Day #2 of the 30 Day Film Challenge

[shadowkat]

It's Day #2 of the 30 DAY FILM CHALLENGE - a film you like that starts with the first letter of your name.

I've decided to go with my online name "shadowkat", you may do what you wish.

This has got to be among my favorite vampire movies ever. It's clever. And a kind of meta-narrative/meta-fiction on the whole vampire film and monster movie trope - before anyone else appeared to come up with the idea. The story is about the making of the film Nostrefratu (an unauthorized version of Bram Stoker's Dracula in Germany) with an actual vampire, which the director fails to disclose to the cast and crew.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[cjlasky7]

This is my favorite performance by Willem Dafoe. His, um, "interpretation" of Max Schrek isn't remotely human, but it has a weird charm that almost demands to be put on film. You understand why Murnau is willing to use his cast and crew as cannon fodder to capture the creature's essence.

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The movie that changed Hollywood. Ground Zero for the Summer Blockbuster. Spielberg's film making instincts turned a potential disaster into a masterpiece of suspense. Universal's p.r. department turned it into a phenomenon.

Jaws, dir. by Steven Spielberg (1975)

https://youtu.be/U1fu_sA7XhE

[shadowkat]

Great pick. I love JAWS. It's notable for how much better a film it is - due to the fact that the special effects didn't work. Because of the problems they had with the mechanical shark - they had to film it differently and focused more on the characters. The three men in the boat sequence is cinema classic.

It was apparently filmed on location in Martha's Vineyard, which doubled as Amity Island.