The first film in the vampire genre is probably Nosferatu, which came out in 1922. The vampire Orlock, played by Max Schreck, has been argued by most people to be a direct theft of Bram Stoker's Dracula. In point of fact, everyone knew that this was a deliberate theft of the story line. Director F.R. Murnau had approached the Stoker estate, but was unable to procure the rights, so he just went ahead and made the film after taking a few liberties with the setting, character names, and a few plot details.
The film is available on DVD, and it's worth a look if you are interested in vampire films. Most viewers consider it somewhat uneven -- and that may simply be due to their unfamiliarity with silent films -- but it has received considerable critical acclaim. The plot follows the story of Dracula very, very closely, with the names changed to protect the innocent (or the guilty, depending on how you look at it). I watched this film not too long ago, and although I enjoyed it, I did have some problems. The first, and most obvious, is production value. This film is not well made, even by 1922 standards. Many of the supposed "night" scenes were obviously shot in daylight, and doctored after the fact to try and make it look like night.
Yet the film works, and it works well. Max Schreck, a well known German character actor, has considerable screen presence. You can almost feel Orlock's sinister nature leap off the screen. The film is worth a look. You can pick it up online for slightly more than $20.00.
It is worth noting that this film inspired Shadow of the Vampire (2000), which is the fictional account of the filming of the 1922 original. In this version, the lead actor, played by Willem Dafoe, takes his role... well... a bit too seriously. It's okay, but I won't be rushing out to buy a copy any time soon.
Let's jump to 1992, now, and have a look at the classic film that inspired the wildly popular, for whatever reason, TV Series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm not going to talk about the TV series, as I suspect that my opinions would draw a bit too much artillery from the legion of fans out there. Suffice it to say that I vastly prefer the film.
This is a wonderful film, and it has incredibly memorable lines. The film is fortunate enough to have Donald Sutherland in it, and the list of films where he doesn't live up to his reputation is very, very short. Although his role as Merrick, the "watcher," in this movie is hardly a challenge for him, he well cast in the role, and plays it to the hilt.
Most of the criticisms around this film seem to center on the fact that it's not scary. I don't understand this; it's a comedy. If the title doesn't give that away, then nothing else will. Yes, Kristy Swanson plays an air head in this movie, and yes, some of her lines (okay, the vast majority of her lines) are somewhat ridiculous... but they are supposed to be. That's the point. Consider this line:
I have something all those other vampire slayers didn't have: a keen fashion sense.I mean, do you really think we are supposed to take that seriously? It's hilarious. Rutger Hauer plays the evil vampire in this film, and I will admit that it's a far cry from his performance in Blade Runner, but he's okay.
This movie is a lot of fun, and although it is a tongue in cheek approach to the vampire genre, it's well worth watching. I like it for the same reason I like Big Trouble in Little China -- it's a movie that makes fun of itself, and sends up the genre its purportedly a part of.
That's it for now. More to come in a day or two.
