Review of Shadow of the Vampire (2000) by Michelle H — 29 Aug 2014

One of the most beautiful, haunting, and mesmerizing vampire films ever made. It is much creepier than the original film it was inspired by, mostly due to Willem Dafoe's masterly performance. He completely steals every scene he is in. He is quite simply the most believable vampire I have ever seen. He is beast like and quite ugly, but also very romantic, tragic, sad, and erotic. He moves with the grace and elegance of a panther and strikes like a snake. John Malkovich is great too as the obsessive director who throws childlike tantrums when things do not go his way and spends his evenings in seedy sex clubs getting high on laudanum.

The film has a very old-fashioned quality to it and some some truly great cinematic moments. There is an awkwardness to some of the scenes, but overall, this film is a diamond in the rough masterpiece!