10 Hidden Gem Vampire Horror Movies
7. Shadow Of The Vampire
Shadow of the Vampire has a quite brilliant premise at its core.
What if famed method actor Max Schreck of Nosferatu fame really was a vampire? To make things even better, Willem Dafoe is playing Shreck here, while John Malkovich plays Nosferatu director F.W. Murnau as the two look to create their movie masterpiece.
For Shadow of the Vampire, filmmaker E. Elias Merhige and his cast and crew clearly had a whole bunch of fun playing with the very real stories of just how intensely 'method' Shreck was with his roles, and also in how Murnau would allow his star to push boundaries.
In this case, those boundaries mean that Dafoe's Max actually gets to chomp on his co-stars' necks and drain their blood.
Released in 2000, Shadow of the Vampire is just a blast. Delivered as a fictional documentary on the making of Nosferatu, there's some darkly comedic moments in amongst some genuinely great gore, and both Dafoe and Malkovich are absolutely on fire in their respective roles.
Given the name value of its two leads, it's nuts how little Merhige's movie is talked about when discussing the better vampire movies out there.