| Notes | Criterion Collection DVD edition
With Vampyr, Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer channeled his genius for creating mesmerizing atmosphere and austere, unsettling imagery into the horror genre. The result—a chilling film about a student of the occult who encounters supernatural haunts and local evildoers in a village outside of Paris—is nearly unclassifiable. A host of stunning camera and editing tricks and densely layered sounds create a mood of dreamlike terror. With its roiling fogs, ominous scythes, and foreboding echoes, Vampyr is one of cinema’s great nightmares.
SPECIAL EDITION SET:
High-definition digital transfer of the original German-language version of the film from the 1998 restoration by Martin Koerber and the Cineteca di Bologna, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Alternate version with English text
Audio commentary from 2008 featuring film scholar Tony Rayns
Carl Th. Dreyer, a 1966 documentary by Jørgen Roos chronicling Dreyer’s career
Video essay by scholar Casper Tybjerg on Dreyer’s influences in creating Vampyr
Radio broadcast from 1958 of Dreyer reading an essay about filmmaking
PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Mark Le Fanu and Kim Newman, a piece by Koerber on the restoration, and a 1964 interview with producer and actor Nicolas de Gunzburg, as well as a book (Blu-ray only) featuring Dreyer and Christen Jul’s original screenplay and Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 story “Carmilla,” a source for the film
Cover by Michael Boland |
