If by "poor quality," the reference is to the washed out, somewhat spotty look of the print, please be aware that this was deliberate. Cinematographer Matte had accidently opened a can of exposed film, and when Dreyer saw the result, he was delighted. It was just the effect he had been looking for.

This film was originally shot as a silent. It was only later half-dubbed with voice-overs. Again, however, like the fortuitous "damage" to the print, the sparse and somewhat vague, even incoherent, dialogue contributes to the sense of dislocation which, I believe, is one of the great virtues of this genre masterpiece.


Great Transfer - Annoying Subtitles   March 26, 2001
 26 out of 26 found this review helpful

Another release from the same folks who produced "Nosferatu" (Film Preservation Assosiates/Blackhawk Films). Excellent print transfer to DVD (and VHS)! I have seen several versions of VAMPYR and this DVD (and VHS version) are by far the best available. Much of VAMPYRS' "poor production" IS intentional, so consider this fact when reading other comments regarding print quality. This is about as good as it's gonna get! BUT I'd like to know who in the F.P.A. is responsible for allowing the atrocious subtitles (same is true for NOSFERATU)????!!! They should be taken out and covered in flour or fully exposed to the sun on a hot summer day! The gothic fonts are not easy to read and Dryer is Danish NOT German! The original (and very cool) opening titles have been replaced with a psuedo aged effect that is not necessary and in some scenes, the subtitles are really huge and also not necessary. What were they thinking??? Obviously, not much! Hey guys, leave the cutesy stuff for another day and just give up the facts! So for you, dear reader: if you can forgive them for annoying subtitles, then this version is well worth the investment!


One of the great horror films   March 10, 1999
 20 out of 22 found this review helpful

Directed in France by the legendary Danish director Carl Dreyer,Vampyr is not only one of the best horror films but also probably one of the greatest films ever made. Unlike the American horror pictures like Frankenstein that were being made at the same time, Vampyr has relatively little action but a sustained atmosphere of strangeness like that of few other movies. The action takes place during one night and the entire film has a slow, trance-like quality. The picture quality of the DVD is vastly superior to that of the older videotapes--the film was photographed by the great Rudolph Mate--but the sound recording is shaky at the best, and the dialogue is hard to follow even for someone who understands German. The music comes across more effectively but is boomy in some passages--it's a good idea to reduce the bass before viewing. The DVD like an earlier video has quite large subtitles in Gothic type--designed I think to eliminate Danish subtitles--which unfortunately mask a third or so of the picture in some shots.


Sickness unto death.   May 14, 2002
 12 out of 14 found this review helpful

Watching Carl Dreyer's *Vampyr* reminds me of having a fever: the surreal becomes real; the mind wanders; delirium seems incipient. Both experiences make you feel wretched. But as far as the movie goes, that's OK: art reserves the right to be full of misery, occasionally. In a brave new world, all art would be happy-happy . . . rather fortunately, we live in the real world, in which movies like *Vampyr* are necessary. It's not so much a vampire story as it is a meditation on death. Befitting the subject, the movie looks like an intangible nightmare: photographer Rudolph Mate shoots the thing through a gauze-like fog -- initially an accident, but Dreyer, who knew striking visuals when he saw them, insisted that Mate photograph the entire movie that way. Dreyer's vampire is an ugly old broad who scuttles through corridors and the stricken landscapes like an arthritic crab. Her antagonist, the amusingly named "Allan Gray", tends to sip tea and read books or catch a nap on a park bench while the villagers die around him. At least he's always impeccably dressed, I suppose. (Julian West -- not his real name -- not only played this part but apparently funded the whole project.) The least distinction of *Vampyr* is that it was the best vampire movie of its time, even better than Murnau's silent curio *Nosferatu*, and certainly better than Tod Browning's contemporaneous laugh-fest *Dracula* featuring that goofy Lugosi fellow. Its preoccupation with death and dying, and its gradual massing of death-imagery, wouldn't be equaled until Ingmar Bergman trod similar thematic ground some decades later. [As for the DVD, let us simply say that "Image Entertainment" strikes again: yes yes, the photography is milky, but the print is still unrestored. The picture quality is supposed to look surreal, not awful. And the erratically-used, gigantic subtitles in gothic script before black backgrounds that cover half the screen is such a bad idea that it defies critique. I'm so sick of this company. But since they're among the few companies who have cinematic masterpieces like *Vampyr* in their catalog, we will have to continue to put up with these jerks.]