Vamp On

I am afraid that my picks for Horror-tober weren't as successful as some years. But I picked Carl Dreyer's Vampyr (1932) for Halloween night, and that made up for a lot.

It stars "Julian West" (stage name for Nicolas de Gunzberg) as a student of the occult - but we meet him one a fishing trip. He is looking for a room at a lonely and somewhat creepy inn. That night, an old man wanders into his room, leaves a package inscribed "To be opened in the event of my death" and leaves.

West gets up to follow him, and in the dreamy day-for-night sees shadows dancing, leading him to a ruined building. One of these shadows is a one-legged soldier - who is finally joined by the actual person. West also meets a peculiar old man who later turns out to be the town doctor (played by the quaintly named Jan Heironimiko). When West leaves, we see the doctor attending to a stern and strong old woman.

The next day, West finds that the old man from his room is the lord of the manor. He has two daughters - one who has a strange wasting disease. But before they meet, the lord is mysteriously shot. In the commotion, the sick daughter wanders outdoors and we (but not the members of the household) see her being bitten on the neck by the old woman. 

When they get around to opening the package, they find a book about vampires (or vampyrs). It even mentions one Marguerite Chopin, an evil old woman from that very town. Although she is now dead (supposedly), there are still rumors...

I mentioned the dreamy day-for-night, but actually the whole film has a dreamy feel. The photography is soft-focused and a little over-exposed, giving some characters the appearance of being lit from within. The shadows without people attached isn't the only surreal special effect, although it is most prominent. And Marguerite Chopin, played by Henriette Gerard, is a different type of vampire, a female vampire who is not a sexy lesbian (although Le Fanu was a source for the story). Her strong masculine features are quite forbidding.

This was almost a silent film, coming from the earliest days of sound. But it doesn't have the static camera, locked in a sound stage that some early talkies have. Of course, there is very little dialog, so that must have helped technically. 

This is the first Dreyer we've seen. Now, we're keen to try more, maybe Joan of Arc.