31 Horrors: Vampyr (#20)

Wherein I attempt to watch 31 horror films over the course of October. 31 horror films that I have never seen before, from obscure to acclaimed classics. We'll see how well I go in actually finding the time to watch and then write about them in some way.

Well, it's easy to see why this has been deemed as so influential, isn't it? Per the Eureka! Masters of Cinema DVD sleeve, Carl Theodore Dreyer's Vampyr was deemed by Alfred Hitchcock as "the only film worth watching... twice", Vampyr is seemingly a very obvious inspiration to Psycho. Vampyr, also the inspiration to Olivier Assayas' Irma Vep in a far more obvious way, is about a man who leaves his life and descends into a fantasy horror upon arriving a motel in the middle of nowhere. What is Janet Leigh's Marion Crane is not a fantastical being on the run? Where does she end? A middle of nowhere motel. While Marion met a far crueller fate than Nicolas de Gunzburg's Allan Gray (the film's unofficial subtitle is The Strange Adventure of Allan Gray), Vampyr too descends into a mystery-solving horror ala Psycho, just with vampires instead of mummy-dressing psychotics. The similarities don't quite end there, however, as Hitchcock appears to have aped several slices of striking imagery too.

Vampyr is the first sound feature that Dreyer ever made, coming on the heels of The Passion of Joan of Arc. Having said that, Dreyer has stuck to a silent aesthetic for the most part and there is minimal dialogue as a result of the producer's wish to record the film in both French and Germany languages. Title cards are frequently used and many of the actors - unprofessional actors for the most part I've since discovered - work more in sinister glances than horrific speeches. Dreyer, too, uses static imagery more than the theatrical horrors of his international brethren. Vampyr's release was actually delayed in Germany so that Dracula and Frankenstein could be released first, certainly one of the earliest sign posts of the international film world working with a domino effect.

At only 72 minutes, Vampyr doesn't exactly dig deep into the vamp mythology, but it does manage to craft an excessively eerie atmosphere. As Allan Gray attempts to solve and break the vampire curse that has swept across his village without succumbing to it himself, Dreyer infuses it with enough images of wrinkled, doom-ravaged faces and sickle-wielding townsfolk to power several films. It's holds an incredible power, a spell if you will, that doesn't break until it's over. A bewitching and altogether stunning piece of brilliantly crafted cinema. A-

Review: The Artist

The Artist

Dir. Michel Hazanavicius

Country: France

Aus Rating: PG

Running Time: 100mins

It can be tricky watching a film like The Artist at this point in the game. Riding high on buzz from last year’s Cannes Film Festival, this charming French film from director Michel Hazanavicius (creator of the OSS 177 series) has a lot to live up to. Having steamrolled through award show season, and placing as the odds on favourite to win Best Picture at this month’s Academy Awards, Australian audiences finally get to see what all the fuss is about of this black and white, silent film. Don’t you worry, there’s reason to fuss.

Read the rest at Trespass Magazine

Pandora's Convent

It's time for another one of Nathaniel Rogers' Hit Me With Your Best Shot features at The Film Experience. I generally enjoy this feature, although this week I had trouble. I don't own GW Pabst's 1927 classic ("classic" because it's good, not "classic" because it's old) Pandora's Box on DVD and didn't receive it in the mail soon enough to go through it and truly find my favourite shot. So, I cheated, and used DVD Beaver and grabbed my favourite.


Granted, I think this shot is just glorious anyway, but I'm sure I might have found something different if I actually had the DVD here with me. Oh well. This shot is very amazing though and, as Nathaniel points out himself, so very erotic without actually being anything overtly erotic. If that makes sense.

Another one of the film's Mr Rogers chose to use for "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" a few weeks back was Powell & Pressburger's nuns-in-the-mountains (the good one, not that shit one from 1965) masterpiece Black Narcissus. It was another DVD that didn't arrive in time, but when it finally did I bathed in that movie's gorgeousness like Countess Bálthory (er...) So I can now finally look at that film.


Technically, this is probably the best shot in Black Narcissus as the camera swings over the edge of the cliff that Deborah Kerr's Indian convent sits atop. Alas, it's not my favourite so let's move on.


Anything with such heavy reliance on shadow is going to pique my interest - hello! - and as amazingly composed as this shot is I'm not choosing it.





I came very close to choosing one of the many beguiling shots of Kathleen Byron towards the end of the film in which cinematographer Jack Cardiff lenses her with such striking menace and power. Whether it be the vivid colour of the dress and lipstick as we first see her out of the nun's habit or the very modern way her revenge reveal is framed. If you showed me those middle to shots up there and asked to pinpoint the decade they were from I'd be tempted to think they were from an upcoming Quentin Tarantino film!




I very, very nearly went with this procession of shots that occurs about half way through the film. They are stunning in their own right, but they bring about a renewed sense of verve and colour within the film. If Black Narcissus was a beautiful film before this moment it was even more so afterwards.

However, for my favourite shot I went with this moment from within the opening minutes as the mother superior tells Kerr's young nun that she has been chosen to lead the new convent in the mountains.


From a technical standpoint it's not the best, but from a character point of view it is the ace in the hole of Powell and Pressburger's motivations. Look as she tries so very hard to not smile at the thought of being entrusted with an entire convent. That pride that she is trying to quell within her because she knows is a sin and yet it ever so slightly emerges within the corners of her mouth. Loved this tiny little moment, don't you?