gagewyn

Shadow of the Vampire is a fictional account of the behind the scenes

events surrounding the making of the silent film Nosferatu. There are

some interesting parallels in the plots of the two movies, mainly

because Shadow of the Vampire treats Nosferatu as if it were filmed

sequentially. The intermittent scenes from Nosferatu in the frame of

Murnau's camera play off the action going on just outside the frame.

Any five minute clip of this film would be interesting and well done.

Still the film as a whole falls short. I think that some of this may be

due to the mixture the film was going for. There is the horror comedy

mix, which is pretty well done, there is the historical background,

which starts to loose coherence, and then there are little bits like the

vampire talking about why he didn't like the novel Dracula (it didn't

mirror his own life, so he found it horribly inaccurate) which try to

introduce a bit of philosophy. So you get these bits where the vampire

is being deep, and then he hisses at someone for comic relief. This is

OK in little parts, but overall it was instances like these which lost

the film it's footing. In the end it gave me the impression of a very

muddled effect.

Still, any short segment of the film that I can think of was pretty

good, including the opening credits with a lot of moody zooms on celtic

style drawings. These credits were so long that the end credits started

with the main actor's stand-ins or something. Anyway we're talking

really long opening credits, so the fact that they were decent to watch

says a lot. Anyhow the details are good. I particularly liked the

scenes with Murnau yelling at the actors or telling them something odd

to get the proper reaction because the only other places I get to see

silent film type directing like this is on MTV's Making the Video. (only

prerecorded sound in a music video) The bits with the vampire are also

great with lots of very overdone very funny hissing going on.

It's a toss up as to whether or not this film is worth seeing, mainly

because it doesn't hold together well. If you are a fan of the horror

genre or it sounds interesting to you then you might like it for the

parts. Seeing Nosferatu first would be a good idea, since this movie

plays off it quite a bit, (there is also the possibility of it giving

away the plot to Nosferatu) and since Nosferatu is pretty good.

Money Bone was a decent watch, but I think that at some levels it

tried too hard to be zany and original and just came out cluttered. The

plot deals with the cartoonist Stu Miley and his alter ego creation

Monkey Bone, and takes place in the real world, and in the worlds of

sleep and death. By the way Sleep is the brother of Death. I

particularly liked the theme of voyage into and return from the land of

death, because this sets up sort of a classical framework, and gave the

movie a good level of restraint and balance.

As for the visual effects, which I feel have been the main

marketing appeal of the film so far, they are consistently done, which

flaws the film. The effects in the land of sleep are extremely well

done. What might otherwise be a meaningless clutter of eye candy works

here because it adds to the sense of unreality and disorientation. In

the world of sleep the well done eye candy enhances the film on more

than a purely visual level. The problem is that the eye candy, and

constant activity are carried over to scenes in the real world. This

decreases some of the effect of having different worlds in the first

place. If people in the real world don't obey all the laws of physics,

dress in matching colors, or act rationally then what exactly is

disorienting about the sleep world in the first place?

In summary the dream and death world sequences were very well and

appropriately done, and had the whole movie been as well done I would

definitely recommend it. However carrying the visual clutter, that's

clutter - not richness, into the real normal world degenerated the movie

into more of a decorative eye candy type work. I do recommend watching

this film for the good parts, but it doesn't carry through, so don't get

your hopes up.

Horror and comedy make a great mix, and this film mixes them pretty

well, although some of the transition between the two was a bit choppy.

The film grabbed my attention from the start, with the bit where the

split dog comes back to life. Seeing half a dog trying to run and

whimpering is something that you have to see. Also as scenes progress

and the nervous warehouse supervisor realizes things are bad, the sweat

pools under his arms and on his back get progressively bigger and

bigger. I guess between takes they were hitting the actor with a wet

sponge. Little jokes like these made the first part of the film one of

the funniest sequences I have seen.

The element of comedy is carried through the film, but in the second

half toned down and mixed with a much more horrific tone. I felt let

down by something about the shift, like the movie changed pace and left

me behind for about twenty minutes. I think that some of this may have

been to make fun of the death obsessed punks getting a taste of what

they were interested in. Remember Trash's talk about death - pretty

ironic considering what happens to her later. The fast paced comedic

element held through the film though, as each time some even more

horrible mistake was made wild music played.

The title might suggest that this film is a parody of Night of the

Living Dead. I have seen it represented as such, and I feel that it

isn't a parody, but there way be some intentional connection. Perhaps

the shift to serious violence and horror was part of working toward a

connection. Both films follow a progression of increasing seriousness,

with a slight relief then downer ending. Intentional connection may

have been part of what contributed to the choppy shift from comedy to

horror. On the other hand Return of the Living Dead felt complete at

the end, so overall the pacing was good.

I definitely recommend this movie to everyone. The whole thing was very

well done. This film plays up the kitsch value for parody effect, and

unlike many comedies doesn't feel weak at the end.