Mark of the Vampire: Why the fog is the real star here

If you're looking for a tight, logical mystery, skip this. But if you want to spend an hour watching Bela Lugosi glide through thick, manufactured fog like he’s walking on a cloud, then Mark of the Vampire is your kind of weird.

It’s moody. It’s silly. It’s barely sixty minutes long, which is a blessing because it doesn't give you enough time to ask too many questions about why the village locals are so consistently terrified of everything.

Lugosi barely speaks. He just sort of stares intensely and floats around in a cape. Honestly? It works. There’s something about the way he moves that makes you forget that the plot is basically Swiss cheese.

There's a moment involving a bat that looks so rubbery I almost laughed out loud. But then the camera cuts to Carroll Borland, and suddenly it feels genuinely eerie again. She has this way of holding her neck that feels like she's permanently ready to be bitten.

The whole thing feels like it was filmed inside a dream where someone forgot to turn off the fog machine. Sometimes the shadows on the wall move in ways that don't match the people casting them. It’s probably a mistake, but I like to think it’s just the movie being intentionally spooky.

Lionel Barrymore is there too, acting his heart out as the professor. He’s clearly having a blast, even if he has to deliver some of the most ridiculous lines about bloodsuckers I’ve heard in a while.

Compared to something grounded like Men Without Women, this movie is entirely unhinged. It doesn't care about realism. It cares about how long a cape can trail behind a man before it looks like a trip hazard.

The ending? Well. It’s a choice. You’ll either love the twist or want to throw your remote at the screen. I’m still not sure where I land on it, but I didn't feel bored for a single second. That’s more than I can say for most modern stuff.

Just don't go in expecting high art. It’s a B-movie with a bit of a budget and a whole lot of atmosphere. 🦇