Director: Tod Browning
Year: 1935
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: The Vampires of Prague
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
A tiny village in Czechoslovakia is terrorized by a madman running through the streets sucking their victims dry of blood, and the doctor in charge of the investigation leads a series of radical events intended to drive the murderer out of hiding and stop the bloody rampage.
Review:
This here was a pretty disappointing although still watchable effort. One of the few watchable areas here is the film's rather fine Gothic sensibilities which are rather in keeping with the general tone at the time as these scenes here give this one some rather exciting and chilling moments. The scenes at the castle are rather chilling as the two descend the stairs in such grand fashion where the dusty, cobweb-filled space which looks amazing as their eeriness walking through completes the scene, the group searching the underground crypts for their hiding spot is rather creepy going through the tombs finding the other bodies and being forced to leave them there gives this a highly chilling sequence and the big reveal at the end in the castle's main hallway where they play out the fruition of a rather ingenious plan makes for quite a great time here as the setting is put to great use here.
As well, the other few attack scenes here to take advantage of the Gothic atmosphere as the fine scenes of the vampires coming after them in their house by sneaking into the hallways or confronting them in their rooms offer up some really enjoyable moments while the shots of them hulking about in the village countryside makes for some pretty chilling scenes overall here. As well, the other really good aspect here is the concept of the actual twist within this one as there's something to be said for what it aspires to do here. These few issues here are what make it watchable and enjoyable to hold off the few minor flaws here.
Among the big problems here is the fact that this one is really much too short to really get going with anything as there's barely anything here with the vampire. That this one tends to forsake a lot of the true horror elements potentially found here in this story to instead go for a rather large amount of exposition towards unspoiling the whole twist to the others around the town which holds the pacing down. That also highlights the film's other big flaw in this where the way this one manages to undo itself with the twist here coming into direct contradiction to what happens in the rest of the film as being able to really believe that twist hurts the storyline here and really takes several scenes out of context here in order to make it work. There's little thought to how letting that play out affects the rest of the movie, and with the pacing issues here are what holds this one down.
Overview: ***/5
Horror's first twist ending, this one manages to remain highly enjoyable while managing to set itself up as the originator of one of the greatest genre attributes to overcome some flaws. Those who are intrigued by this kind of Classic-Era genre effort or are massive fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here while those that are turned off by the style or approach should heed caution.
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