30 DAYS OF HORROR: DAY 1.......VAMPYR

[kagami101]

Danish director Carl Dreyer is mostly known for his quirky films from the 1920's and 30's. In fact his silent film "The Passion of Joan of Arc" often winds up on many "greatest films of all time" lists. But it is his first "talkie" that is of more interest than most and now can pretty much be considered his cinematic calling card. VAMPYR is not a horror film in the usual sense. The plot is not fast moving and develops slowly over the length of the film. Instead of just telling a straight "guy meets girl, girl is under influence of vampire, guy stakes vampire and gets girl" tale Dreyer uses striking images, camera focuses and other techniques to move the story. Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg stars as Allan Grey, a young student on a trip who gets sucked into the snares of a vampire trying to destroy a family. The fact that de Gunzburg has more than a passing resemblance to H.P. Lovecraft adds to the films character. If a Lovecraft story could truly have been put on film, this is as close as we will ever get. This is not for people with short attention spans. Since the original negative is lost to time an almost complete "director's cut" of the film was only possible through splicing together footage from existing German, French and English prints of the film. If unsettling dreams could be put on film, you would have this......

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7559089296688839249#