Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey (1932) d. Carl Theodor Dreyer

Vampyr-der-traum-des-allan-gre

"Me and my sha-dow..."

(Now, of course, this is not from the 70s and frankly I haven't yet made the effort to adjust the title but!!!...)

Vampyr was very beautiful and completely creepy especially at the beginning.  It's only my second Dreyer film and I was amazed and chilled (and amused) by the the shadows in the woods freed from their bodies, gravedigger ombres undigging, and other nightmare images. Most eerie was Allan Grey's (another Renfield, Harker type) moving camera walk through the claustrophobic small spaces of the inn with the ceiling pressing down and TERRIFYING wallpaper.  Yet another strand I haven't woven ye,t I have been fascinated by the many and various wallpapers I've seen in horror films. Shorthand for "old" (old being suspect at best and evil at worst), the flowery , decaying or layered wallpaper repeatedly marks spaces as, domestic, worn, stuck in time, claustrophobic or anachronistic and suburban or rural.  The most explicit wallpaper reference I've seen is cited in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre when Sally reminisces about the paper in her grandparents home.  This worn paper with circus animals is mirrored horribly in the Chainsaw family's crazy home, that, in a weird twist on domesticity, has floral papers and "decorations" made of feathers, human and animal bones and leather and various body parts.

This screening of Vampyr was a bit frustrating with no translation.  My non-german was totally overtaxed and a little context would have been helpful despite the "cinematic" (curator's rational) nature of the film.  There are actually large swatches of text and slight bits of dialogue that I believe were meant to be understood.  The sound is very atmospheric and odd, especially at the end. There were 2 endings due to a little archival fluke--seeing it once (flour!) was traumatic enough, twice was overwhelming. Subtitling the film "der traum des Allen Grey" is more than appropriate--it really is almost surrealist at times.  More about wallpaper later and speaking of vampires,one of these days Last Man on Earth!