! Moreover, the subtitles are not even done consistently. If you turn the sound on your t.v. off, you miss a lot of the dialogue. And unless you know German, you will not be able to understand it. Additionally, when we cut to the main character reading to see what he is reading, instead of putting the subtitles on top of the original image from the film, the original film image is cut out completely and replaced with newly added footage of Gothic script alone. The effect is totally hideous, as far as I am concerned. Clearly, a moron was in charge of DVD production here.

As far as the DVD image quality goes, the film print used here has not been restored, so there are frequent white blotches and scratches.

Vampyr completely deserves the full restoration, menu of options, and extras films like The Third Man have justly received. It is an absolute shame such a great film has been so shoddily released on DVD. (I assume the VHS is no better.)
I hope that we see better soon.

This is a wonderful film,it is a vision of dream like
moments for cobweb eyes. I being a horror fanatic have
always read about this in spooky books,and had to see
what all the hype was. It is not hype but fact. It is
truly a masterpiece in the true sense of the word.
The grain & hair particals on the film just inhance
this even more,you really are in Carl Dreyer's world.
The world of the supernatural.Please when watching it
forget it is 2006 and pretend you are watching it in
1932.What a (trick or)treat it must have been the first
time it was shown.This jewel has everything and to copy
a famous saying it has WALL TO WALL CREEPS AND HOT & COLD
RUNNING CHILLS....THERE'S NO TURNING BACK NOW............
NOTE:IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS THIS BUT UNLIKE THE OLD
DARK HOUSE(1932 MASTERPIECE)THEY COULD HAVE DONE A BETTER
JOB,HOPE CRITERION COLLECTION READS THIS.

Watching Carl Dreyer's *Vampyr* reminds me of having a fever: the surreal becomes real; the mind wanders; delirium seems incipient. Both experiences make you feel wretched. But as far as the movie goes, that's OK: art reserves the right to be full of misery, occasionally. In a brave new world, all art would be happy-happy . . . rather fortunately, we live in the real world, in which movies like *Vampyr* are necessary. It's not so much a vampire story as it is a meditation on death. Befitting the subject, the movie looks like an intangible nightmare: photographer Rudolph Mate shoots the thing through a gauze-like fog -- initially an accident, but Dreyer, who knew striking visuals when he saw them, insisted that Mate photograph the entire movie that way. Dreyer's vampire is an ugly old broad who scuttles through corridors and the stricken landscapes like an arthritic crab. Her antagonist, the amusingly named "Allan Gray", tends to sip tea and read books or catch a nap on a park bench while the villagers die around him. At least he's always impeccably dressed, I suppose. (Julian West -- not his real name -- not only played this part but apparently funded the whole project.) The least distinction of *Vampyr* is that it was the best vampire movie of its time, even better than Murnau's silent curio *Nosferatu*, and certainly better than Tod Browning's contemporaneous laugh-fest *Dracula* featuring that goofy Lugosi fellow. Its preoccupation with death and dying, and its gradual massing of death-imagery, wouldn't be equaled until Ingmar Bergman trod similar thematic ground some decades later. [As for the DVD, let us simply say that "Image Entertainment" strikes again: yes yes, the photography is milky, but the print is still unrestored. The picture quality is supposed to look surreal, not awful. And the erratically-used, gigantic subtitles in gothic script before black backgrounds that cover half the screen is such a bad idea that it defies critique. I'm so sick of this company. But since they're among the few companies who have cinematic masterpieces like *Vampyr* in their catalog, we will have to continue to put up with these jerks.]

Dreyer, not known for horror films, brings us such a chilling tale with Vampyr. Made in '32 it truly brings the old German Expressionistic qualities to a very frightening horror novel.

This movie shares the same cinematography style of such other well known directors as Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau.

There are some uses of shadows and other very, very eclectic uses of the lens that are truly eye-opening seventy years after its release. It is image orinated from its opening sequence throughout the end. The whole film, although shot just a year or two into the big arrival of the talkies, hardly uses any dialogue or sound. This effectively helps it remain in this dreamstate. The whole film has an eerie atmosphere about it that sort of swallows you into its heavy dreamlike presence. The use of shadows and imagery are incredible. It is an irrestible film not to be missed by avid horror and old-school cinema buffs.

There is a short film with this (The Mascot) which I thought was just as eye-spliting as Vampyr. It is a stop-animation feature that ..I just could not believe what I saw for it being filmed as early as it was. It was certainly used as a staple by the director of Nightmare Before Christmas, Henry Selick, and its producer and author, Tim Burton.

Oddly enough, there is a band playing in Hell (in the Mascot) that looks like Jack's band in Nightmare.