Allan Gray as played by Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg (under the screen name Julian West) conveys a charismatic presence.

The fact that he looks disarmingly like H. P. Lovecraft will add a lovely dimension of fascination for Lovecraftian horror fans.

The screenplay was inspired by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu's Victorian lesbian-vampire novella Camilla (1872), but Vampyr (1932) has such a muddled storyline that LeFanu's plot is difficult to detect.


There are many highly surreal moments like the cleverly filmmed sequence in which a man's shadow comes to life on its own, the premature burial, & the scenes showing the a personification of Death.

Every scene is moody to the highest degree, dreamlike, with phenomenal cinematography. Although it's a "talkie" it's really a transitional film retaining what was best about the silent film era while adding what was newest.

It can seem slow if one is in an impatient mood, but Vampyr is a true work of art that more than rewards patience.

Continue to the urban vampire films:
Nadja (1994) & The Addiction (1995)

copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl