"Really, where did you find this guy?"

SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (R)

Reviewed February 5, 2001 - Check out the Shadow of the Vampire Website.

Studio Synopsis: E. Elias Mehrige's Shadow of the Vampire explores the fictional premise that the star of director F.W. Murnau's 1922 German expressionist horror film, Nosferatu, was an actual vampire. When the dictatorial Murnau (John Malkovich) sets about filming his monster masterpiece, he makes a Faustian deal and enlists the grotesque, reclusive Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe) to play the rodentlike Count Orlok. Schreck proceeds to both horrify and fascinate the unwitting cast and crew---including producer Albin Grau (Udo Kier), actor Gustav von Wangenheim (Eddie Izzard), and actress Greta Schroeder (Catherine McCormack)--who, at first, believe Schreck is merely an eccentric actor. As the production continues, however, mysterious accidents and deaths begin to reveal why Schreck never gets any makeup.

Fuzzydog Review: Wicked, twisted and definitely demented, Shadow of the Vampire is a showcase of two brilliant performances by William Dafoe and John Malkovich, in a movie that manages to be simultaneously goofy and horrific. There's a good deal of tongue-in-cheekiness here as we meet and greet vampire Orlok, which is great relief from the otherwise oppressively dark, haunting mood of the film. Unfortunately, there are a number of times when this movie just drags painfully along, but there also enough funny and originally brilliant sequences to make it worth a look (that is, if you're up for a demented, tongue-in-cheek vampire movie). As mentioned before, Dafoe and Malkovich are wonderful, but so is Eddie Izzard as the unsuspecting (and often seriously frightened) actor who gets to play scene after disturbing scene with the spooky Schreck. You'll laugh, you'll cringe, you'll wonder if vampires *really do* behave like this...maybe, maybe not...personally, I'm not eager to find out. :P