Taglines: An Unspeakable Horror. A Creative Genius. Captured for Eternity.
Shadow of the Vampire movie storyline. In 1921, German director F. W. Murnau takes his cast and crew on-location in Czechoslovakia to shoot Nosferatu, an unauthorized version of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. Murnau keeps his team in the dark about their schedule and the actor playing the vampire Count Orlok. It is left to the film’s other main actor, Gustav von Wangenheim, to explain that the lead is an obscure German theater performer named Max Schreck, who is a character actor. To involve himself fully in his role, Schreck will only appear amongst the cast and crew in makeup, and will never break character.
After filming scenes in a studio with leading actress Greta Schröder, who is displeased about leaving Berlin, Murnau’s team travels to the remote inn where they will be staying and shooting further scenes. The landlady becomes distressed at Murnau removing crucifixes around the inn, and the cameraman, Wolfgang Muller, falls into a strange, hypnotic state. Gustav discovers a bottle of blood amongst the team’s food supplies, and Murnau delivers a caged ferret in the middle of the night.
One night, Murnau rushes his team up to an old Slovak castle for the first scene with the vampire. Schreck appears for the first time, and his appearance and behavior impresses and disturbs them. The film’s producer, Albin Grau, suspects that Schreck is not a German theater actor, and is confused when Murnau tells him that he found Schreck in the castle. Soon after the completion of the scene, Wolfgang is found collapsed in a dark tunnel. Upon returning to the inn, the landlady appears frightened by his pale, weak appearance, and mutters “Nosferatu” while clutching at a rosary.
Whilst filming a dinner scene between Gustav and Count Orlok, Murnau startles Gustav, making him cut his finger. Schreck reacts wildly at the sight of the blood, and tries drinking from Gustav’s wound. The generator powering the lights fails and when the lights return, Schreck has pinned Wolfgang to the floor, apparently draining his blood. Albin orders filming ended for the night, and the crew rushes from the castle, leaving Schreck behind. Schreck examines the camera equipment, fascinated by footage of a sunrise.
Shadow of the Vampire is a 2000 metafiction horror film directed by E. Elias Merhige, written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. The film is a fictionalised account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, directed by F. W. Murnau, in which the film crew begin to have disturbing suspicions about their lead actor. The film borrows the techniques of silent films, including the use of intertitles to explain elided action and iris lenses.
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Directed by: E. Elias Merhige
Starring: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, John Aden Gillet, Eddie Izzard, Udo Kier, Catherine McCormack, Ronan Vibert, Sophie Langevin, Myriam Muller
Screenplay by: Steven Katz
Production Design by: Assheton Gorton
Cinematography by: Lou Bogue
Film Editing by: Chris Wyatt
Costume Design by: Caroline de Vivaise
Art Direction by: Chris Bradley
Music by: Dan Jones
MPAA Rating: R for some sexuality, drug content, violence and language.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: December 29, 2000
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