When this first started, I thought I was in for one of those films-about-film, maybe a biopic in the style of ED WOOD or at least something similar. Instead what I got was an offbeat, unique little fantasy piece, featuring a 'what if?' scenario: what if Max Schreck, the star of the silent horror classic NOSFERATU, really was a vampire in real life? He wasn't, of course, but the ensuing movie has a ball with the premise. Some of the highlights include top-dollar period atmosphere and a never-better turn from Willem Dafoe, playing Schreck with just the right mannerisms. His vampire is sympathetic and repulsive, amusing yet sinister, and it's the kind of performance that helps re-establish Dafoe in my mind as one of Hollywood's greats (what a surprise then that producers don't know how to use him and end up typecasting him as villain for much of the time).
Elsewhere, the film supports flamboyant turns from John Malkovich, cult star Udo Kier and Eddie Izzard, sporting the kind of exaggerated German accents that would make an 'ALLO 'ALLO cast member blush. Catherine McCormack (BRAVEHEART) is alluring as one of the leading actresses, and Cary Elwes shows up as an amusingly overblown pilot hero type. Seeing the silent film that inspired this one is a must, of course, and genre fans will probably find much to amuse them here, even if the whole film turns out to be rather minor and forgettable when it comes down to it.
Elsewhere, the film supports flamboyant turns from John Malkovich, cult star Udo Kier and Eddie Izzard, sporting the kind of exaggerated German accents that would make an 'ALLO 'ALLO cast member blush. Catherine McCormack (BRAVEHEART) is alluring as one of the leading actresses, and Cary Elwes shows up as an amusingly overblown pilot hero type. Seeing the silent film that inspired this one is a must, of course, and genre fans will probably find much to amuse them here, even if the whole film turns out to be rather minor and forgettable when it comes down to it.