This is one of my favorite vampire movies and I'm really surprised I haven't reviewed it here already. Bethany came back this weekend so we could finish our Dracula marathon. We watched Shadow of the Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dracula Untold, and about half of Interview with a Vampire before she called it quits. In 1921, acclaimed German filmmaker Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (John Malkovich) sets out to make a knock-off of Dracula after the widow Stoker refused to sell him the rights to the novel. Unbeknownst to the cast and crew, Murnau has made a bargain with an actual vampire (Willem Dafoe) to star in his film as Count Orlock. Murnau eventually realizes that the creature's bloodlust is not worth the verisimilitude he brings to the role.
This is really a love letter to F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu, one of the greatest vampire films ever made. It bears almost no resemblance to the truth, other than the names of the actors and the filming locations, which only adds to the fun of it in my mind. It's also a great showcase for Dafoe as he hams up Orlock's general air of creepiness and obsession with the film's lead actress, Greta (Catherine McCormack). I honestly love this movie and I really wish more people would see it.
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