VAMPYR
France/Germany, 1932, 62 minutes, Black and White.
Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel.
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer.
Vampyr was not as well admired in its time as in subsequent decades. It is the work of Carl Theodor Dreyer, the director of The Passion of Joan of Arc in 1928. He was to make a war film in occupied Denmark in 1953: Ordet. Basing himself on stories by Sheridan La Fanu, the story of Carmilla the lesbian vampire - a story used frequently by Hammer Studios - Dreyer tells a basic vampire story but veers away from the traditional Dracula plot. Dreyer also uses the techniques of realism and dream rather than the shock tactics, decor and costumes of the traditional horror film. Dreyer's attitude to his film is in his celebrated comment: "Imagine that we are sitting in an ordinary room. Suddenly we are told that there is a corpse behind the door. In an instant the room we are sitting in is completely altered; everything in it has taken on another look; the light, the atmosphere have changed, though they are physically the same. This is because we have changed and the objects are as we can see them. That is the effect I want to get in my film."
Dreyer succeeds in making an eerie dreamlike film relying on the atmosphere of evil rather than on special effects. There are only two professionals in the cast - the actress playing Leone and the actor playing the chatelaine. The Baron de Gunzberg, the producer, played the hero under the pseudonym of Julian West. The rest of the cast comes from people that the director knew. Vampyr suggests an alternate way of making horror films from the American and British traditional style.
1. The impact of the film as a vampire story? The work of Carl Theodor Dreyer? An early sound film? Popularity at the time? Criticisms? The comment that a horror film was below the reputation of its director? His desire to make the film and his interest in the vampire story? The film's classic status?
2. The importance of technique: the realistic sets and location? The use of sounds, speech? The various devices used? Camera styles? Hazy glows, darkness? The emphasis on atmosphere and characterisation? Atmosphere of mystery? Editing techniques?
3. Audience knowledge of vampire legends? The finding of the book - and the quotations frequently interspersed? Sufficient explanation for audiences? The material based on Sheridan La Fanu? The variations from the basic Carmilla story? The female vampire and her preying on women?
4. David as hero - the explanation of his presence, interest in the occult, his susceptibility, his being involved? The darkness, the inn, the welcome, the ready room, the experience of one night? The chatelaine appearing and his warning, worry about his daughter's death? The sinister doctor? David's search? His curiosity, the discovery of the shadow-dancing of the Witches' Sabbath? The impact of the shadows e.g. the dancers, the guard with the wooden leg, the man digging? The atmosphere of mystery leading to the house?
5. The vampirism, the two daughters? David discovering the chatelaine and speaking with him? His death? opening the book bequeathed to him? Discovering the truth about the vampires? The picture of the innocent daughter and her reliance on David? The sick daughter - and her wandering the fields? Her illness and the manifestations of vampirism - especially in
her face, mouth, teeth?
6. The glimpse of the doctor and the sinister old woman? Their plotting and cruelty? The discovery of the truth about the identity of the woman?
7. The guard and the ghosts? The death of the guard?
8. The chatelaine and his death? David and his assistant reading the book and acting on the information given?
9. The importance of the nightmare sequence - horror techniques? Subjective camera and audiences being involved with David? His own death and burial?
10. The build-up to the stake through Marguerite Chopin's heart? The atmosphere of the cemetery sequence? The liberation of Leone?
11. The death of the guard? The doctor and his fleeing and suffocation in the silo?
12. Dawn, light Leone's freedom, the sisters being saved by David and going off with him into the daylight?
13. Themes of the living dead, the contagion of evil, the agents of the dead being in their power?
14. The classic horror film - atmosphere, suggestions of evil, eeriness? The audience asked not only to be shocked but to reflect on the meaning of evil?
