Shadow of the Vampire **** (2000, Willem Dafoe, John Malkovich, Catherine McCormack, Udo Kier, Eddie Izaard) – Classic Movie Review 3691

Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated Willem Dafoe is brilliant in Shadow of the Vampire (2000) as Max Schreck, the weird and wonderful looking German actor who starred in the 1922 iconic vampire film Nosferatu, and was, this captivating movie supposes, a real-life vampire himself.

John Malkovich is also on his best creepy form as the mad film-director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, who, in his zeal for reality, endangers everybody’s lives for the sake of art, though he has actually only offered the movie’s heroine (Catherine McCormack) to Schreck for a bit of post-filming blood-sucking.

In a dazzling looking film, Steven Katz’s clever script, film-maker E Elias Merhige’s focused direction and the spot-on re-creations of the Twenties situations and silent film movie-making keep it engrossing throughout, and make it an absolute must for horror fans and film buffs.

Dafoe was Oscar nominated as Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Ann Buchanan and Amber Sibley were also Oscar nominated for the spectacular makeup. It is Dafoe’s first nomination since Platoon (1986). The ultra-smart cinematography is by Lou Bogue, and the film is produced by Nicolas Cage with Jeff Levine.

Also in the cast are Eddie Izzard as Gustav von Wangenheim, Udo Kier as Albin Grau, Cary Elwes as Fritz Arno Wagner, Aden Gillett as Henrik Galeen, Ronan Vibert, Marja-Leena Junka, Jean-Claude Kroes, Graham Johnston, Myriam Muller, Sascha Ley and Brian Williams.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3691

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