Vampyr

Plot synopsis:
NOTE: Quotes indicate text titles from silent movie."This story is about the strange adventures of young Allan Gray [Julian West]. His studies of devil worship and vampire terror of earlier centuries have made him a dreamer, for whom the boundary between the real and the unreal has become him...One afternoon, during one of his aimless journeys, he arrived at a lonely inn close to the village of Courtempierre..." where he takes a room. That evening, he hears a strange chanting, goes exploring and sees a man with a horribly misshapen face. "In the moonstruck night light and shadow, voices and faces, seemed to take on hidden meaning. Allan Gray felt the darkness take control. In vain he tried to protect himself from unspeakable terror. Fear of the intangible followed him into a restless sleep." Allan is awakened by a noise at his chamber door. A man enters, says only "She must not die...do you hear?' and gives Allan a package on which is written "To be opened after my death.""What was going on? Which horrifying secret was revealing itself? One thing became clear to Allan Gray. A human soul in fear of Death cried for help--and an inner voice ordered him to follow its call." Again, Allan goes snooping. He finds shadows--the shadow of a man UNdigging a hole, the shadow of a man with a wooden leg, shadow dancers. He hears barking dogs and a child wailing. The village Doctor [Jan Heironimko] appears and asks Allan: "Did you hear it? There are no children or dogs here." Allan leaves, and the man is joined by an old woman who gives him a bottle of poison."(Allan) followed the shadows and entered a park. Among the ancient trees a chateau raised its towers into the haze of summer night. The man, whom Allan Gray had seen that same night at the inn, lived here in seclusion--with only his two daughters and a few servants." The daughters (Gisèlle [Rena Handel] and Léone [Sybille Schmitz]) appear to be ill. The family awaits the arrival of the village Doctor. Gisèlle lies in her bed and cries out, "The blood! The blood!". The old man, lord of the manor [Maurice Schutz], is killed by the gun-carrying shadow. Allan is asked to stay with the family while a servant goes for the police.While he waits, Allan opens the mysterious package to find a book entitled "The History of Vampires" by Paul Bonnard. He reads "...about horrendous demons called vampires. At full moon the Dead, not at peace because of terrible deeds they did while living, rise from their coffins--to suck the blood of children and young people--and prolong their own life in the land of the shadows. The Prince of Darkness is their companion, and...at night, creatures of the Abyss visit homes of the living to sow Death and Despair. Whoever falls into the hands of a vampire withers away hopelessly...a wound on the throat, as by a bite of a rat or a cat, is the mark of Damnation. Neither Doctors nor..."As Allan reads, Léone looks out the window to see Giselle wandering across the yard. Allan and Leone find her lifeless body and see an old woman walking away. While servants tend to the girl, Allan continues to read about vampires "...to grow accustomed to their miserable fate--which, besides pain in the body, brings untold agony to the Soul. Therefore, like an epidemic, a vampire's craving for blood is carried over to the victim, who himself becomes a vampire and goes searching for more victims among his dear ones. Whole families, yes, whole villages, in this way have been sucked into the curse...Shadows of executed criminals are their helpers. Living people may also be forced to do their dreadful bidding. A tale from Hungary tells how a village Doctor, having sold his soul to The Evil One became the helper of a vampire--and was accomplice to a series of horrid crimes in that parish. Here, vampires..."The Doctor arrives and determines that Gisèlle needs blood. While Allan donates blood for a transfusion, the manservant reads from the book. "The vampire, who had obtained complete power over its victim, tries in every possible way to drive it to suicide; for the one who takes his own life is lost for all eternity. For him, the golden gates of Heaven are closed--all hope is gone! Oh, you Devilish...the riddle of life? Who can penetrate the secrets hidden from the light of Day? Just as strange as the life of the vampires is the manner of breaking their might. These monsters, who cannot find peace, must be murdered so that persecuted Mankind may be freed from its nightmare. Many monasteries and libraries have, in their secret...how sometimes vampires have been made harmless. In the village of Kisiloba, which was haunted by a vampire in the body of an old woman, they went about it as follows. At dawn the grave was opened; they found the old one lying down, as if asleep. They drove a metal bar into her heart--and nailed her detestable soul to