Vampyr

Vampyr may have been Dreyer’s first sound film, but it’s the delirious visuals that make this fever dream shine. Based on stories from the short story collection In a Glass Darkly, the nightmarish thriller follows a student of the occult who travels to a village in France and discovers that it is under the curse of a vampire. Soft photography and odd angles create the feeling of something lurking just beyond the frame, evoking an eerie chill that is hard to shake. Considered a low point for Dreyer’s career at the time, the film has since been vindicated by horror fans and even filmmakers like Andrei Tarkovsky.

21/12(Sun): Film talk with Grace Ng