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Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9786302194289 Format: Black & White, NTSC ISBN: 6302194288 Label: General Foreign Sales Corp. Languages: Manufacturer: General Foreign Sales Corp. Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: General Foreign Sales Corp. Release Date: October 21, 1991 Running Time: 75 minutes Studio: General Foreign Sales Corp. Theatrical Release Date: 1932 Editorial Review: Amazon.com: In this chilling, atmospheric German film from 1932, director Carl Theodor Dreyer favors style over story, offering a minimal plot that draws only partially from established vampire folklore. Instead, Dreyer emphasizes an utterly dreamlike visual approach, using trick photography (double exposures, etc.) and a fog-like effect created by allowing additional light to leak onto the exposed film. The result is an unsettling film that seems to spring literally from the subconscious, freely adapted from the Victorian short story Carmilla by noted horror author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, about a young man who discovers the presence of a female vampire in a mysterious European castle. There's more to the story, of course, but it's the ghostly, otherworldly tone of the film that lingers powerfully in the memory. Dreyer maintains this eerie mood by suggesting horror and impending doom as opposed to any overt displays of terrifying imagery. Watching Vampyr is like being placed under a hypnotic trance, where the rules of everyday reality no longer apply. As a splendid bonus, the DVD includes The Mascot, a delightful 26-minute animated film from 1934. Created by pioneering animator Wladyslaw Starewicz, this clever film--in which a menagerie of toys and dolls springs to life--serves as an impressive precursor to the popular Wallace & Gromit films of the 1990s. --Jeff Shannon Average Rating:
 Rating:  - This I considered a rip offThis movie was terrible and I didn't think that it lived up to the hype advertised. It was so bad I returned it and requested my money back. Picture was awful, sound was terrible and definitely not worth the money I spent. Rating:  - AT LAST ! ! !After eons of settling for one blury dupe-of-a-dupe after another, we finally have been presented with a decent print. Such Joy! The transfer is by far the best I've ever seen (I prefer the "English Text" version--included with this awesome set). The EXTRA's are a mindf***---wow! Just listen to that man talk! Brilliant, unaffected, enlightening etc. Thank you CRITERION! A joyous occasion. (Must take this opportunity to commend their magnificent restoration of NOSFERATU--it, too, is to die over...) Rating: - A Great Transfer Of A Great Classic HorrorFor anyone interested on the history of horror, this film is a must. Carl Dreyer has a unique style of storytelling and filming that stands apart from all other filmmakers. I have other transfers of this film, but the Criterion version is the best. A viewer will notice some spots and blotches left on the film. Criterion does not clean it up completely. From reading the write-ups of previous Criterion transfers I own, I gather the reason they do this is to preserve the version in a state that would ... Read More Rating:  - VampyrThis is a review of the Criterion Vampyr release. I will not review the film itself, but just a few comments on the quality. I have no other version of Vampyr to compare, but generally speaking this version is only so-so in terms of quality (as compared to, say, a 1930 hollywood film). It is all in soft focus, which seems to be unavoidable, and the outdoor scenes are very soft focus indeed, but apparently intentionally. All of this is fine, and the overall effect is good and creepy. However, the entire ... Read More Rating: - Poetry While Paint DriesDanish film maker Carl Dryer (1889-1968) is considered among Europe's finest directors, the creator of innovative 1928 THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC and the legendary VAMPYR--but some cinematic legends are best left recalled instead of revisited, and such is the case with the latter film. Produced in 1930, released in 1932, and very loosely based on the novella CARMILLA by Sheridan LeFanu, VAMPYR does indeed have moments of great poety, but on the whole the film is akin to watching paint dry. Read More |
