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Criterion’s 2008 release of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932) is representative of an important and subtle shift in English-language subtitling. Translator John Gudelj and the Criterion spotting/timecoding staff provided subtitles that effortlessly blend with the dialogue. This artistry makes their unique choices even harder to spot. For years translating every word as spoken has been de rigueur. This is desirable for clarity. But with repetitive dialogue, equally repetitive subtitles fail to trust the audience, detracting from rather than enhancing the film.

Early in the story, Allan Gray stops in a country house. “Guten Abend,” says the young housekeeper, to which Gray immediately responds, “Guten Abend.” The housekeeper’s dialogue is subtitled, “Good evening.” The subtitles do not repeat the banality when Gray speaks the same line of dialogue. It would be pointless. The audience has heard this common phrase and read the translation when first spoken. Nothing else is necessary. This subtitling choice is used again when Gisele sees Leone from the window. “There, outside,” she cries. “Leone, Leone!” The initial translation was necessary to communicate to viewers that the dialogue was actually a name, but when Gisele runs outside calling Leone’s name over and over, there are no subtitles. The lush imagery of Gisele running through the forest would be marred by subtitles that hammer the obvious translation. When Gisele and Gray are fog-bound in their little boat, they yell, “Hallo!” and are guided by answering cries from the opposite bank. The dialogue and context are absolutely clear without subtitles. This technique was used to poignant effect when Leone rests in bed. “I am damned,” she says. “Mein Gott, mein Gott… mein Gott.” American audiences are familiar with the German phrase. Gudelj wisely translated the first lines, “My God, my God…” As the camera pans away from Leone, she pathetically whimpers the same line of dialogue a third time. Here the subtitles are absent, allowing viewers to take in the full emotional impact of Dreyer’s images.

It is an irony of subtitles that at their best they go unnoticed. Gudelj and the Criterion staff deserve praise for doing that so well.

Probably not seen as much by today’s standards but it can be seen as truly innovative with a early twentieth century perspective. Dreyer definitely displays a certain style of film ,which from what i’ve seen as definitely groundbreaking of the time. He incorporates great camera movements and imagery (and special effects) to give this movie a dark and eerie feel. A fantastic piece of cinema history! Definitely superb to any michael bay flick…

This is not only one of the greatest vampire and horror films ever made, but also one of the greatest films, period. It does not thrill, it is hard to follow, and many will not be satisfied after an initial viewing. However, after repeated viewings you will find it to be one of the eeriest and most mesmerizing experiences that you will ever have watching a film. It doesn’t scare you, but it stays with you long after you’ve watched it. It is truly the closest a film has ever come to recreating a nightmare. If Dreyer revolutionized the cinema with the Passion of Joan of Arc, then Vampyr cemented his legacy as one of the truly great filmmakers who ever lived.

Nightmarish horror film by Carl Theodor Dreyer is more eerie than scary, but it is one of the most famous vampire films. Julian West (stage name of a Danish aristocrat who backed the film) is interested in paranormal events and stumbles onto a strange inn where shadows, characters and feelings evoke a creepy dream-state. He then ends up at a castle where he finds out an old woman is really a vampire (demonic elderly women also show up in his later film Day of Wrath); she has bitten a young woman who is about to turn into a vampire herself. Little plot to speak of but film has one of the most atmospheric evocations of a dream-state I have seen. Because it was originally conceived as a silent film (dialogue is kept to a bare minimum) and then accented with recorded dialogue, the camera is especially fluid for an early “talkie”. Cinematographer Rudolph Mate’s work here is brilliantly impressionistic (many scenes are filmed with gauze over the lens to further enhance the dream sensation) — the best cinematography I have seen in any horror film. The best scenes are when West’s spirit leaves his body and he ends up in a coffin as if dead, watching his funeral; and the climax when an evil doctor, who is a henchman for the vampire, is buried in a granary. Not one of my favourite Dreyer films — it could use a jolt or two — but you can see its influence still in modern films such as Pan’s Labryinth, The Blair Witch Project and Let the Right One In.