I just finished watching a 7-hour-long movie... But at what cost?

I feel it would be unfair of me to give this a rating. I struggled with it (largely due to the insane 7 hour run time). I tried splitting it up into a few viewing sessions but I wasn't enjoying it much that way either. Just not my thing. Some cool scenes here and there, and I love having a glimpse back into this era of filmmaking but that only takes me so far. I ended up muting it three hours in because I was so sick of the music.

This movie made a lot more sense to me once I realized we were dealing with a criminal gang and not literal vampires. Unfortunately, that also made it a lot less exciting. While there were some nice images here and there (including a fun car chase sequence with a mounted camera on the follow car), the convoluted machinations of the plot and the barebones characterizations didn’t do much for me.

Despite its monumental seven-hour runtime, _Les vampires_ is not a monolithic work. In fact, it is the juxtaposition of ten medium-length films that, far from making it dense or overwhelming, allows for a more paced and intermittent viewing experience, maintaining its agile and accessible nature. A contemporary of Griffith's _The Birth of a Nation_, which marked the beginning of the so-called "institutional mode of representation," _Les vampires_ has nothing to envy in terms of structure, editing, and staging. While Griffith made his name with something grand, filled with wide shots and large crowds of extras, Feuillade took a path closer to the style of Emilio Salgari, where each chapter is built with its own beginning, middle, and end, carefully balancing mystery and tension with delightful comedic moments in every episode. Although it still shows a certain connection to "photographed theater," each episode of _Les vampires_ is a narrative gem that stands out for its visual freshness, making every chapter a renewed experience without losing the director's coherence and essence. Feuillade favors innovation in each chapter without sacrificing the overall consistency of the work, achieving a perfect balance that keeps the viewer engaged. It's no wonder that this work inspired cinema giants like Fritz Lang and Hitchcock.

This is a lengthy but overall very good film serial, about the titular band of criminals and the heroes who try to stop them. Though it's certainly less thrilling now than it likely was when it was shown over a hundred years ago, in its best episodes it still manages to surprise and delight in equal measure. There are many characters that weave in and out of the narrative over the course of the serial's ten episodes, but there are three in particular that, when all is said and done, are undoubtedly the most important. The first is our hero, Phillippe Guérande, played charmingly by Édouard Mathé, a journalist who is ever hot on the trail of the criminal gang The Vampires. He understandably earns their ire for this, but he also manages to make a friend and important ally, Mazamette, played by Marcel Lévesque, by showing the former Vampire mercy at the series' start. This starts Mazamette on a path of redemption, one that is very fun to watch as the character easily slides back and forth between heroism and comic relief. But it's Irma Vep, played by actress Musidora, who really steals the show. Though she doesn't appear in the first episode, she does appear in the shorter second episode, which apparently was screened during the same period as the first. And the impression she leaves from the get-go ensures that she remains a prominent figure for the remainder of the series, suitably ending up the final Vampire to be dealt with by serial's end. Musidora's wild hair and dark makeup help accentuate the manic, over-the-top performance she gives, which is always a delight to watch. The way her eyes dramatically look from side to side is forever burned into my memory. If the serial has faults—and it does—then they would certainly be the length and the lack of planning. Apparently the plot of this serial was thought up on the fly as it went along, and it very much shows, individual episodes often feel like they're trying new concepts just to see what proves enjoyable, and certain important plot elements such as rival gangs, hypnotism and other Grand Vampires just sort of show up in episodes with little to no warning. The rival gang member in particular, Moréno, played by Fernand Herrmann, is interesting in concept and capably acted, but never truly utilized in satisfying fashion. He also massively outstays his welcome, first appearing in the fourth episode and lasting all the way through the seventh (a full four episodes) before being unceremoniously written out of the series at the beginning of the eighth episode. He ultimately ends up feeling like a diversion from what we really want to be seeing—the fight between Guérande and the Vampires. And the writers also make a really awful choice in episode six to have Moréno hypnotize Irma Vep into loving him, which she continues doing throughout the seventh episode. It's a shake-up in allegiances that never feels earned and feels all kinds of icky with how unremarked upon it is. I understand the series is primarily about bad people doing bad things, but it doesn't make hypnotized Vep any more enjoyable to sit through. Fortunately though, Irma regains her prominence and loses her forced lover in episode eight, and from there things really pick up again, the series remaining solid through its final three episodes. So all this said, is Les Vampires worth a watch? I would say yes. It's long, and binging isn't necessarily recommended. If anything, I'd recommend watching it how it was originally screened—weekly. An episode a week (well, watch the first two back-to-back at least) seems a pretty good pace for something like this. And don't go in expecting deep, complex characters here, either. This is a campy fight between good and evil, where the creators clearly really enjoy watching the evil characters do their thing, and by and large the audience does too. So give it a shot, so you too can join the fanclub of Irma Vep appreciators, and enjoy 1910s thriller film serials at their finest.