Despite being considered as a classic today, VAMPYR wasn’t that well received upon its release. It is a true curiosity but there is a lot to be said for its qualities notwithstanding the fact that it has influenced numerous filmmakers over the years in some way or another.
Since this movie was inspired by elements from Le Fanu’s literary universe and not a self sufficient story, it does feel a little patched together. Still, what could’ve been an obvious inconvenience here becomes an advantage in the sense that these almost disparate elements make up the overall ambiance of abstract horrors and mysteries. And some of these elements are so different from what we’re used to seeing in vampire movies that they feel almost modern. Dreyer doesn’t focus exclusively on what makes up the traditional vampire — stalking beautiful women, disliking daylight, having no reflection — but instead creates a whole movie world of eeriness in which the vampire is but one element.
Another strength of this film is the fact that it is mostly a silent film meaning that the story is conveyed primarily through its visuals. There are several title cards throughout in the form of pages from a book about vampires and also a few bits of dialogue since the movie was shot with sound but in three different languages, leading Dreyer to opt for something a little easier to deal with. He also chose to film entirely on location and utilized a soft focus photographic technique thus conveying a surreal and dreamlike quality to the overall atmosphere or maybe that should be “nightmarish quality” since the The whole movie is like a a bad dream in that it blends symbols, metaphors and real happenings.
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