Shadow of the Vampire
***
Rated on a 4-star scale
Screening venue: Cornerhouse (Manchester)
Released in the UK by Metrodome on February 2, 2001; certificate 15; 92 minutes;
countries of origin USA/UK/Luxembourg; aspect ratio 2.35:1
Directed by E. Elias Merlinghe; produced
by Nicolas Cage, Jeff Levine.
Written by Steven Katz.
Photographed by Lou Bogue; edited by Chris
Wyatt.
CAST.....
John Malkovich..... F.W. Murnau
Willem Dafoe..... Max Shreck
Carl Elwes..... Fritz Arno Wagner
John Alden Gillet..... Henrik Galeen
Eddie Izzard..... Gustav von Wangenheim
Catherine McCormack..... Greta Schroder
E. Elias Merlinghe's "Shadow of the Vampire"
plays loose with logic and historical fact to support a gleefully
bizarre comic premise: Max Shreck was not an actor, but a real vampire, and
that's why his performance in F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu" was so convincing.
If you've even seen a clip of the movie, you know how tempting it is to believe
that -- Shreck seemed possessed in the title role, a creepily calm, self-absorbed
and innovative piece of acting surrounded by more conventionally over-the-top
silent performances.
Murnau, the now legendary German filmmaker, made
"Nosferatu" in 1922 and no vampire picture since has equalled its impact.
It was not an original story, of course, but an adaptation of Bram Stoker's
novel "Dracula"; we are amusingly reminded by Merlinghe that the title and
a few small story details were changed just because Murnau did not want to
pay for the rights. The director is played by John Malkovich, an actor who
can adopt any persona and play it to perfection, and here gives us an arrogant,
short-tempered, driven man way in over his head…
…so driven, in fact, that he makes a deal
with a member of the undead: Murnau takes his crew to film on location in
rural Czechoslovakia. His excuse is that if they absorb an odd foreign atmosphere
they will be able to make a better horror movie. His real reason is that
here lies the dwelling of a genuine vampire who has agreed to star in his
movie, Count Orlock, played by Willem Dafoe.
Dafoe is astounding in the role -- in mounds of
makeup that give him the appearance of the ghoulish, disfigured Nosferatu,
he hunches his back and lets his eyes, voice and movements grow overcome
by what seems like an attempt at acting human. The idea that Shreck was really
a vampire is of course ludicrous (he had a successful career before and after
Murnau's film), so we laugh at his odd movements and creepy gestures at first,
but Dafoe carries on with such conviction that behind our giggles emerge
feelings of unease and dread.
The irony of "Shadow of the Vampire" is that it's
a comedy about a vampire story that becomes a good vampire story in itself.
Because this monstrous version of Shreck is so convincingly played by Dafoe,
the plot's details of his seedy dealings with Murnau and the way he has to
stop him from feeding on the blood of cast and crew become involving, and
a discomforting atmosphere hangs over all the laughs. "Shadow of the Vampire"
might only play a few notes, but they're solid notes, expertly
played.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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