Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 135
Fresh: 110 | Rotten: 25
Shadow of the Vampire is frightening, compelling, and funny, and features an excellent performance by Willem Dafoe.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 6
Shadow of the Vampire is frightening, compelling, and funny, and features an excellent performance by Willem Dafoe.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 24,240
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Movie Info
The torturous production of the classic 1922 vampire film Nosferatu is recreated in this stylized account of director F.W. Murnau and his obsession with creating realistic horror by any means necessary -- even if those means include actual bloodletting. The film begins as Murnau (John Malkovich) is ready to take his unauthorized interpretation of the Bram Stoker tale on location in Czechoslovakia. There, the director has arranged for his cast and crew to live in the same castle in which they
Cast
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John Malkovich
FW. Murnau -
Willem Dafoe
Max Schreck -
Cary Elwes
Fritz Wagner -
Eddie Izzard
Gustav Von Wangerheim -
Udo Kier
Albin Grau -
Catherine McCormack
Greta Schroeder -
Ronan Vibert
Wolfgang Muller
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All Critics (136) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (115) | Rotten (25) | DVD (26)
The screenplay, by Steven Katz, suffers from arch, almost unspeakably theatrical dialogue, and, as Murnau, John Malkovich recites his lines as if monomania were synonymous with monotonic: He drains the drama of blood.
Top CriticWholly absorbing and inspired in parts, this carefully crafted curio dares to suggest that Murnau made a Faustian pact with an actual vampire to play the title role in exchange for the neck of the film's leading lady at production's end.
Intriguing, eccentric, sporadically entertaining tosh (but tosh all the same).
It's a marvelous, resonant joke that never quite succeeds: Stretches of the film resemble a Dario Argento horrorfest crossed with a Mel Brooks spoof.
Out of such dizzying layers of (un)reality, some sublime films have emerged. Nosferatu was one of them, and this is not -- but, c'mon, credit it with the old college try, a pretty decent effort.
This stupid and demeaning fantasy about the shooting of F.W. Murnau's 1922 masterpiece Nosferatu is a piece of postmodernist kitsch whose only redeeming quality is an enjoyably over-the-top, eye-rolling performance by Willem Dafoe.
Vampire satire has some creepy moments.
This strictly-for-the-cinéastes fantasy is wild, warped fun.
This is a dark, gothic, and creepy film with excellent performances from John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe.
... [I]f you like your horror thoughtful and provoking, this is your movie.
An imaginatively twisted lesson in film history and a glorious gothic comedy-drama.
At best, this is a dawdling, toothless riff on a vastly superior film. At worst, it's character assassination.
Shadow feels like a missed opportunity.
Through layers of makeup depicting the rat-faced, undead Schreck, a vampire who turns not into a bat but, worse, a demanding prima donna, Dafoe doesn't go over the top, though he does plant his flag at the summit.
This DVD's scene-by-scene commentary from director Merhige is occasionally erudite and thought-provoking, yet at times he's so full of himself that he comes across as a parody of auteur pretension.
Incredibly entertaining even without knowledge of Nosferatu.
In this cookie cutter movie world, it's nice to see the occasional move that doesn't quite fit into a specific genre or can't easily be classified.
What might have occurred during the filming of Nosferatu leaves one amused but confused about how much of Shadow is a spoof and how much is based in truth.
interesting and very good
shines forth as a true labor of love
Unusual and delightful.
A sinister delight for the black at heart.
Audience Reviews for Shadow of the Vampire
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- FW. Murnau: Go ahead! Eat the writer! That will leave you explaining how your character gets to Bremen!
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- FW. Murnau: If it's not in frame, it doesn't exist!
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- FW. Murnau: Why him, you monster? Why not the... script girl?
- Max Schreck: Oh. The script girl. I'll eat her later.
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Foreign Titles
- La sombra del vampiro (ES)