the crypt. She now died a true Death, and the crime, that rested over...Certain places were beset by vampires. Many years ago there was a foul epidemic in the village of Courtempierre--claiming eleven victims. Doctors gave the sickness a scientific name. Yet among men a rumour spread that a vampire was playing its game. People believed this vampire was one Marguerite Chopin [Henriette Gerard], buried in the village churchyard. All her life, Marguerite Chopin was a monster in a human body. She died without remorse, and at the hour of Death the Church refused her..."As Allan rests from his blood donation, a voice in the background is heard saying "Come with me. We will be one soul...one body...death is waiting." The manservant awakens Allan just in time for them to stop Gisèlle from taking the poison left at her bedside by the Doctor. Gisèlle must not die till sunrise. The Doctor escapes, but Allan follows. Allan's shadow separates from his body. He goes to the Doctor's house where he finds his own body in a coffin, and the body of Léone tied to a bed. As Allan's shadow watches, the Doctor and his wooden-legged helper nail shut the coffin. Is this actually happening, is it a memory or perhaps a dream induced by Allan's lack of blood?Now Allan watches the manservant digging up a grave, and he goes over to help. Is it his own grave? Will he find his own body? They open the grave to find the old woman's body. As the morning sun rises, the manservant drives a stake through Marquerite Chopin's body. Gisèlle sits up in bed. "I feel strong," she says. "My soul is free." The man with the wooden leg falls down the stairs and is killed. The Doctor becomes entrapped and buried in a grain elevator. Allan unties Léone and they go home together. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]

Tags: good versus evil, cult, psychedelic, murder, gothic

Review:
"Vampyr", one of the first horror movies with sound, is the work of the highly influential danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer.
After directing the monumental "La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc" in 1928, Dreyer decided to make this modest film based on the novel "In a Glass Darkly" by Sheridan Le Fanu; while this is indeed his first movie with sound, it was conceived as a silent film, and the movie contains very few dialog.I must admit that as many, I was left with a big question mark in my face as the story was progressing; but the apparently disjointed storyline do make sense, as it is worked as a surreal experience of the lead character, it is as if Dreyer had filmed a nightmare, complete with the haunting images and eerie atmosphere.The movie is about a traveler, named Allan Grey (Julian West), who gets involved in a nightmarish plot when the owner of the inn where he is staying asks him for help to save his family from what he believes is a vampire.
We follow Allan Grey in his surrealistic trip to madness as he finds out more and more about the supposed vampire that haunts the manor turned inn.The highly inventive camera work is truly outstanding, the combination of light and darkness is among the finest work in a black & white film and alone makes the movie worth a look; the movie not only has the structure of a nightmare, it also looks like one.
The Gothic manor and the lonely rural exteriors increase the haunting atmosphere and the beautiful images Dreyer conceived are the work of a genius.The structure of the script may be complicated, but it shows its influence over David Lynch and other filmmakers with similar surrealist story lines and dreamlike sequences.
It is probably not a masterpiece of the likes of the aforementioned "Passion" or the more well-known "Day of Wrath" (Vredens dag, 1943), but "Vampyr" shines with its own light as one of the finest horror movies of that period.The only real flaw in my opinion, was that the lead actor, Julian West, was probably not the best choice for a lead role, as his acting seems unnatural and not believable.
I'm not sure if this was intended that way or had more to do with the fact that West produced the film, but it is my only complain about "Vampyr".This modest masterpiece is a must see for any horror fan or anyone who likes silent movies.
With its fragmented plot, eerie imagery, and air of undefined menace this film more nearly realises the dream state than any other film I've seen.The story, which follows a young man's discovery of vampiric doings while on a trip to the country, is secondary to the fascinatingly uncanny mood generated by the cinematography and effective use of sound and silence.Yes, yes, it's old and unconventional, and requires either some extra concentration or complete surrender to its unique world, but the effort is worth it.Vampyr should especially appeal to fans of cinefantastique, cinema history and maybe even the arthouse crowd..
