"Vampyr" (1932 - 75 minutes - B&W), is a shady spectacle of morbidity, directed by the brilliant Danish director, Carl Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968), one of the most important names of the cinema history. 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. He arrives at a city to investigate a supernatural case and find, in an half-abandoned inn, an enigmatic old man and his daughters. The old man, without explanation, gives a book to Grey and asks him to open the book only after his death. The book contains important information about vampires. Carl Dreyer began his career as a journalist making summaries of films. In Germany, he knew the photograph director, Rudolph Maté, the wizard of the gray and black and white tones. With the partnership of Maté, Dreyer could caught all the ways of the German Expressionism movement in its beginning, with the delirious scenes, a lot of make-up, subjectivity of the characters, light effects to show the contrast between darkness and lightness, and the emotional and Metaphysical narrative. The first film of terror to show a strong emotional and psychological content was "Nosferatu", of Murnau, in 1922. But was with "Vampyr" that the style was more evident. In the film, where dream and reality mixes, the director studies many styles, exploring the light contrasts, to talk about aspects of the interior and supernatural universe of his characters, what allowed the Dreyer-Maté partnership to place all their originality. For example: they used until gauze on the lenses to create some Metaphysical and misty effects in some scenes of the story.
Review of Vampyr
