HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2020: Vampyr (1932)

Our sponsor today is Rich Chamberlain, maintainer of KC Cinephile, although if you’re a regular listener to Dread Media, you’ll know him as Rich The Monster Movie Kid!  Go to his site to see his own October-long celebration of horror, focusing this year on horror radio programs (be sure to check out his entry for October 25th, which presents one of the goofiest horror programs ever made, ‘The Spawn Of The Subhuman’!).

Rich has chosen Susan G. Komen, conducting research into breast cancer and providing support and help for survivors.  If you donate to SGK within the next four days, your donation will be tripled by Komen's sponsors and partner--plus you get to extend my Overtime by one more day and choose a film I will be forced to watch (see below)...that's a pretty neat deal!

Rich chose a classic that I don’t think has been seen very much, the strange, surreal Danish film by Carl T. Dreyer, Vampyr!

Allan Gray (Julian West, who looks uncannily like a pre-War Oscar Issacs) is staying at Courtempierre during his wanderings while he studies the occult.  He is having some strange dreams which, among other things, includes a dignified old man (Maurice Schutz) entrusting him with a package to be opened upon the man’s death.  The man turns out to be the Lord of a nearby estate, where Allan arrives just as he is mysteriously murdered.  The package turns out to be a book on vampirism, and Allan begins to piece together the cause for one of his daughters’ mysterious illness as the work of a vampire and her pawns.

Now, I say Allan has a dream, but the fact is Dreyer seems to willfully want to obscure whether all or part of this film is a dream--and that might be the film’s strength.  The opening sequence features some strange images like shadows moving independent of the people that are casting them, but also features some scenes that Allan should not be privy to, even though he is undisputably our POV character.  And once we get into the meat of the story, Dreyer still indulges in strange images and sequences, especially one where we see Gray witness his own funeral--from the casket!  I almost want to say the entire film is a dream, but I just can’t tell.

Now I’ll let you know upfront that the reconstruction that Critereon cobbled together from pieces of other prints is...iffy.  There are scenes that are sharp and clear, and scenes that are muddy and blurry.  And those of you who complain about slow paced films you have to read, you might want to avoid this, as there is a large section of the film composed of people reading a book of vampirism.  But there is some wonderfully weird stuff hidden within Dreyer’s hour and a quarter.  Hell, I’m willing to bet this is the only film where you will see someone buried alive in flour.

While this is a foreign language film (I think it was shot in German), the dialogue is so minimal that you can follow the story by itself...well, save for those ‘let’s read all the background about vampires, maybe this particular vampire and how to kill her’ scenes.  It could almost be considered a silent film, and a silent film that is easy to follow.

I do like how the vampire in this film is just an old woman, totally removing the sexuality aspect.  All too often, people forget vampires are parasites because they’re hella hot.  I like my vampires savage, thank you very much.

This is certainly recommended for its bizarre imagry and storytelling.  It’s one of those landmark films that is so rarely seen.  It is certainly not for everyone, but those open to a more languid tale might be satisfied.

Tomorrow is the last day we’re without a sponsor, and The Randomizer, remembering you all like it when I suffer, chose for me 2012‘s The Raven, where John Cusack plays Edgar Allen Poe who teams up with a detective to solve murders based on his own stories--and it’s almost two. hours. long.  Expect me to bring up a nothing little film called The Descendant (starring Katherine ‘I Have A Stupid Face’ Heigl) when discussing this one.

We are Going Into Overtime this Halloween Horrorfest, as my mother made a request that I’ll be doing on November 1st....and if you wish to make overtime longer, you have four options:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Black Lives Matter.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.