A darkly beautiful work of art. Flawed but brilliant.
Nic Cage’s (Co-Producer) greatest contribution to cinema.
Most importantly, to quote a post I made immediately after I last saw this film (until just now):
‘Wow.
Chilling. In one movie, understatement, subtle comedy, and the performance of Willem Dafoe’s career come together to provide what decades of slasher films have failed to – Terror.’
Or, as paraphrased from Robert Christgau…
“…nightmares of a world in flames, the kind you remember in all their scary inconsistency because you woke up (screaming) in the middle. How it will all end I couldn’t say…”‘
– ‘Shadow of the Vampire’, 12/18/10, Puppy
Grade: A-