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Vampyr



With Vampyr, Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer’s brilliance at achieving mesmerizing atmosphere and austere, profoundly unsettling imagery (as in The Passion of Joan of Arc and Day of Wrath) was for once applied to the horror genre. Yet the result—concerning an occult student assailed by various supernatural haunts and local evildoers at an inn outside Paris—is nearly unclassifiable, a host of stunning camera and editing tricks and densely layered sounds creating a mood of dreamlike terror. With its roiling fogs, ominous scythes, and foreboding echoes, Vampyr is one of cinema’s great nightmares.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the 1998 film restoration by Martin Koerber and the Cineteca di Bologna
• Optional all-new English-text version of the film
• Audio commentary featuring film scholar Tony Rayns
• Carl Th. Dreyer (1966), a documentary by Jörgen Roos chronicling Dreyer’s career
• Visual essay by scholar Casper Tybjerg on Dreyer’s influences in creating Vampyr
• A 1958 radio broadcast of Dreyer reading an essay about filmmaking
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Mark Le Fanu and Kim Newman, Koerber on the restoration, and a 1964 interview with producer and star Nicolas de Gunzburg, as well as a book featuring Dreyer and Christen Jul's original screenplay and Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 story "Carmilla," a source for the film

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justeleblanc wrote:About VAMPYR, my friend at Criterion just told me that the materials are incredibly f-ed. I'm not sure what they have planned between now and the release, but I'm not too optimistic.

Is he referring to the film elements of Vampyr are f-ed or the elements of the supplements themselves (ex: the documentary by Jörgen Roos)?

Wow by far the best release of July.

Great supplements (another book for chrissakes!) and though yes it's a shame Tybjerg isn't giving the commentary, at least he's involved and a video essay still means we can hear his voice-- unless they do what they did with Breathless and have the critic's writing spoken by a voice actor. Oh God, please tell me this isn't going to happen

justeleblanc wrote:About VAMPYR, my friend at Criterion just told me that the materials are incredibly f-ed. I'm not sure what they have planned between now and the release, but I'm not too optimistic.

Didn't your bud at Criterion also mention that Criterion would be doing their own restoration from scratch? It sounds like they just said, "Fuck it. That's too much work. We'll just use the one from ten years ago." I still suspect it will look better here than it ever has before.

Jeff wrote: I still suspect it will look better here than it ever has before.

It's a known scientific certainty that no DVD transfer could ever look as bad as the Image disc of this-- I'm pretty sure it was a "Fun Fact" sidebar in my college Physical Science textbook.

Ballpark image quality: Beaver comparison between the Image disc and excerpts from Vampyr in the Sybille Schmitz doc on Criterion's disc of Veronika Voss, which Gary believes are from the Koerber restoration.

Jeff wrote:

justeleblanc wrote:About VAMPYR, my friend at Criterion just told me that the materials are incredibly f-ed. I'm not sure what they have planned between now and the release, but I'm not too optimistic.

Didn't your bud at Criterion also mention that Criterion would be doing their own restoration from scratch? It sounds like they just said, "Fuck it. That's too much work. We'll just use the one from ten years ago." I still suspect it will look better here than it ever has before.

The last time I spoke with him, he told me the film was in horrendous condition and that they were in the process of improving upon the restoration done in Denmark, but that they were in the midst of trying some new software. It's very possible that it turned out to be an easier job than expected. I'm actually very curious to see what they did with it.

What does this mean for the MoC edition?

Via_Chicago wrote:What does this mean for the MoC edition?

It means that Vampyr will be available in both the US AND the UK.

stalker_ozu wrote:Wow by far the best release of July.

Correction: of the year so far (from Criterion, at least).

arsonfilms wrote:

Via_Chicago wrote:What does this mean for the MoC edition?

It means that Vampyr will be available in both the US AND the UK.

I'm aware of this, but (correct me if I'm wrong) I got the impression that MoC largely decided to go ahead with their release because so many here were pressuring them, figuring that Criterion would not release the film until an HD quality image could be released. This sort of puts the kibosh on all that.

Via_Chicago wrote:

arsonfilms wrote:

Via_Chicago wrote:What does this mean for the MoC edition?

It means that Vampyr will be available in both the US AND the UK.

