Vampyr is a very difficult movie to rate. It is, of course, severely dated and it is really almost impossible for someone with modern movie watching sensibilities to really get caught up in this film. Having said that, there were some very interesting ideas in it and I can appreciate some parts.
I really enjoyed the idea of the shadows that were evil helpers to the Vampire. It was an interesting concept and one that I had never been introduced to before. The scene where the shadows were ballroom dancing was really neat and mildly creepy. It also must have been a fairly innovative technique for that time to produce these bodyless shadows on screen. I also thought that the scene where they are carrying the main character outside in a coffin was very well done. The camera cuts from inside the coffin where Allan Gray lies motionless and wide eyed and the viewer is given the sneaking suspicion that he can in fact see out through the window in the top. This is confirmed when the camera cuts to a view from inside the coffin looking up at what is happening. It is an unsettling sequence that forces the viewer to watch as someone carries them to their grave.
Having said that, it was just very difficult to adjust to the pacing of this film. It didn't really capture me in any way and was very confusing the entire time. I'm still really not sure exactly what happened. I have enjoyed other films from this era and even older but this one was just not my favorite.
6/10
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