• Literally Anything: Movies
  • Film Index
  • The Criterion Collection
  • Collections
  • Academy Award Nominees
  • About
  • Links and Contacts
  LITERALLY ANYTHING: MOVIES

Updates

Vampyr (1932)

10/27/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
The movie is unrated!  Whoopee!  (The movie talks about the devil, but there is nothing overtly horrifying about the movie.)

DIRECTOR:  Carl Theodor Dreyer

This might make me a bad film teacher.  I don't like Dreyer.  I'm sorry!  I should be better than that.  Hey, I know film snobs who hate Ozu.  I like Ozu.  I really don't like Dreyer.  (I also don't like David Lynch, but you should still forgive me.)  There's something just a bit too avant-garde about his style that doesn't resonate with me.  It's probably the same reason that I don't get excited about music videos.  They look awesome, but I need the narrative to keep me engaged.

Vampires are super cool.  There was a time about a decade ago that I was super into the concept of vampires.  (One of things I wanted as an ability?  Vampire face.  Not a joke.  That and Doc Ock arms.)  Then Twilight showed up and ruined the party for everybody.  I got off the vampire train, but still have an appreciation for the concept.  In many ways, that's what makes Vampyr accessible for me.  One thing we have to establish early on is that Dreyer is a master at imagery.  His greatest strength across his oeuvre is the ability to create mood from stylistic images.  The opening twenty minutes establish this extremely well.  Using a simple shadow trick is still effective today as it was nearly a century ago.  The mood is creepy and he really drives that point home throughout.  However, like Dreyer's other films, he cares less about the cohesive plot as opposed to what looks awesome. 

I genuinely believe that the movie is separated into three acts.  The opening act establishes the tone.  Throwing disturbing supernatural feats at the screen, the joyful aspect of me grasped onto the creepiness factor.  However, like most of the supernatural tales of this era, the middle of the film tries establishing its own rules.  Through the use of book pages, Dreyer tells the rules of his vampires through page-after-page of reading.   It somewhat feels like the middle of the movie is a guided research paper, which doesn't exactly draw me in.  Dreyer, unfortunately, decides to insert what little plot he has for the story here.  Like the Universal Dracula, the story surrounds the slow transformation of a human into vampire.  The problem is that there is no real relationship between the  characters.  I do throw myself under the bus here.  I can't break out of my need for narrative structure and that's not what Dreyer is shooting for. 

Yes, the imagery is amazing.  The third act is really the evidence for that.  Almost any still from that last third is gorgeous.  But the story also seems to disappear.  Once the research part of the story disappears, so does any version of the story.  The extremely effective terror of the man stuck inside his own grave is awesome, but I have little idea of what is going on here.  Perhaps that's my fault because I can't shut my brain off, but I know that I can't be the only one who needs some clear logical explanation for this.

I want to like Dreyer.  I just can't.  This might be my favorite Dreyer, but that's not selling much.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Film is great.  It can challenge us.   It can entertain us.  It can puzzle us.  It can awaken us.  

    It can often do all these things at the same time.  

    I encourage all you students of film to challenge themselves with this film blog.  Watch stuff outside your comfort zone.  Go beyond what looks cool or what is easy to swallow.  Expand your horizons and move beyond your gut reactions.  

    We live in an era where we can watch any movie we want in the comfort of our homes.  Take advantage of that and explore.

    Author

    Mr. H has watched an upsetting amount of movies.  They bring him a level of joy that few things have achieved.

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Literally Anything: Movies
  • Film Index
  • The Criterion Collection
  • Collections
  • Academy Award Nominees
  • About
  • Links and Contacts