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From Amazon.co.uk
Shadow of the Vampire is a film full of good ideas that are only partially developed. Clever, engaging, and boosted by the sublime casting of Willem Dafoe as Nosferatu "actor" Max Schreck, its premise is ripe with possibilities but the movie's too slight to register much impact: characters remain achingly underdeveloped and the whole lacks a sense of pace or structure. What's left, however, is enough for anyone to get their teeth into: the delightful performances from a sterling cast and director E Elias Merhige's affectionately tongue-in-cheek homage to a landmark of German silent cinema. John Malkovich is aptly loony as the eccentric director FW Murnau, whose passion in filming the 1922 classic Nosferatu leads to the extreme casting of Schreck as the vampire, a vision of evil who, in this movie's delightfully twisted imagination, actually is a vampire, sucking the blood of cast and crew members who've dismissed Schreck as an over-zealous method actor.
As these on-set maladies and "accidents" continue, Schreck wields greater control over Murnau, who descends into a kind of obsessive art-for-art's-sake madness until diva co-star Greta Schroeder (Catherine McCormack, doing wonderful work) is served up as the actor's ultimate motivation. Merhige and his actors (including Cary Elwes, as intrepid cameraman Fritz Wagner) have great fun with this ghastly escapade, and the humour is kept delicately subtle to balance the movie's artistic aspirations. To that end, Dafoe is just right, his bald pate and gaunt features a perfect match for the mysterious Schreck, his grimace and talon-like fingers suggesting a human vulture on the prowl. Likewise, the re-creation of Nosferatu's expressionist style is both fanciful and brilliantly authentic. Too bad, then, that this movie suffers from a case of vampiric anaemia, with budgetary shortcomings apparently the cause of at least some of its shortcomings; if Shadow of the Vampire shared the depth and richness of, say, Ed Wood, it might have been a cult classic for the ages. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Lutobar
Format:DVD
If you want special effects and blood and guts you will be disappointed. It's not even a very well constructed film. But I recently saw it by chance and if you want to feel as though you have met the real Dracula (or rather Count Orlock), this is the one. The part is played sublimely well by Willem Dafoe; and this together with the film's general mediocrity makes him stand apart from the film, and thereby (and I'm sure the irony is unintended)the most 'real' of all the characters. It is also of note that Orlock is the only character in the film with a sense of humour. I am no film buff and I do not normally bother to watch horror films but I know a good thing when I see it, and there is genius in this film.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Shadow Of The Vampire - Intriguing and compelling film which both stands alone and acts as an accompaniment to `Nosferatu'.
10 Mar 2010
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The year is 1922. German director F.W.Murneau is filming his masterpiece, Nosferatu, based on the Dracula story. The film will be his masterpiece, and his drive for utter realism and the perfect picture knows no bounds. So far, so much historical fact. But what if...? The basic premise of this intriguing film is `what if Max Schreck, the actor hired to play Orlock, was really a vampire?'
This is an intriguing premise, which promises much and delivers more. `Shadow Of The Vampire' follows the troubled shooting of Nosferatu, with mysterious deaths and illnesses in the cast and crew. Schreck at first appears to be the ultimate method actor, never out of character, but we are slowly lead to suspect that there is a bit more to it than that. The build up of the character, and the peeling away of the layers until the truth is revealed is expertly done. The final denouement, where Murneau finally gets the realism he has been looking for, is thrilling, all the more so from the expert build up of the tension in the preceding 75 minutes.
John Malkovitch stars as the realism obsessed Murneau, a part he plays very well. I suspect that this is largely due to him being a very similar character in real life. Eddie Izzard is entertaining as the silent film star Gustav. The real star of the show though is Willem Dafoe, unrecognisable under his Oscar nominated makeup as Shreck/Orlock. As with the real Schreck in Nosferatu he manages to do so much with only expression and gesture. Just watching him rubbing his fingers fills one with real horror.
The edition under review is the 2002 Metronome version. This iis in 16:9 widescreen with what appears to be only stereo sound. The picture quality is very good.... Read more ›
This is an intriguing premise, which promises much and delivers more. `Shadow Of The Vampire' follows the troubled shooting of Nosferatu, with mysterious deaths and illnesses in the cast and crew. Schreck at first appears to be the ultimate method actor, never out of character, but we are slowly lead to suspect that there is a bit more to it than that. The build up of the character, and the peeling away of the layers until the truth is revealed is expertly done. The final denouement, where Murneau finally gets the realism he has been looking for, is thrilling, all the more so from the expert build up of the tension in the preceding 75 minutes.
John Malkovitch stars as the realism obsessed Murneau, a part he plays very well. I suspect that this is largely due to him being a very similar character in real life. Eddie Izzard is entertaining as the silent film star Gustav. The real star of the show though is Willem Dafoe, unrecognisable under his Oscar nominated makeup as Shreck/Orlock. As with the real Schreck in Nosferatu he manages to do so much with only expression and gesture. Just watching him rubbing his fingers fills one with real horror.
The edition under review is the 2002 Metronome version. This iis in 16:9 widescreen with what appears to be only stereo sound. The picture quality is very good.... Read more ›
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Be prepared to be haunted by such sinister questions before watching "Shadow of the Vampire": should filmmaking be considered an art or science?, what's the thin line between genius and lunacy?, what might be the complications of uncontrolled creativity? what threads have humans and vampires in common? wickedness, loneliness, voraciousness, monstrousness or something more we don't know?
