Welcome to The Witch’s Hat, I am your host Root Rot. Today’s post is a review of “Shadow of the Vampire” (2000)
Author: Root Rot
Film experts credit the 1922 Nosferatu as one the best horror movies in film history. I disagree, in fact Nosferatu is boring as hell. I have only watched the silent Dracula rip off from start to finish once. Though I’m not a fan of Nosferatu, Count Orlok’s appearance was unexpected and intriguing. I was aware of the myth that Max Shreck the actor that play Count Orlok was a real vampire. I decided to investigate, the actor’s name was Max Schreck , but he wasn’t a vampire, BECAUSE VAMPIRES DON’T FUCKING EXIST!!! During my Max Schreck investigation I discovered Shadow of the Vampire.
Plot: The 
film play’s on the myth that Max Sherck was a real vampire. Shadow of theVampire tells the story of director F. W. Marnau’s (John Malkovich) eccentric directing style and the unconventional method actor Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe) during the filming of Nasferatu. Schreck is feared by the supporting cast of Nadferatu, from his the bat like features with out makeup. All of the crazy perception’s the cast have on Schreck start to become a reality throughout the film, until the twist at the end…End..
Shadow of the Vampire director E. Elias Merhige capitalized on the myths surrounding Max Schreck/Count Orlok portraying him as a mysterious blood drinker. Dofoe was the highlight of film portraying Count Orlok better than Schreck had done in 1922. Dofoe’ has been successfully throughout his career porting iconic characters such as Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988, and in 2001 as the Green Goblin in Spiderman. The supporting cast in Shadow add’s a sence of realism by looking the part of the cast from original Nasferatu. The twist near the end bothered me, but beside that minor irritation I enjoyed the film.
On the Root Rot scale of (A+) being the best and (E) the worst, the 2000 “Shadow of the Vampire ” gets a (B).
Great review Root Rot! I enjoy Shadow of the Vampire quite a bit, both DaFoe and Malkovich are superb in their roles, the exploration of the myth surrounding Max Shreck is interesting and captivating, it loses some steam by the end, but I reccomend it to the initiated w/o reservation. I give it ***1/2 outta 5.
Thanks, this was a trick review for me. That’s why I kept it short. But if I had more time It may have been more interesting. I could have focused more on the myth with cross references. The name game killed me too. Things like Max Schreck playing Orlok (Defoe) was hard to make clear not to confuse the reader.
very nice man! i never got a chance to see this one, im gonna have to take a look! thanks bro.
I wouldn’t call it a must see, but it’s worth a watch.