Vampyr

Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1932 Vampyr is a film brimming with oddities, eccentricities and an unsettling sense of other-wordly horror. Not So Silent Cinema is excited to release their new live score to this classic film.

In Vampyr it is not so much the story itself but the manner in which the story is told that creates such a unique impression of unease and horror. The intentionally washed-out film lulls the viewer into a hazy hypnotic dream world where unattached shadows scamper and dance before our eyes, translucent souls step out of their worldly bodies, and the simplest patterns and landscapes combine to convey a sense of foreboding and mystery. It is Dreyer’s experimental license and intuitive knack for evoking unsettled emotional states that have made Vampyr an art-house classic, presaging the later work of Hitchcock and David Lynch.

Not So Silent Cinema’s score is a moody, surreal mix of acoustic and electronic elements. Violin, clarinet, piano and bass combine to evoke the old-world, Eastern-European soundscape used on their score to Nosferatu. But this is combined with analog electronic textures, giving the score a dark, transcendental element.

Carlos Santiago- violín and electronics

Larry Goldfinger- clarinet and keyboards

Chris Coyle- bass

Brendan Cooney- keys, kaval, organ, electronics, etc.