Dreyer's terror lies in a world of shadows, surreality amplified by some remarkable cinematography, the roots of nightmare ever subtle, where camera movement can excite as much dread and anticipation as any vampire out clawing at a victim.Vampyr's story, such as it is, tells of Allan Grey (Julian West), a man studious of vampires.
Indeed, Vampyr's influence arguably began at once, for a similar tone of silent mystery pervades some scenes in White Zombie, incidentally one of Bela Lugosi's best, made just the same year - another film which made in sound which often plays like a silent.
(Both this and present film are much better than Tod Browning's famous version of Dracula also made at about the same time, which these days seem positively wooden by comparison.) And, years later, Ken Russell was to mimic the premature burial sequence of Vampyr, glass windowed coffin and all, in his uneven Mahler while arguably a similar, dreamlike, touch can be found in the work of the French horror auteur Jean Rollin, who in the 1970s made of soft tinted vampirism almost a genre of its own.Of his original film Dreyer said, "I wanted to create the daydream on film to show that horror is not a part of the things around us, but of our own subconscious mind." To help achieve this, he and his cameraman Rudolph Mate shot much very early in the morning and frequently through fine gauze - a creative decision increasing the sense of mystery surrounding events.
And unlike Nosferatu's celebrated settings of castles, doom laden ships and spectral carriages, Vampyr's unease is primarily set amidst the domestic: an inn, a to-do private home or in common place out-buildings.Dismayed by distracting subtitles, often faded visuals and poor soundtrack elements, admirers of Dreyer's masterpiece have long cried out in vain for a restored version, especially now that the later films of the director have been reissued.
The one minor flaw in the film as well is, unlike Joan of Arc, the performances are less than brilliant, outside of the girl in the bed and at times West (Schultz, while believable in the look of the character, is a little too 'shocked' in most scenes).
Certain scenes are like terrifying little masterpieces of gothic torture- the droplets of blood falling onto the ground from the bed; the coffin point of view of the world; the close-ups; the way Dreyer moves around the chateau and outside; the creepy, somehow appropriate over/under exposure of shots.
Overall, this is definitely a horror film with a an artist that doesn't sell himself short of the goods in his arsenal.Vampyr is recommendable, if for nothing else (however the story seems like it would be easier to figure out on a repeat viewing, it would lessen the effect it leaves the first time), for the sheer vision.
In the case of Carl Dreyer's "Vampyr," however, all you seem to hear is high-brow rhetoric about how the film's dream-like illogic makes it a meditation upon death.
The main attractions are the images: shadows that kill people, a spirit that leaves its body, a corpse-eye view of a burial, and other uncanny occurrences that lead young Allan Grey to a girl suffering from a mysterious illness, and to her doctor, a vampire's accomplice who supplies his crone-like patroness with fresh victims.Possibly the film's poor reception by critics and audiences was because the 1930 soundtrack was too primitive to be appreciated by viewers in 1932, who by then were used to lots of chatter - and because the earlier release of "Dracula" blunted its impact.
But with little dialog and without the stagnating influence of a stationary microphone our eyes feast on Hermann Warm's eerie art direction, and are guided by Rudolph Mate's camera, which keeps us off balance, misdirecting our point of view as when it pans to a door through which a nurse exits her patient's room, then pans back again to reveal an empty bed just before the victim's sleep-walking rendezvous with the vampire.The film bears even less resemblance to its source (Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla") than "Dracula" does to Stoker's novel, possibly because it borrows from another story, Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Good Lady Ducayne," in which a young man comes to the aid of a young paid female companion of an extremely aged woman whose doctor draws the young woman's blood for his patient to consume.
Sybille Schmitz in particular, as the vampire's victim, conveys with her subtle expressions emotions for which spoken language is inadequate.For those who already know this film, Martin Koerber's restoration on the Criterion release eliminates the large, black-bordered, Gothic subtitles, and corrects the too-bright day-for-night scenes that were so distracting on the Image disc.
