Vampyr (1932)

 Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Vampyr"

Because Carl Theodor Dreyer was locked in a legal battle over his previous film, "The Passion of Joan of Arc," he could not start making his next movie for several years. By 1930, once he started production on "Vampyr," the advent of sound had swept the film landscape. However, Dreyer's original idea for "Vampyr" was intended as a silent film with no dialogue. Because of this, only a select amount of dialogue exists in the film and was only added during post-production. 

"Vampyr" tells the story of a man named Allan Gray who is researching ghosts, vampires, and other evil spirits. He stays at an inn in Courtempierre and is one night awakened by a mysterious man. He puts something in an envelope titled, "To Be Opened Upon My Death." Afterward, Gray begins to investigate mysterious circumstances that could only point to evil dwellings. The man whom he saw in his hotel room dies, the man's daughter becomes gravely ill, and a mysterious doctor is performing blood transfusions. Eventually, it is discovered that the vampiric spirit of Margurite Chopin is haunting the village, forcing people to perform her evil whims. Allan then helps in driving a stake through her buried corpse. 

The most notable element of the film is its confusion. Dreyer allows for a slim understanding of what is actually happening. He provides written text about the properties of vampires and allows that understanding to pervade the events of the story. However confusing the actual story is, the main takeaway from the strange circumstances is the way in which the idea of death permeates the entire story. Evil and death are never far from the main character, and Dreyer makes a point to create this paranoia in the viewer. He is able to achieve this through strange visual circumstances. Shadows move unaligned with their source, strange noises are heard throughout, characters appear in the framing where they once held the point of view perspective, and there is even an out-of-body experience in which Allan has a hallucination that he is trapped inside a coffin. All of these strange occurrences aid Dreyer in creating an atmosphere of terror. 

Despite the attempt at an 'experimental' horror film, audiences did not seem to appreciate it. Many viewers at the time were put off by the lack of a coherent plot. However, since then, many film historians have discovered the film and appreciated it for what it is. At its heart, the film removes a coherent plot in place for an ambiance of uncertainty. This uncertainty allows the viewer more room for contemplation, of death, evil, and things lurking around the corner.