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- "Shadow of the Vampire"
(Reviewed August 29, 2000)
- This one is not scheduled for release until December 2000, but what the hell, I'll review it while it still is fresh in my mind. This is a very strange and frustrating film, one that
cannot
seem to decide whether it is a horror movie or a parody of one. The premise (which I would bet money was used in the 1950s as a plot for an EC Comics story) is that a film director making a horror
flick enlists a real vampire to play his lead.
Instead of using fictional characters in "Shadow of the Vampire," the main character is real-life director F.W. Murnau (played by John Malkovich), and the film being made is Murnau's classic
"Nosferatu." (If Murnau has any descendants, I wonder what they think of seeing dear old F.W. portrayed as, in essence, the maker of a drug-ridden snuff film.)
At times, "Shadow of the Vampire" seems to be going for an over-the-top "Ed Wood" vibe. Everyone speaks in hammy, "Sprockets"-like German accents, people don't seem especially alarmed at
seeing the vampire do things such as catch a bat in mid-air and drink its blood, and no one seems to notice when a crew member suddenly is not around anymore. Yet while that kind of stuff sounds like it is
straight from the "Young Frankenstein" mold, other scenes are sufficiently twisted, malicious and disturbing that you will turn to your neighbor with a blank expression and say, "I ain't laughin'."
This could have been a much better film if its makers had the conviction to go in one direction -- either to play things straight with flat-out no-snickering horror, or pull out all the stops and channel
their inner Mel Brooks. It gets points for being different, but something is very "off" about this movie. I picture (very small) audiences leaving theatres saying, "Maybe being John Malkovich ain't all it's
cracked up to be sometimes."
Back Row Grade: D (instead of an F, because at least it is not like anything else you will see this year)
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