Shadow
of the Vampire (2000)
Surely one of the most anticipated films of 2000, "Shadow
of the Vampire" was, perhaps at one time, an awesome
three hour movie. Cut down to under two hours, it's
"very good" at best. I say this with no knowledge of
whether or not the elongated version truly did exist.
But director Elias Merhige ("Begotten") truly seems
to have much missing from the film. One of it's biggest
problems is it's ending which would be so much more
riveting and awesome if it had a far greater build-
up. Everything here just seems to compile far too rapidly.
We cannot relax and enjoy the plot and the awesome acting
we get because the film has almost no nuances, no artiness.
The film concerns the production of the silent film
"Nosferatu" (1922). Scripter Steve Katz crafts a fiction
based around this actual event. In the silent era, Bram
Stoker's estate would not allow German expressionist
F.W. Murnau the rights to the novel. Ellipsing this
problem, the director simply changes the name of Dracula
to Count Orlok and calls the piece "Nosferatu." Murnau
hires an odd actor, Max Shreck to play the vampire.
As the filming proceeds, Shreck seems more and more
obviously a real vampire.
Merhige really does an excellent job here of paying
homage without seeming to simply copy or emulate. "Shadow
of the Vampire" not only plays as an interesting look
at Murnau and the whole silent era, especially of German
Expressionism, but also seems to reference Polanski's
"Fearless Vampire Killers" and Warhol/Morrissey's "Dracula."
This latter is fully represented by the appearance of
Udo Kier in a prominent role. All Kier has to do is
say "wampire," in his thick accent and we are immediately
transported back to his earlier version.
The casting, in general, is fantastic. Willem Dafoe
is guaranteed to garner an Oscar nod with his campy,
creepy take on Shreck. His performance here evokes so
many moments of wicked amusements that it alone is worth
the full price of admission. John Malkovich performs
on his usual scale of perfect but we feel much of his
character's best and most insightful moments somehow
ended up on the cutting room floor. A real find in the
film is Eddie Izzard as the foppish star of "Nosferatu."
Izzard not only, like Dafoe, looks to perfection in
the film, he is equally amusing and flawless.
But, it must be said, one of the problems with the
film is it's international cast. With the real and fake
accents, it is often impossible to understand the dialogue.
Kier's vocalizations, as we are used to, are pretty
encrypted in his European dialect, although, it must
be said, his accent like his acting improves more as
each year passes. But listening to Malkovich or costar
Cary Elwes struggle to maintain a German accent during
the film can often be unintentionally humorous. It's
just noticeable enough to be noticeable. And that can't
be good.
In the final analysis, while there are many good things
to say about "Shadow of the Vampire," and it is definitely
well worth seeing, one wishes that there were a bit
more. Merhige either had to cut far too much from the
film or respects us far too much as intelligent film
viewers. Little things that would have been nice to
have explained more fully, like why does Malkovich and
his film crew wear goggles as he directs? (Is this because
of the Klieg light, which did effects some actor's eyesight,
or because it allows him to see what he is filming in
actual black and white via the goggles?) There are just
too many gaps such as this in the exposition of the
film.
Finally, in the film's last scene, when horror and
wide-eyed bewilderment should be in our grasp, the film
rushes far too quickly into it's conclusion, leaving
us only just beginning to get into it's wicked glory
when the fade to black envelopes the last scene. Merhige
seems incapable of generating any real suspense of terror
whatsoever and this film could be a masterpiece with
those elements in place. Whether this is his own flaw
or a constriction placed by those who would have him
edit the film down to an average length, I do not know.
Notes:
One of the producers in Nicolas Cage, who gave Merhige
the script after seeing "Begotten."
The film begins with an overly long credits sequences
which does contain some stunning Art Deco imagery.
At one point the film was known as "Burned to Light."
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