10 Vampire Movies That Broke All The Rules
1. Shadow Of The Vampire
And finally, there's perhaps no more creative or meta entry into the genre than 2000's Shadow of the Vampire, which posits that F. W. Murnau's iconic 1922 vampire classic Nosferatu was less of a fiction than anyone ever expected.
Willem Dafoe received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance as Max Schreck, the actor who played Count Orlok in Murnau's movie, and who here is implied to be an actual vampire. Yup.
It's clear that such a bravura, revisionist concept could've easily been a complete disaster, but thanks to a script and direction which strike an expert balance between horror and comedy, Shadow of the Vampire is an affectionate, speculative reinterpretation of a legendary piece of movie history.
John Malkovich is also fantastic here as embattled filmmaker Murnau, though it's ultimately Dafoe whose pitch-perfect turn as Schreck makes the film such a twisted, ridiculous delight.