Much of this may be the fault of the poor print I saw - a bleached frame that makes the credits illegible (although Mate's filtered blinding lighting is one of the sources of the film's unease); disjointed editing that suggests an ornery distributor's hand; the feel that this print is actually an assemblage of different prints - German language scenes alternate with dubbed English ones, the music seems to halt with jarring regularity.Normally this kind of vandalism is simply unacceptable to any work by a master, but somehow this butchery adds to the film's enigma.
The film itself, Dreyer's first sound film, features little dialogue, and is in many ways shot like a silent, with intertitles, stylised acting, and flickering, chiaroscuro imagery, further making ambiguous the status of what we see, the music and sound effects being vital.Unlike most horror films, VAMPYRE does not move towards explanation of mystery and resolution of rupture.
whether you see Vampyr as proof for blood-sucking vampires, or just as a fantastic tale of one man's tenuous grip on reality, this is an experience that will hold you for a long time past its running time.What Dreyer, and possibly Tarnovsky, gives us as an audience, is the rare chance to see ourselves through the magic of highly personal filmmaking.
What I realized as I watched this amazing film was not allan grey's viewpoint, but a real chance to explore my own spiritual and intellectual ideas of reality and fantasy and how blurred they are for each of us at various times.because Dreyer did not give us much background on the main character and cast a non-actor for the part, it gives us a rare chance to feel the experiences he encounters in whatever way we wish.
A conveniently published book explains (believe it or not!) that there is a monstrous vampire in the mist (Henriette Gérard), assisted by a frightening old doctor (Jan Hieronimko).This is an anemic "Vampyr" story, substantially elevated by artfully direction and photography by Carl Theodor Dreyer and Rudolph Maté (with Louis Née).
From time to time, there's a shadowy character with a scythe (the grim reaper!) and a one-legged man who can only be detected in the dark and who gives off no shadow.Dreyer's bold camera captures amazing sequences - especially the hero's terrifying dream of being sealed in a glass-lidded coffin, watching the world pass by upside down en route to his burial.
This man offers him an ominous warning and gives him a package that is to be opened "after his death".Upon waking, Allan is led by "shadow people" to the house of this same man...just in time to witness shadowy demons murder him.He tries to intervene, but it is too late...the man dies...Seeing Dreyer's mindblowing display of light and shadows in action, really makes you realize how effective such a device can be- and what a lost art it has become in modern horror.Watching this segment of the film is kind of like going on one of those carnival haunted house rides.
Vampyr the film from Carl Th. Dreyer is really the creepy kind with its weird looking sets, surreal events and just characters whose emotions are conveyed through body language much more than by words.
The story revolves a young man who is introduced to the world of vampires and the supernatural, as the plot moves on we see more about what they are and what they can do.Dreyer uses a cast not very well known if not in some cases at all and puts Nicolas de Gunzburg in the lead role as Allan Gray the young man whose fascination with the supernatural takes him to a small inn in the village of Courtempierre.
Dreyer knows though how to use his actors well though, even if they aren't too believable, he does this in a spooky way and although they move around just a little strangely, at times that strange movement can be kind of freaky and used to nice effect.Dreyer co-writes the film with Christen Jul and the script but in more specifics the dialogue is very well, not much there, but that is one reason this movie works so well.
But to admirers of refined horror and cinematic art, this movie from the film history vaults is nothing less than a revelation.Dreyer's take on horror was very European, with a good deal of German pre-war expressionism in the mix, featuring lots of shadows, weird angles, dream-like picture distortion throughout the film, fascinating camera movements, a difficult to follow, intentionally fragmented narrative, and hauntingly surreal imagery.
A few indelible, recurrent still images dominate the film: the man with the scythe, the hero's face under glass, a distorted feminine grimace, and an angel's silhouette.While I cannot recommend Vampyr, with its narrative incompetence and long boring stretches, as entertainment, nor--for Dreyer was certainly on the "wrong side of history"--for its influence, the film asks an important question: why is it that we do not ask our horror films to any longer resemble, exactly and uncannily resemble, our bad dreams?.
The movie is based on the classic "Carmilla", of Sheridan Le Fanu, and tells the story of a man called Allan Grey (the actor Julian West), a studious of vampires.
