Episode 43: Vampyr (1932)

"Accounts from many ages and lands tell of terrible demons called vampires.  Under the bright light of the full moon, they rise from their graves to suck the blood of children and young adults and thus prolong their shadowy existence." Just after Dracula (1931) haunted American theaters, a Danish filmmaker named Carl Theodor Dreyer was testing the waters of European horror with Vampyr (1932), a simple tale with a paradoxical hallucinogenic plot that some argue topped Dreyer's previous masterpiece, The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). Vampyr is the story of a girl who is bitten by the titular monster and her family's efforts to cure her of the resulting disease, but it is told in such a way that viewers are challenged to figure out if what they are seeing is actually part of the plot, or a fever dream on the part of the protagonist.  Watching it is an experience not to be forgotten, and second viewings can be even better; even if one were to criticize its simplistic story, it still stands alone 84 years later as a bizarre work of art and an outstanding early contribution to the horror genre. Have a comment or a question for the host?  Email Sean at [email protected], follow him on Twitter @1001MoviesPC, and look for the podcast's Facebook page.