The film - Vampyr

In the movie, a young student named Allan Gray finds himself in the French village of Courtempiere. He was called by the local manor lord upon his arrival, who pleaded with him to spare the life of her eldest daughter, Leone. Allan was perplexed by this action. The following day, Allan first explores a deserted castle before going to the lord’s estate to see the lord being shot to death by an unidentified assailant.

Gisele, Leone’s younger sister, and Alan, a manor servant, struggle to save Leone. The doctor arrives and discloses out that Leone has suffered significant blood loss and therefore she need some blood. Allan provided blood for her and fell asleep. He was later on awoken by the Manservant who only to find the doctor in the process of poisoning Leone, and they chased him away. They believed now the doctor was the vampire of Leone’s life.

In the Germany premiere, the vampire film was not well received.

The film features out certain key points. The end times are depicted as being ambiguous. We can’t tell whether Leone died or not. Furthermore, we don’t know what happened to Allan and Gisele. The film contradicts the script as it can’t be used for clarification. We can also see the act of barring people from living in eternity. Vampires will persuade their victims to commit suicide thus preventing them from going to the heaven. There is a coincidence in that, Allan arrives in that village in France in time, only to save the life of Leone. There was also an act of brutal killing being depicted, where the doctor was buried alive in flour and ended up suffocating in the mill.

In life, the people we see as helpful to us may end up being cruel at the end. Instead of saving us, they may decide to kill us. Not many people wish another well in their lives even in joining the kingdom of the Lord after death. People will try by all means to deter others from going to heaven. The end times will be just a mystery; no one knows what will exactly happen.

Reference

Bordwell pp.93-116, “Vampyr”!!