Shadow of the Vampire
When it comes to films and movies almost everyone has an opinion. When it comes to film theory and history there are more than a few armchair 'experts'.
I delight in the fact people are willing to express an opinion about a given film or movie. But when it comes to film history and the aformentioned 'experts' I am not so tolerable.
The reason for this is thus: So-called experts don't, in general, know much about film history. They don't. Want proof? Ask them what the greatest vampire film in film history is.
If they answer anything but "Nosferatu" they are certain idiots given to babbling in a blatant attempt to justify themselves.
"Nosferatu", made by F.W. Murnau in Germany in 1922 is, and will always be, the greatest, the best vampire film: It was powerful when it was first shown. It is more so as time passes.
The reason for this is simple: Watch "Nosferatu". After you do realize something: You are not watching actors perform. You are not aware of the storyline, the screenplay, the plot line. You don't acknowledge the effects. All you see is the vampire. Which is what this film is about: The Vampire.
And the belief in same.
Which, in turn, is what "Shadow of the Vampire" is about. Which, in turn, is why "Shadow of the Vampire" will become a film on par with "Nosferatu".
"Shadow of the Vampire" is about Max Schreck, who played Count Orlock the vampire in "Nosferatu". It is wicked, it is funny, it is terrifying. It is so because it suggests why Schreck was so convincing:
He was a vampire.
Consider: Schreck, in any photograph available of him in this role, had a rat-like face, feral teeth, ears of a bat, sunken eyes, claw-like fingernails. What else is there by way of explanation?
Make-up? No.
In "Shadow of the Vampire" director E. Elias Merhige and screenwriter Steven Katz take this notion and do two things: First, they make a vampire movie of their own. Second, they tell the behind-the-scenes story of Murnau as man, as director, who is obsessed with creating a legacy for himself in both roles, which, in its own way, makes him just like a vampire, feeding off others to satisfy himself.
Now. For Murnau to make a legacy for himself he does a variety of things: He constantly lectures his cast and crew about creating Art, he tells that they must be like him: Struggle to aspire to create a certain quality, a certain tone, a certain context. A context as certain as the grave.
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