"Shadow of the Vampire" is the first film released by Nicolas Cage's production company. It's called Saturn Films, or Saturn Productions, or something like that. I'm not entirely sure what the name is, but it's definitely got the word "Saturn" in it. It's an encouraging debut film for his company, because it's far from your typical Hollywood movie. I just think that he needs to change the name of his production company. It's way too generic. I mean, I love astronomy, and Saturn is the most beautiful planet in our solar system (from a distance, at least), but it just doesn't seem to make a good name for a production company. Also, as the movie was starting, the logo for his Saturn company came up, and all I could think about was how it seemed like the car company changed their logo. With a cool (and fake) name like Nicolas Cage, he shoulda called his company something like Cage Films. Okay, that's not perfect, but it beats the name he ended up with, right?
By the way, one of Nicolas Cage's first films was a movie called "Kiss of the Vampire," which is a bit of a cult classic. One of the most memorable moments in it is when he eats a live cockroach. Pretty nasty. Okay, so I guess it's not entirely relevant, but I think it's cool that he once starred in a movie called "Kiss of the Vampire," and now he just produced a movie called "Shadow of the Vampire." Um...
Anyway...
"Shadow of the Vampire" is an odd film. Odd, but certainly entertaining. It helps if you've seen the 1922 German film, "Nosferatu," being that THIS vampire movie is about the making of THAT vampire movie. To avoid any confusion, yes, "Shadow of the Vampire" is definitely a work of fiction. I, regrettably, have not seen "Nosferatu" (though I will, eventually). Still, just because I haven't seen it, I didn't feel lost while watching it. This movie does a good job of explaining things so that those who never even heard of "Nosferatu" can understand what's going on.
John Malkovich stars as "F.W. Murnau," the real-life director of "Nosferatu." He plays a man obsessed with his art, and he'll do whatever it takes to get the perfect shot. Malkovich plays him well, but he's not good with the German accent. Actually, I've noticed that about him. I think he's a great actor (the two best examples of his great work are as the psychotic villain in "In the Line of Fire" and as a version of himself in the great "Being John Malkovich"), but when it comes to accents, he's pretty weak. Then again, his German accent was a lot better than Cary Elwes', who played one of Murnau's cinematographers. I like Cary Elwes. How can I NOT like the guy who played "Wesley" in "The Princess Bride"? But yes, his German accent was laughably bad. But that's enough. No need to make fun of accents anymore. It's not like I can do any better. So anyway, Udo Kier is really good in the movie. He's a bit of a cult figure because he starred in "Flesh for Frankenstein" and "Blood for Dracula," both of which are cult classics. He's been getting a lotta work lately, I've noticed. Finally, there's Willem Dafoe. Wow. He was AMAZING! He played "Max Schreck," the star of "Nosferatu," and he was brilliant. Pure perfection. He's completely unrecognizable because of all the make-up, but it's not just the way he looks. It's the way he moves, the way he talks, the way he sniffs the air... he was simply awesome. He deserves a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, and if he doesn't get it, it's a crime. I can't wait to see him as "The Green Goblin" when the "Spider-Man" movie comes out.
Want some useless trivia? Too bad, you're gonna get it! In Tim Burton's film, "Batman Returns" (in my opinion, the best of the "Batman" films... sadly, it was to be Burton's last), Christopher Walken plays a character named "Max Shreck." The spelling was changed slightly, for legal reasons, I suppose, but yeah, Walken's character was named after the man who played "Count Orlock" in "Nosferatu."
"Shadow of the Vampire" was written by Steven Katz, whose only other credit is that he wrote part one of the HBO mini-series, "From the Earth to the Moon." This was a good script. It was definitely different, which is a good thing. As for the director, his name is E. Elias Merhige. His only other film is his debut in 1991, a movie called "Begotten." It's a movie that he wrote, produced, directed, and even did the cinematography for. I've never heard of the movie, but I'd loved to see it. From what I've read about it, it's one of the most bizarre and disturbing films ever made. Yep, I DEFINITELY have to see it! As for his work in this movie, I think he did a great directing job. He seems like a pretty strange guy, and I'm really curious about what his next directing gig will be.
This is the
kinda movie that some people won't like. It's not your average formulaic
plot, and it's not a nice little ready-made package like "The Wedding
Planner" (thankfully, I wasn't dragged to see that crap). It's got
a few slow parts, and it may be TOO weird for some, but film geeks and those
who like the unusual will probably get a kick out of this film.
Scale of 1-10: 8