Underplayed Gems

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

Shadow of the Vampire poster
Directed by
E. Elias Merhige
Genre
drama film, horror film, vampire film
Country
United Kingdom, Luxembourg, United States
Runtime
1h 31m
Rated
R
Rating
6.7 of 10 from 686 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A film crew making a silent vampire movie in the 1920s grows suspicious that their lead actor is an actual vampire. The director keeps filming as the line between fiction and reality blurs.

atmosphericcreepyslow-burndarkly comictensemetagothic

What happens

Shadow of the Vampire is a 2000 horror film directed by E. Elias Merhige, written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. It is a fictionalized account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), directed by F. W. Murnau, during which the film crew begin to have disturbing suspicions about their lead actor, Max Schreck. The film's premise is based on an urban legend which suggests that Schreck was not an actor, but in fact a vampire himself. It borrows several techniques of silent films, including the use of intertitles to explain elided action, and iris lenses. A co-production between BBC Films and Nicolas Cage's Saturn Films, Shadow of the Vampire was shot in Luxembourg. The film received positive reviews from critics and received nominations at the 73rd Academy Awards for Best Makeup and Best Supporting Actor for Dafoe's performance. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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