Week 4

This week I’m going to discuss Dreyer’s Vampyr and how it uses hybridized techniques linked to the cinema of attractions to explore liminality between life and death, dream-state and consciousness, and how they intersect.

The first thing that struck me in this film was in the very beginning, where we see a man holding a massive scythe, his back facing us and standing on a dock. This immediately signified to me that there was death soon to follow. The film’s use of bells in accordance with the Grim Reaper-like figure also planted the idea that bells would help signify a blurring of reality within the film.

Due to the film’s non narrative-centric approach, it opens up the possibility for the film to feel much more like a dream than a clear story, something that clearly signifies the film’s connection to the cinema of attractions. The small bits of dialogue provided further enhance the film’s blurred reality. For example, Allan is described as following “fleeting shadows” to arrive at the estate. Descriptions such as these create a disconnect between what is real and unreal, since one can not literally follow a fleeting shadow, it links Alan’s actions to a state beyond our own.

Another thing I found intriguing about this film comes from the messages within the text that Alan reads throughout. There is a scene where said text discusses the fact that a vampire’s disgust with their own craving for blood would lead them to prey upon those dearest to them—their family and neighbors, etc. I feel that, especially with this film’s connection to cinema of attractions and therefore to sideshow performances, this creates an interesting commentary on the idea that “queerness” (in this context “queer” describes that which is different or unfamiliar) is a sort of disease that can negatively affect all who surround it. This is evident in the film with continuous death that surrounds Alan, and with a history of vampires representing outcasts of society, it makes sense why this would spark fear in audience members. Not only is the narrative of the film liminal, but so is the “villain”, it represents that which is both real and unreal and the fears that come from an inability to recognize which is which.