The premise of the film is based on the story of two tortured souls: one in human form, an obsessive and ambitious director who will sacrifice his cast and crew to "science" for the sake of making history through his purely realistic work, Nosferatu. The other is an hybrid form seemingly a rodent-like actor with clicking long, green fingernails and scowling gutteral grunts, who skulks in a nocturnal pit where his only companions are rats and bats. Both are after his own immortality; the former feeds on souls, the latter feeds on blood.
Thanks to impeccable cinematography, the aura and ambiance of the film are dark and depressing. The film uses different cameras and angles very well. As a photographer, I must say that the use of lights, shadows and reflections enhance the intended effectiveness. Along with good close-ups, it mixes bright shots with shadowy darkness pretty well. Overtures from "Tristan and Isolde" & "The Flying Dutchman", combines exquisitely with the picture. But, putting all these positive elements aside, the beauty of the film has a lot to do with the top notch performances of Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich.
But..... The pacing is a little too slack; duration is too short; script is shallow and not strong as it should be; depends too much on stereotypes, and pushes the viewer too much, not allowing enough room for imagination.... Read more ›
The premise of the film is based on the story of two tortured souls: one in human form, an obsessive and ambitious director who will sacrifice his cast and crew to "science" for the sake of making history through his purely realistic work, Nosferatu. The other is an hybrid form seemingly a rodent-like actor with clicking long, green fingernails and scowling gutteral grunts, who skulks in a nocturnal pit where his only companions are rats and bats. Both are after his own immortality; the former feeds on souls, the latter feeds on blood.
Thanks to impeccable cinematography, the aura and ambiance of the film are dark and depressing. The film uses different cameras and angles very well. As a photographer, I must say that the use of lights, shadows and reflections enhance the intended effectiveness. Along with good close-ups, it mixes bright shots with shadowy darkness pretty well. Overtures from "Tristan and Isolde" & "The Flying Dutchman", combines exquisitely with the picture. But, putting all these positive elements aside, the beauty of the film has a lot to do with the top notch performances of Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich.
But..... The pacing is a little too slack; duration is too short; script is shallow and not strong as it should be; depends too much on stereotypes, and pushes the viewer too much, not allowing enough room for imagination.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
'Shadow of the Vampire' is a great film, a must for any serious horror fan (or cineaste generally). I saw it in the cinema when it first came out and owned the original DVD (which I somehow lost), so I repurchased it via amazon from Discgiant.
The edition I'm writing about here is the Metrodrome one, ASIN barcode 5055002550386. It has the WORST trasnfer I've ever seen on a contemporary feature film, so I'm wondering if Discgiant are supplying a genuine product. DON'T BUY THIS EDITION - as I said, having owned the original DVD and seen it on celluloid in a cinema, I was shocked by the dreadful picture quality.
The edition I'm writing about here is the Metrodrome one, ASIN barcode 5055002550386. It has the WORST trasnfer I've ever seen on a contemporary feature film, so I'm wondering if Discgiant are supplying a genuine product. DON'T BUY THIS EDITION - as I said, having owned the original DVD and seen it on celluloid in a cinema, I was shocked by the dreadful picture quality.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
this film scares me like anything, it has a strange mystical quality to it tat not many films can grasp. of course i adore the 1922 nosferatu film more but this is certainly a good choice for a dark night. There are so many parts of this films that stand out that its best for you to watch it and judge for yourself, don't forget that its not real though.....
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3.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Horror Film of the 2000s.
Shadow of the Vampire is a superb film from start to finish.
It's chilling, eerie and needs a whole new box as it thinks outside everything else. Read more
It's chilling, eerie and needs a whole new box as it thinks outside everything else. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Colonel Decker
5.0 out of 5 stars
A long shadow approaches...
I would like to start by saying that this isn't a review of the DVD. This version is bare bones, so it really wouldn't matter anyway. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Anthony Boobier
4.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect companion to Nosferatu 1922
I have the Masters of Cinema restored version of Nosferatu 1922, and this film is a perfect companion for that silent classic! Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. A. Bradford
4.0 out of 5 stars
Creepy and a bit camp
Creepy and atmospheric film but a little camp around the edges, gives you a wry smile. Some of it is disturbingly erotic too without really knowing why. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Whinbrook
3.0 out of 5 stars
A marvellous muddle
This could have been such a good film.
Casting John Malkovich as the great, and gay, director F W Murnau, who`s attempting to film Nosferatu in the sticks in twenties Germany,... Read more
Casting John Malkovich as the great, and gay, director F W Murnau, who`s attempting to film Nosferatu in the sticks in twenties Germany,... Read more
Published 7 months ago by GlynLuke
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting idea.
O K film but really need to view 'Nosferatu' first.It then makes some sense as would be difficult to appreciate without this prior knowledge.
Published 11 months ago by Malcolm W. R. Gauld
2.0 out of 5 stars
Poor movie, dreadful DVD
Firstly, beware the recently reissued DVD by Second Sight, I know it's cheap but the picture quality is atrocious - washed out, pixillated - there's even a purple line running down... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Now Zoltan
2.0 out of 5 stars
Boring
This supposedly horror/comedy is neither scary nor funny. The story/plot could be viewed as an alternative take on early cinema history, but fails also in this. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Daniel
1.0 out of 5 stars
BEWARE OF THIS DVD.
By means of a review I will copy the email I just sent to Amazon.
Dear Amazon,
Recently I purchased this copy of Shadow of the Vampire which I have owned for... Read more
Dear Amazon,
Recently I purchased this copy of Shadow of the Vampire which I have owned for... Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2009 by Mr. M. A. Denton
4.0 out of 5 stars
One for Nosferatu Fans
I like this film on a few levels. First of all there's a lot of mystery surrounding `Nosferatu' and this film doesn't try to explain that, it adds to it. Read more
Published on 9 April 2009 by I. M. Knight
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