The legend of Max Schreck is ... well, legendary.  The unknown actor virtually came from nowhere to land the role of the vampire in the classic 1922 film Nosferatu.  According to myth, Schreck wasn’t just pretending to be a bloodsucker – he actually was one of the undead.  The new film Shadow of the Vampire brings the legend of Schreck to the big screen over 70 years after the creepy actor put his unique stamp on what many consider to be the greatest portrayal of a vampire ever.

But how successful can a film be with no A-list stars, a mediocre actor-turned-producer (Nicolas Cage), a no-name director, a first-time screenwriter, a miniscule running time (most of which seem to be burned during the opening credits) and the presence of Udo Kier?  The answer is “moderately."  Vampire is a sloppy mess of a film, really corny, and a lot of fun to watch.  It also boasts what should be a lock for a Best Supporting Actor nomination at next year’s Academy Awards in Willem Dafoe, who plays the spindly Schreck to eerie perfection.  Kudos should also be given to the people responsible for transforming Dafoe into Schreck.

John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich) plays Nosferatu director F.W. Murnau, who wanted to make a film based on Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” but Stoker’s wife Florence refused to give him permission.  Murnau created his own vampire character in Nosferatu, swapping Count Dracula for Count Orlock.  His film, which was silent, followed a simple story involving a German real estate agent (played here by Eddie Izzard, Velvet Goldmine) and his fiancée (Catherine McCormack, Dangerous Beauty) who meet up with a potential client in Orlock (Dafoe, American Psycho).

In Vampire, Schreck is presented to the cast and crew of Nosferatu as one of the craft’s first method actors.  Murnau explains that Schreck will only appear in full costume and makeup, and, because of his kooky requirements, insists they only shoot at night.  You don’t see Shreck/Orlock until nearly 30 minutes into the film, which, given the running time here, is a significant portion of the movie.  But when he finally emerges from the shadows, it’s quite startling.  Where most screen portrayals of vampires have opted for creating a brooding lady-killer character, Vampire instead shows Schreck/Orlock as a bald, overgrown rat with impossibly long fingernails and gimpy little arms that hang above his chest like a bat.

Vampire mainly shows the trouble Murnau had keeping the bloodthirsty Schreck in line during the filming of Nosferatu.  When the cinematographer dies of a mysterious ailment (and two tiny puncture wounds in his neck), Murnau is forced to depart the set to find another cameraman, which leaves Schreck unsupervised with the rest of the film crew.  In order to keep Schreck from wreaking total havoc on the set, Murnau promises to “give” the morphine-addicted female lead to Schreck once the filming is completed, provided he behaves himself.  The finale is as madcap as you would expect from a success-hungry director, a hophead and a vampire pretending to be an actor pretending to be a vampire.

While most of the Vampire seems haphazardly slapped onto film, it does do a great job recreating the look and feel of a silent film with the use of title cards and the shift from black-and-white to color stock. The story, which was written by debut screenwriter Steven Katz (he penned part one of HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon), is unnecessarily messy for a film this length.  Vampire was directed by E. Elias Merhige, whose only previous film credit was the 1991 horror flick, Begotten.  An interesting note – Max Schreck is the name of the villain in Batman Returns (played by Christopher Walken).

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for adult language, nudity, violence