I'm aware of this, but (correct me if I'm wrong) I got the impression that MoC largely decided to go ahead with their release because so many here were pressuring them, figuring that Criterion would not release the film until an HD quality image could be released. This sort of puts the kibosh on all that.

I believe that the members of the forum encouraged MoC to release Vampyr regardless of Criterion's plans. We all knew that Criterion would be putting this out soon and the alternative for MoC was to wait until much more work was done. I've long been an advocate of buying local whenever possible, but I recall a number of other promising to buy the MoC on principle. That said, I think that sales for MoC may suffer a little because of the new development, but now MoC knows where the bar is set and I'm sure would be able to remain competitive when they do decide to formally announce the title.

Nick addresses Criterion's announcement here. Looks like a Criterion-MOC showdown in July.

Interesting that this is included...

Sheridan Le Fanu 1871 story “Carmilla,” a source for the filmTitle: Vampyr

The cinematic vampire derives almost entirely from the Irish gothic horror tradition of the 19th Century. Sheridan Le Fanu was author of copious suspense stories, including aforesaid "Carmilla", a female vampire hailing from Styria... His literary sucessor would be fellow Dubliner Bram Stoker who launched his Transylvanian creation "Dracula" to the world just over 25 years later in his 1897 novel of the same name...

Related also in the gothic horror genre would be Charles Robert Maturin ("Melmoth the Wanderer", 1820) and his distant cousin, Oscar Wilde ("The Picture of Dorian Gray",1890)...

Jeff wrote:Nick addresses Criterion's announcement here. Looks like a Criterion-MOC showdown in July.

Thanks Jeff. Glad to see they're still going forward with the release. (Also glad to see that peerpee's got himself a David Farragut attitude and everything!) )

i'm incredibly excited about this and greatly looking forward to reading kim newman's piece.

Looks like Criterion will present this film in its original aspect ratio of 1.19:1, and that they did a 2k HD transfer

Vampyr is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.19:1, a European format that is narrower than a 1.33:1 image. The black bars along the side of the screen, called "pillarboxing," are normal for this format, and will be even more pronounced on widescreen televisions. The narrowness of this format is due to the variable-density soundtrack, which was positioned to the left of the picture area. This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from a 35 mm fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of material included.
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the restoration digital master, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on surround sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.

Wonderful, another master classic silent joins the ranks. It sure took a hell of a time though Criterion. But everything looks right. Great job!

Cinephrenic wrote:Wonderful, another master classic silent joins the ranks.

Could Vampyr really be considered a silent film? I know that a lot of it has no dialogue, but it still has some amazing sound design... and four different versions were created with four different language tracks (and each of those edits was slightly different due to early sound editing technology).

miless wrote:

Cinephrenic wrote:Wonderful, another master classic silent joins the ranks.

Could Vampyr really be considered a silent film? I know that a lot of it has no dialogue, but it still has some amazing sound design... and four different versions were created with four different language tracks (and each of those edits was slightly different due to early sound editing technology).

I've always grouped Vampyr alongside the other great half-and-half films of the transitional years, like Under the Roofs of Paris and Man of Aran. Neither quite talkies, nor quite silent -- yet wonderful all the same.

I wonder how many different editions of "Carmilla" I'll own after I buy this DVD. It's so widely anthologized, I'm surprised Criterion decided to include it.

tryavna wrote:I've always grouped Vampyr alongside the other great half-and-half films of the transitional years, like Under the Roofs of Paris and Man of Aran. Neither quite talkies, nor quite silent -- yet wonderful all the same.

In that same vein, I'd include L'Age d'Or and Blackmail (although this one does have both silent and talkie versions). M, too, has large sections with no dialogue (or even sound, which I suppose is a breakthrough, seeming as how all other films were accompanied by constant live music, even if it went against the wishes of the director a la The Passion of Joan of Arc)

Could Vampyr really be considered a silent film?

Your right, borderline talkie I would say.

Cinephrenic wrote:

Could Vampyr really be considered a silent film?

Your right, borderline talkie I would say.

I kinda want to start a band called Borderline Talkie.

Criterion of Vampyr?! Eughhhmmmm! Oh, only when I am very, very joyful is that sound emitted from by my Being.