I became fascinated with foreign films as a teen after reading an article about horror in the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland - and the author's comments in particular about Vampyr, a 1932 film by Carl Theodor Dryeyer. I wasn't able to see the film until college - but one weekend, a couple of years after reading the article, a local television station held a special viewing of silent films ... Metropolis (Fritz Lang / 1927) and Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) ... I don’t remember the others. I'd already seen Metropolis, but had never seen Passion. I was astounded at the story and the performances in Dreyer's film - especially Renée Falconetti in the lead. From that moment, I made a point to watch as many foreign films - television and theater - as possible. When I finally did see Vampyr – in a college film class – I wasn’t disappointed.