Vampyr (1932) - Masters of Cinema (May 2022)

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Vampyr Blu-ray



The first foray into sound filmmaking by one of cinema’s pivotal artists, Vampyr remains a cornerstone work of the horror genre. The dreamlike tale of an occult-obsessed student’s visit to a small French village, as he is drawn into the unsettling mystery around a stricken family’s struggle with malevolent forces, remains an unparalleled evocation of the uncanny.

Adapting the haunted stories of Sheridan Le Fanu, Dreyer’s ceaseless innovation delivers a tour-de-force of supernatural phantasmagoria and creeping unease, via audacious camerawork and sound design.

Presented from an all-new 2K restoration by the Danish Film Institute, supported by the MEDIA program Creative Europe, and taking more than a decade to complete – materials from several European archives (including the BFI, CNC and DFI) have been meticulously scanned and assessed to create the highest quality and most faithful version of Vampyr possible. Now unveiled for the film’s 90th anniversary, one of the most visually and aurally distinctive horror films ever made finally comes to Blu-ray in the UK, in a definitive incarnation that achieves the full experience Dreyer intended audiences to have.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

Limited Edition Hardbound Slipcase [3000 copies]

All-new 2K digital restoration of the German version by the Danish Film Institute, completed in 2020 after an extensive decade-long restoration process, with uncompressed mono soundtrack

Optional unrestored audio track

Two audio commentaries: one by critic and programmer Tony Rayns; the second by filmmaker and Vampyr fan Guillermo del Toro

Visual essay by scholar Casper Tybjerg on Dreyer’s Vampyr influences

New video interview with author and critic Kim Newman on Vampyr's unique place within vampire cinema

Two new video interviews with music and cultural historian David Huckvale on the film's score and its adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu

Carl Th. Dreyer (1966) – a documentary by Jörgen Roos

Two deleted scenes, removed by the German censor in 1932

The Baron – a short MoC documentary about Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg

Optional English subtitles

A 100-PAGE BOOK - featuring rare production stills, location photography, posters, the 1932 Danish film programme, a 1964 interview with Baron Nicolas de Gunzberg (producer and actor "Allan Gray"), an essay by Dreyer on film style, and writing by Tom Milne, Jean and Dale Drum, and film restorer Martin Koerber [3000 copies]