If you're seriously looking for a "horror" movie that contains more "WTF!?" moments in it than David Lynch's "Eraserhead", then this truly absurd and eccentric, little vampire flick (from 1932) may just be what you're hankering for.Unfortunately - For me to say that "Vampyr" could have been a helluva lot better (on all counts) would definitely be an understatement.But, with that said, "Vampyr's" creepy, grungy, grainy visuals did, at times, tend to have a nonsensical appeal to them (that was all their own).
During the thick of its vampyr-myth debunking sequences, our protagonist, the spiffy young man named Allan Gray (played by the French scion and later illustrious magazine designer Nicolas de Gunzburg under the alias of Julian West, who invests the movie with his own money to secure his dabbling into filmdom, which is his only screen credit) is afflicted by an out-of-body experience and witnesses a burying ceremony of his own body, swapping between camera's (subjective/objective, body/soul) viewpoints, the film reaches its most eerie, preternatural actualization of a blurred vision between real and unreal.
As co-scripted and directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, it's done in the best tradition of silent film, with the occasional bits of spoken dialogue mouthed in different languages by the actors and then dubbed by speakers of those languages.What Dreyer chooses to do is to tell his story not with words so much but with images, and he creates some very stark and wonderfully chilling visuals.
I think the culmination of what I am talking about is when the main actor splits in two, with the "body" remaining to rest on a bench while the "spirit" wanders around, discovers another body of his that gets buried, then returns to the first body.As a side note, the film also features a "drowning in flour" scene that I always saw as connected to Witness, not Vampyr.Bottom line: hard to watch, harder to follow, but it did open my eyes towards the perceptions of that era and the beginnings of cinematography.
and that's not necessarily a bad thing,certainly in this case.this is an odd film,to be sure.there seems to be problems with continuity and flow from certain scenes into others.but that might be on purpose.i can't really explain that,but the director may have been trying to make a point.a film historian might no what's going on,but i'm certainly not one,so i can't be sure.one thing i am sure of is the acting,which i feel is exquisite from all concerned.the atmosphere is certainly one of gloom and death.there some things which are not fully explained and so the viewer has to come to their own conclusions or use their imagination.one things for sure.it's a movie you can't watch just once.i plan on watching it again,to try and pick up on something i may have missed.for me,Vampyr-Der Traum des Allan Grey is a 7/10.
But, due to it being a German production, the viewer was actually expected to sit there awestruck, believing that what they were viewing was, indeed, superior film-making.Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough happening (action, drama, interesting situations) in Vampyr's story to hold this viewer's attention for more than just a few brief moments at a time.Vampyr's weak storyline, literally, has its main character running around (all bug-eyed) in an old, country inn, encountering one forgettable character after another until the whole situation turns into a somewhat blurred (and decidedly silly) nightmare..
Vampyr (1932) *** (out of 4) Dreyer's first sound film has traveler Allan Gray (Julian West) landing in a remote castle where he begins to see strange things ranging from shadows to possible vampires.
It definitely looks like a film made in the transition between silent and "talkie" movies; between static cameras and moving ones, and as such feels very experimental (this is a high point for me, actually), since the primitive special effects (such as the "clouding" of the images, or the transition between man and cadaver) are disturbing, to say the least.
Released a good four years after his silent film masterpiece 'The Passion of Joan of Arc', his choice of making a genre film had alienated his admirers who had been expecting something far more ambitious than an adaptation of '''Carmilla''' but time has revealed 'Vampyr' to be among the most dreamlike of Dreyer's films.Allan Gray(Nicholas de Gunzburg) is an adventurer and traveler who's had a particular interest in the occult.
Dreyer's first sound film is a masterpiece of mood, as an obsessive young student of the occult begins chasing shadows and is drawn into a world of dreams, death and vampires.
Although difficult to watch and not exactly entertaining, VAMPYR is nonetheless a fascinating horror film which taps into some of our deepest fears.Despite having a vampire, this is a film which actually feels like a ghost story due to some spooky scenes of character's spirits coming out of their bodies and walking about in dream states.
Vampyr was the first sound film for Carl Theodor Dreyer, but it must as well be silent.