Shadow of the Vampire

Shadow of the Vampire (2000) is an American horror film directed by E. Elias Merhige and written by Steven A. Katz, and starring John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe and Udo Kier. Shadow of the Vampire is a film about the making of a German all time classic silent horror-movie from 1922 called Nosferatu-Eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu-a Symphony of Horror). The production of Nosferatu had to deal with a lot of strange things (some crew members disappeared, some died). This movie focuses on the difficult relationship between Murnau, the director, and Schreck, the lead actor. Max Schreck's performance in the classic film Nosferatu has become legendary. What if the reason he was so good is that he really was a vampire? That's the premise of this film, which features director F.W. Murnau so enamored with creating the perfect vampire film that he seeks out an actual member of the undead to play the title role. But when Schreck starts taking more and more advantage of the opportunities to feed he suddenly has, can Murnau come to his senses and destroy him?