Catherine McCormack as Greta Schröder, recreating the cinematic moment pictured on Page 62, in E. Elias Merhige’s SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE.


SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE


2000, Universal #21268, DD-5.1/DTS/MA/CC/ST/LB/16:9/+, $26.98, 91m 19s, DVD-1


Despite its comedic conjec­


ture that F.W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU (1922) starred not an obscure music hall performer named “Max Schreck” but rather a genuine bat-eared blood­ sucker, E. Elias Merhige’s SHAD­OW OF THE VAMPIRE takes with considerable seriousness its subtext of the artistic quest to chart the line separating fantasy from reality, and in so doing re­ calls both Tim Burton’s ED WOOD (1994) and Bill Condon’s GODS AND MONSTERS (1999). But apart from relishing the par­ ticulars of its period setting and fudging the facts to suit its “take” on the subject, the similarities pretty much end there. Merhige and scenarist Steven Katz do not endeavor sell Murnau as a tor­ tured anti-hero, but instead at­ tempt to deconstruct what they consider to be the myth sur­ rounding the making of the semi­ nal silent horror film. In achieving


68


this goal, SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE is only partially suc­ cessful—primarily because the filmmakers seem to lack a clear idea about the purpose of decon­ struction, other than that is what the new is expected to do with the old. “We are scientists engaged in


the creation of memory,” Murnau pontificates early in the film (rubbing a piece of celluloid be­ tween his fingers as fetish- istically as Frank Booth coveted his BLUE VELVET binky), “but our memory will neither blur nor fade.” Championing a bold storytelling medium born out of the technological advancements of a new era, Murnau (another tone-deaf performance by John Malkovich) exhibits the monoma­ nia of the newly converted, prom­ ising the life’s blood of his cast and crew to a vampire (Willem Dafoe) because “such is the price of genius.” Passed off as a method actor living his role (“Oh dear, one of the Russian school then”), Schreck begins to feed on Murnau’s staff while setting his sights on tempera­ mental co-star, Greta Schröder


(BRAVEHEART’s Catherine McCor­mick). The conceit of a centu­ ries-old vampire as the ultimate film fan is intriguing (although one is left wondering how Schreck is able to recognize the actress on sight, not being a moviegoer), but Merhige’s execu­ tion is essentially one-note, with Schreck’s pursuit of Greta as bloodless as a Benny Hill foot chase. As a black comedy about the karmic comeuppance of a horror film production diddling with things best left alone, SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE says little that wasn’t expressed first in Bob Clark’s CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS (1972) and throughout betrays a reluctance to truly, ahem, go for the jugular. Never striking a persuasive


balance between laughs, chills and pathos, the film is less com­ fortable with Big Ideas than in isolated setpieces that showcase simple human emotions in their natural and preternatural incar­ nations. In the film’s best scene, NOSFERATU’s producer Albin Grau (Cido Kier) and screenwriter Henrick Galeen (Aden Gillet) ply

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