71
Metascore
31 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanManages to turn a highly dubious concept into a subtle and deliciously mordant comedy.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert"Willem Dafoe is Max Schreck." I put quotes around that because it's not just a line for a movie ad but the truth: He embodies the Schreck of "Nosferatu" so uncannily that when real scenes from the silent classic are slipped into the frame, we don't notice a difference.
- 88Boston GlobeJay CarrBoston GlobeJay CarrHe's (Dafoe) the stuff bad dreams are made of. He's also the best movie vampire since Schreck's original. He deserves a bloody Oscar.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumKicky, elaborately constructed fantasy.
- 75New York PostJonathan ForemanNew York PostJonathan ForemanA clever, funny, extended joke about ruthless directors, method actors and the power of the cinema.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranWillem Dafoe's performance in Shadow of the Vampire is so irresistible it not only breaks that cycle but turns an otherwise just adequate film into something everyone will want to take a look at.
- 70TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghA creepy, clever, film buff's delight of a fantasy.
- 67Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovFor all its stentorian performances, though, Shadow of the Vampire is a bit much, from the detailed period sets to the final, bloody scene.
- 60New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerNew York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerIt's a marvelous, resonant joke that never quite succeeds: Stretches of the film resemble a Dario Argento horrorfest crossed with a Mel Brooks spoof. But the director, E. Elias Merhige, and his screenwriter, Steven Katz, occasionally bring some rapture to the creepiness, and Dafoe's vampire, with his graceful, ritualistic death lunges, is a sinewy, skull-and-crossbones horror who seems to come less out of the German Expressionist tradition than from Kabuki.
- 50SlateDavid EdelsteinSlateDavid EdelsteinThere are times when Dafoe's accent strays into Billy Crystal Yiddish, but the notion of Vlad the Impaler aging into a finicky old Jew has its own kind of piquancy.