{"id":1804,"date":"2008-12-29T18:10:32","date_gmt":"2008-12-30T01:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=1804"},"modified":"2008-12-29T20:18:55","modified_gmt":"2008-12-30T03:18:55","slug":"shadow-of-the-vampire-e-elias-merhige-2000-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=1804","title":{"rendered":"Shadow of the Vampire (E. Elias Merhige, 2000): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by William Conlin<\/a>. Viewed on DVD<\/p>\n

In the last two decades, the genre of docu-drama has become a standard for premium television channels and low budget film companies. A large amount of these films deal with entertainment and the filmmaking process. People seem to enjoy the \u201cmore action happened behind the camera than in front of it\u201d idea. That\u2019s why I love it when the genre gets turned on its head, as it was with E. Elias Merhige\u2019s farcical Shadow of the Vampire<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

The film, set in the early 1920\u2019s, retells the making of F.W. Murnau\u2019s Nosferatu<\/em> with one slight alteration: the films star isn\u2019t an actor, but an actual Vampire. Murnau (played by the always brilliant John Malkovich) finds a miserable old Vampire (Willem Dafoe) in Eastern Europe and promises him a supply of fresh blood if he agrees to star in his adaptation of Dracula<\/em>. As production begins, the Vampire begins to run wild, killing members of the crew and making outrageous demands to Murnau, who is left wondering how he can finish his film and kill the Vampire before everyone involved in the production is slaughtered.<\/p>\n

Though this film is full of classic camp, it still features some great acting. Willem Dafoe\u2019s performance is so compelling he was nominated for an Academy Award and Malkovich\u2019s portrayal of Murnau as he slowly goes insane, is so convincing you feel the urge to take a step back while watching him. With a supporting cast featuring Cary Elwes, Eddie Izzard and perennial horror favorite Udo Kier, this is definitely a film to watch if you love the original Nosferatu<\/em>. Along with Dafoe, the film was deservedly nominated for and Oscar for Best Makeup, it\u2019s almost worth watching purely for the way Dafoe is transformed into his character.<\/p>\n

I also like to look at this film for its subtext. As the film progresses, the Vampire discovers his power over Murnau and he begins to make demands, such as killing the scriptwriter, much like a movie star would ask for a larger trailer. The film also explores the balance between reality and film. Scenes in Murnau\u2019s reality are mirrored by scenes in the film he is trying to make. The film is actually made in the same style as a silent movie. Acts are divided by intertitles and scenes are divided by stylized shots lifted from the actual film Nosferatu<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve never seen the original Nosferatu<\/em> I\u2019d recommend, seeing that first, then watching this film. It\u2019s a fun double feature and you may find yourself blurring the line between the two. Although the original film can\u2019t be beat, Shadow of the Vampire<\/em> is an excellent companion piece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by William Conlin. Viewed on DVD In the last two decades, the genre of docu-drama has become a standard for premium television channels and low budget film companies. A large amount of these films deal with entertainment and the filmmaking process. People seem to enjoy the \u201cmore action happened behind the camera than in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}