German expressionist vampire picture is not as great as Murnau's "Nosferatu," but it is far more surreal, atmospheric, and creepy. This was director Carl Theodor Dreyer's first talkie and is for the most part a silent film with a few moments of dialogue. Dryer still primarily uses title cards to and visuals to tell his story of a man who discovering a vampire is stalking a small town. The plot is rather thin, but in terms of style, the film is a visual feast. Some of the film surrealness includes unsettling reverse film shots, shadows not corresponding to their corporeal bodies, frightening dream sequences, astral projections, POV shots from a dead man, strange looking actors talking directly to the camera (ALA David Lynch), and many many more. The film's undoing is heavy handed symbolism and the lack of a strong plot, but I'm not sure that was really the focus of the filmmakers. Photographed by Rudolph Maté, this is a must see for fans of German expressionism.

Despite having dialogue this feels very much like a silent film. This dated, spooky little gem concentrates on visual imagery rather than concentrate dialogue and this fact gives it a dreamy, ethereal quality rarely seen in modern cinema. Indeed the film works best as a series of haunting visual images as our hero experiences weird events, hallucinations, and frightening dreams. Although difficult to watch and not exactly entertaining, VAMPYR is nonetheless a fascinating horror film which taps into some of our deepest fears.Despite having a vampire, this is a film which actually feels like a ghost story due to some spooky scenes of character's spirits coming out of their bodies and walking about in dream states. Exceptional use is made of shadows as they are given lives of their own in a very unsettling way. The acting is understated and efficient, but there is little in the way of a linear plot or storyline - it's just the images, linked together to form a puzzling whole. This is definitely a unique item and a good example of expressionistic cinematography, and it stays in the mind long after viewing.

"Vampyr" is a German-language film from almost 85 years ago written and directed by Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer. It is not a long film, the original ran for 83 minutes while today's versions make it hardly past the 70-minute mark due to lost parts and/or an increase in frames per second. It is a black-and-white film, but not a silent movie anymore. Yet it feels like one for most of the time. It becomes painfully obvious during the watch that even expert filmmakers like Dreyer were very much struggling still with the seemingly unlimited possibilities that were brought to them through the introduction of sound. There is little talking in here and when there is, it really just feels like included for the sake of not being a silent film. Very awkward. The other noise work better, so I personally would rather like to call it a noise film.This is considered one of the greatest horror films in history, also by some of the other reviewers, but I cannot confirm that at all. The film delivered neither in terms of drama to me nor in terms of horror. I was not scared once while watching this film here. So I am actually fairly glad that it did not run for 2 hours or so. The cast includes a mix of actors who never appeared in film before or after this one, but also a handful actors who had prolific careers. The introduction of sound meant the end of many actors' careers, but it was also something that brought entirely new prospects not only to a new generation of actors, but especially to sound engineers. But it's all not refined at this point yet, at least not in this film. I cannot recommend "Vampyr". Thumbs down.

A movie with no where near the sophistication of the Director's Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), this one seems almost a side-effort with little scope. It is though he could have made this with his eyes shut. Maybe that is where the dreamlike quality came from.A partially successful film that suffers from a reticent to be really powerful. The imagery is surreal, but surprisingly slim and the claustrophobic sets and cramming the frame for effect wears thin after a while. When it does cut to an expansive shot it is a relief. If that be the desired effect it is only partially successful.The playful, yet ominous shadow work is impressive and some of the camera tricks are nice but can't make the experience more than a glancing effort when it should have been an absorbing and frightening experience. The movie just seems that it is dying to be let out of its coffin-like restraint. A minimalist effort that succeeds in that respect, but one can not but sense that there was more there than meets the eye and that leaves the viewer with a hunger. So for that, it just feels like an appetizer before a feast that is never served.