Shadow of the Vampire
SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (15)
D: E. Elias Merhige
Lions Gate/Metrodome/Saturn/Long Shot/BBC (Nicolas Cage
& Jeff Levine)
US/UK/Luxembourg 2000
93 mins
Horror
W: Steven Katz
DP: Lou Bogue
Ed: Chris Wyatt
Mus: Dan Jones
PD: Assheton Gorton
Cos: Caroline de Vivaise
John Malkovich (F.W. Murnau), Willem
Dafoe (Max Schreck), Cary Elwes (Fritz Arno Wagner), John Aden Gillet (Henrik Galeen), Eddie Izzard (Gustav von Wangenheim), Udo Kier (Albin Grau)
An interesting and original spin on horror, which was
appreciated far more on the art house circuit than it was by a more conventional audience.
John Malkovich plays F. W. Murnau, the German director of
1922's Nosferatu, who muses on hiring a real vampire for his masterpiece of horror filmmaking and discovers the ethereal Max Shreck, brilliantly portrayed by Willem Dafoe.
It's very much a film buff's film, with an idea which is
better in theory than it is on film. Nevertheless, it utilises some excellent production values to tell its story which has a satirical moral that it was the director who was the true monster
of the classic horror.
6/10
