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"The November fog enveloped everything, muffling sounds and
softening the shapes of the houses and the countryside in the distance, immersing them in a sea of violet amber. Behind that color were the last rays of the sun, so dimmed that they could not harm the Damned..."
When the last rays of the sun disappear on the horizon behind the hilltops that seem to catch fire, and the darkness slowly envelops the village streets and countryside, fear takes hold of the living while the damned awaken hungry.
Forget all the clichés linked to the fascinating and alluring vampire figure created and spread after Stoker's work.
Do not seek evil in that direction, you will not find it.
Damnation insinuates itself in an even more insidious way and will not care for those who will be in its presence.
More than seventy years later, even today "Vampyr" retains an incredible, unchanged charm, due, in particular, to the splendid cinematography which, combined with the almost absence of dialogue and the slow progression of the plot, creates a sinister atmosphere like few others.
Some scenes, in fact, are absolutely memorable and will be more or less subtly revisited by many later films (I particularly think of the sand scene revisited exactly in "The Exorcist," the grave scene, perhaps the most disturbing of the entire genre, heavily ransacked by Wes Craven in "The Serpent and the Rainbow," and the face reflection scene that makes an appearance in at least 70% of modern horrors).
But the tension pervades the viewer throughout the duration of Vampyr, which, in my opinion, reaches its peak in the close-up of Sybille Schmitz's face (who later became one of the most famous actresses in the service of Third Reich cinematography) with its contrast between the moment of human despair and the one immediately following of demonic possession.
A close-up, therefore, capturing another masterpiece of the Danish master, after Renée Falconetti and her Joan of Arc in a film marked, like all his work, by the sharp contrast between whites and darks, loaded with evident and prophetic symbolism.
When darkness falls, then, set aside your certainties made of crosses, garlic necklaces, and wild roses, because none of this will help you, and do not trust anyone, least of all your shadows.
"...Through half-closed eyes,
I see the world by candlelight.
Floating in ecstatic abandon..."
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