Cuadecuc, vampir
Encyclopedia
Vampir-Cuadecuc is a 1970 experimental
feature film by Catalan
filmmaker Pere Portabella
.
The entire film is photographed on high contrast black & white film stock, which gives it the appearance of a degraded film print, evoking early Expressionist
horror films such as F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu or Carl Theodor Dreyer
's Vampyr
. It was shot on the set of Jesus Franco
's Count Dracula, starring Christopher Lee
and Herbert Lom
. The sound track is by frequent Portabella collaborator Carles Santos
, and the only spoken dialogue in the film appears only in the last scene, which features Lee reading from Bram Stoker
's original novel.
Lee would appear in another Portabella film the same year--Umbracle
.
The word "cuadecuc" is the Catalan
word for "worm's tail." The term also refers to the unexposed footage at the end of a roll of film.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
, a critic for the Chicago Reader, listed this film as the fourth best in 2006.
story using behind-the-scenes footage from Count Dracula. Thus, we see crew members and lights in dramatic scenes; often, these scenes are preceded by sequences where we see the set and actors being prepared. For example, before Dracula is shown rising from his coffin, Christopher Lee is seen getting made up and climbing into the coffin as a crew member covers him in fake spiderwebs
. This gives the film a humorous tone: scenes meant to shock in Jesus Franco's original film are intercut with the actors making faces between takes and fooling around with the crew.
The film was considered very subversive at the time of its release; many identify Christopher Lee's Dracula with Francisco Franco
. By showing the almost campy falseness that goes into creating the "frightening" image of Dracula (Portabella often focuses on the poorly-made special effects and the shoddy filming conditions), the filmmakers lampoon the similarly transparent efforts of dictators like Franco to create powerful images of themselves in the media.
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
feature film by Catalan
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
filmmaker Pere Portabella
Pere Portabella
Pere Portabella i Ràfols is a Catalan experimental filmmaker, artist and politician.-Career as a Filmmaker:...
.
The entire film is photographed on high contrast black & white film stock, which gives it the appearance of a degraded film print, evoking early Expressionist
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
horror films such as F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu or Carl Theodor Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer, Jr. was a Danish film director. He is regarded by many critics and filmmakers as one of the greatest directors in cinema.-Life:Dreyer was born illegitimate in Copenhagen, Denmark...
's Vampyr
Vampyr
Vampyr is a 1932 horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. The film was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul based on elements from J. Sheridan Le Fanu's collection of supernatural stories In a Glass Darkly. Vampyr was funded by Nicolas de Gunzburg who starred in the film under...
. It was shot on the set of Jesus Franco
Jesús Franco
Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...
's Count Dracula, starring Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
and Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom is a Czech film actor, best known for his role as former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movie series.-Life and career:...
. The sound track is by frequent Portabella collaborator Carles Santos
Carles Santos
Carles Santos is an unclassifiable spanish artist who began his career as a pianist and later worked in many other creative disciplines, including musical composition, filmmaking, screenwriting, acting, scenic musical shows, graphics, montage, sculpture, photography, poetry, and...
, and the only spoken dialogue in the film appears only in the last scene, which features Lee reading from Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
's original novel.
Lee would appear in another Portabella film the same year--Umbracle
Umbracle
Umbracle is an experimental feature film by Catalan filmmaker Pere Portabella. It is often seen as a companion piece to his Cuadecuc, vampir, also starring Christopher Lee...
.
The word "cuadecuc" is the Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
word for "worm's tail." The term also refers to the unexposed footage at the end of a roll of film.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
, a critic for the Chicago Reader, listed this film as the fourth best in 2006.
Concept and themes
The film tells an abbreviated version of the DraculaDracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
story using behind-the-scenes footage from Count Dracula. Thus, we see crew members and lights in dramatic scenes; often, these scenes are preceded by sequences where we see the set and actors being prepared. For example, before Dracula is shown rising from his coffin, Christopher Lee is seen getting made up and climbing into the coffin as a crew member covers him in fake spiderwebs
Spiderwebs
"Spiderwebs" is a ska punk song written by Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal for No Doubt's third studio album Tragic Kingdom . It was released as the album's second single in 1995 . When "Spiderwebs" reached the radio airwaves in the U.S, it began a revival of the ska genre. The song is a combination of...
. This gives the film a humorous tone: scenes meant to shock in Jesus Franco's original film are intercut with the actors making faces between takes and fooling around with the crew.
The film was considered very subversive at the time of its release; many identify Christopher Lee's Dracula with Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
. By showing the almost campy falseness that goes into creating the "frightening" image of Dracula (Portabella often focuses on the poorly-made special effects and the shoddy filming conditions), the filmmakers lampoon the similarly transparent efforts of dictators like Franco to create powerful images of themselves in the media.