Vampyr / Carnival of Souls

Two films from the liminal space between life and death: In VAMPYR, a stranger wanders through a world of fog and shadows. Spaces seem to dissolve, time and bodies become porous. In his first sound film, Dreyer transforms the vampire myth into a dreamlike, floating experience in which fear arises from atmosphere. Alfred Hitchcock: "The only film worth watching... twice."

Nearly three decades later, Herk Harvey's low-budget gem propels this sense of unease into the modern age: After a car accident, a young woman finds herself completely disconnected from the world of the living. Shopping malls, churches, and an abandoned amusement park become thresholds of existential alienation: A precursor to midnight cinema and a favorite film of Elfriede Jelinek.

(Florian Widegger)