7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.3 |
A drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
Starring: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz, Jan HieronimkoForeign | 100% |
Horror | 38% |
Supernatural | 1% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.19:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.2:1
German: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
German: Dolby Digital Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Vampyr" (1932) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an alternate version of the film; audio commentary by critic and filmmaker Tony Rayns; documentary film produced by Jorgen Roos; visual essay prepared by film scholar Casper Tyberg; and more. Also included with this release is a 215-page book featuring Carl Theodor Dreyer and Christen Jul's original screenplay and Sheridan Le Fanu's story "Carmilla", a source for Vampyr; as well as 40-page illustrated booklet featuring critical writings on the film and the restoration and reconstruction of the German version by Mark La Fanu, Kim Newman, Martin Koerber, and Herman G. Weinberg and Gretchen Weinberg. In German, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Presented in aspect ratio of 1.19:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 2K DataCine from a 35mm fine-grain master positive restored by Cineteca di Bologna. Additional restoration was carried out by the Criterion Collection. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management. The soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm optical soundtrack negative. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.
Telecine supervisors: Thomas Christensen/Danish Film Institute, Lee Kline.
Telecine colorist: Jorgen Christiansen/Digital Film Lab."
The original negative for Vampyr no longer exists and the current restoration, which was completed in 1998, is essentially a reconstruction that uses footage from partially surviving 35mm German and French prints. Obviously, this means that in terms of density there are fluctuations that can be traced right back to the original elements that were accessed. This being said, the end result is still very pleasing, and while some transitions are obvious, there are no distracting anomalies that would affect negatively your viewing experience. Also, you should keep in mind that different techniques were used to give select parts a type of hazy, or dreamy, appearance that enhance the desired atmosphere (you can see good examples in screencaptures #4, 13, and 15). Elsewhere light and shadow are also utilized in interesting ways for a different type of effect (see screencapture #9). In other words, while there are most certainly source limitations the film has a bold and unique cinematic style that actually promotes effects that can trick you to conclude that they were introduced by imperfections. The grading is convincing, but time has left its mark and small fluctuations can be spotted. Image stability is good, but there are a few areas where some shakiness remains. Lastly, I would say that it is very obvious that a lot of work was done to make sure that the film looks as healthy as possible because scratches and especially the type of white specks that can often be seen on older films from the same era have been removed as best as possible. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
Two versions of Vampyr are included on this release: the restored and reconstructed German version, and an alternate version with English titles, which was created by Criterion. The former comes with a German LPCM 1.0 track, while the later has a German Dolby Digital 1.0 track.
I think that the end result is certainly convincing as the lossless audio has quite good depth, or certainly for a film from the era, but I went back and did some comparisons between the lossless and lossy tracks and to be honest I could not hear a drastic difference in quality. Also, I think that only an expert on Vampyr can definitively tell just how accurately the audio was reconstructed because there are a few areas where I could spot transitions but there is also some unevenness that is very difficult to analyze. Regardless, I think that just as it was the case with the DVD release the restored and reconstructed audio makes it easy to enjoy the film as well as surviving elements allow.
Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr has never been ignored or forgotten, but since the VHS era it has enjoyed a renaissance that has prompted a lot of people to reevaluate it. It really is a lot more than just a great Gothic horror film -- it is an uncharacteristically bold and in some ways even prophetic mind-bender that I think has directly and indirectly influenced the work of generations of different directors across the globe. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release is sourced from a very good 2K restoration and reconstruction of the German version of Vampyr from 1998, though as Martin Koerber speculates in an archival article that appears on the booklet that is included with it perhaps it won't be too long before restorations of other versions are completed. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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