Almost in parody of its lead character's walking in a haze and stumbling onto all manner of wondrous events, my introduction to Carl Dreyer and Vampyr (1932) came from a serendipitous find in a pavement book stall of a 'Vampires Special' issue of this excellent horror film magazine called Midnight Marquee. Eventually I saw the film and came to love it as one of the pioneering classics of horror cinema. With that I also warn you that the following is a fairly detailed and hopefully insightful look at Vampyr that can get as rambling as the film itself. If you're not the patient sort, you can get off right here.

Vampyr doesn't have a plot, at least not one it sticks with. The film claims to be inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu's ghost story collection In a Glass Darkly, and in particular, the vampire theme appears to take some substance from its most famous story Carmilla. It is however no literal adaptation, but an inspiration of mood and atmosphere.

Before we discuss Vampyr itself, a word about Carl Dreyer. Known more for brooding dramas like Day of Wrath and Passion of Joan of Arc (which I have seen and can attest to), Dreyer was a highly individualistic director, whose short filmography (a consequence of his failure as a box-office draw) has served as immense inspiration to film-makers several generations over. Interestingly enough, Vampyr was originally intended as a more "commercial" venture, one that would give him acceptability after Passion...'s losses. Unfortunately for Dreyer, his vision for Vampyr was at odds with the expectations of audiences and did little to mitigate his increasing detachment from the mainstream movie world; his subsequent films came out with approximately a decade's gap between each.

To be fair, one sympathizes with those audiences. Vampyr, whatever its innate qualities, is in no way an accessible film. Quite the opposite, it almost requires that you be a horror connoisseur with a willingness to immerse in its slowly but relentlessly building creepy sepulchral atmosphere.

Vampyr may be divided into 3 main acts:

ACT 1

In the first act, we are introduced to protagonist Allan Gray (Julian West aka Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, a Russian nobleman who also financed the film). A large chunk of text tells us that he is a dreamer and student of occult knowledge whose distinction of the real and unreal realms is blurred (Yes, text. Technically, Vampyr HAS sound, but Dreyer intended it to be more in the vein of a silent film. Dialog is at an absolute minimum and most information is conveyed as inter-titles or as books the characters are perusing.). In the course of his wandering Gray finds himself in a river-side town one evening and checks himself into an inn (all without a word). At night, waking from a dream, (or does he, because the film's central conceit is that almost everything is seen through Gray's POV and may only represent his own flawed perception), Gray sees his room door open and a mysterious old man enters. Entreating him with the words "She must not die!" the old man leaves a package ("to be opened after my death") and leaves.

Gray hurries out to the village in deep night (presumably to follow the old man) and walks into a phantasmagoria: In an undoubtedly intense collaboration with his cinematographer Rudolph Maté, Dreyer shows us shadows that appear to move independent of bodies, performing such bizarre actions as un-digging a grave. Going in loose pursuit of these body-less silhouettes, in particular a guard with a peg leg, Gray runs into the village doctor, who shares the mysterious, malevolent mood of the night. Sometime after this and more eerie events, Gray goes towards a stately but decadent mansion where he sees the old man who appeared in his room...only for the old man to get immediately shot by a shadow. This could again be an act of Gray's imagination and the old man could have died of natural causes, since no one in the house is concerned about informing the police.