Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Gillian McIver the Chapter Page can be found here.
Dedicated to the wonderful film Vampyr the author takes us on a study of the film touching on its financing, Dreyer’s vision and some of the themes and imagery in the film itself.
One aspect that I particularly liked, as it is not something I picked up personally, was the observation that the predation of Chopin (the vampire) on Leone is actually age preying on youth. A marvellous observation. The book within the film, The Curious History of the Vampire, by Paul Bonnat, O.P. Published by Gottfried Faust’s Estate – 1770 AD, which we read much of during the running time on intertitles, was so central to the film that (in my original review of the film I quote it extensively). The author quotes Dreyer himself as seeing the book as a character itself. I liked the reading of the film as being a series of dreams belonging to Allan Grey.
The one thing I did find odd was that the author didn’t touch on the over-exposure of the film, which offers its distinctive look. Though this may be because that has been touched on many times before.
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