Vampyr is a nearly-silent German film from 1932; director Carl Theodor Dreyer was mostly used to working with silent movies, and while there is a smattering of dialogue (in German, though both subtitled and dubbed versions are available in English), much of the story is told in silent movie fashion, with title cards providing occasional dumps of exposition.
The film has come to be viewed as a classic monster movie, having a 100% among critics rating on RottenTomatoes.com, and it has been released as part of the Criterion Collection of films on DVD. It is not as well known as the 1922 classic Nosferatu (and in my opinion, it’s an inferior film as far as the narrative goes), nor of course the Bela Lugosi classic Dracula, but in some ways it forms the third part of a triumvirate of what forms the modern vampire. (I haven’t seen Dracula in full yet, but I’ve seen bits and pieces, and of course it’s become a staple of pop culture references.) Continue reading
