Professor Reimer stated that the film was critically acclaimed. 

The questions asked prior to, and expected to be discussed by the class are as follows:

1.  Is it necessary to have seen Nosferatu before having viewed The Shadow of the Vampire?  The class was in agreement when said that there was not a huge necessity to view the first film.  The more current of the two, The Shadow of the Vampire, is a fictionalized account of the making of the first film.  Therefore, many of the original scenes have been placed into this new film.  Towards the end of the movie, there appear to be some differences in that the film depited in the movie has added details not actually found in Murnau’s film. Added were the wooden stake, the lack of the mirror image of the vampire, sense of Dracula (or in these two films Count Orlack) as a sexual predator, sexuality of vampires, and also the corrections made about the stories.

2.  The question of laughter is next.  What makes the viewer laugh?  Why do we laugh?  Irony and the unexpected play a large role in this film.  There are things the viewer can gather that the characters in the film do not know.  Some of these things are that we know such as the actor Max Schreck is not really an actor, but the real Count Orlock.  Murnau thought he could somehow keep bargaining with the Count, though the Count was really a monster.  The actors and actresses take part in 1920s-style drug orgies.  Schreck, himself, seems to be out of touch with reality, along with Murnau-who is a monster in his own right.  The Count kills Murnau's crew, and Murnau acts as if the only problem with that is that he would be forced to find replacements.  There are jokes about this as well.  The Count killed the cinematographer and Murnau reamed him for this act.  He said he needed him.  Schreck asked if he could kill the writer, because did they need him?  Also, no one, including the producer, knew what the film Murnau was directing was about.  Did he not need to especially know what the film was to be about?

3.  How do the construction and the editing of the film bring the viewer in and out of the film?  There are changes in the scenes from black and white to color.  The Shadow of the Vampire is in itself a twist of its own vampire story, as well as the accounts of Nosferatu.  Murnau speaks during the filming of The Shadow of the Vampire-a silent film.  This brings the viewer in because it gives us an idea of what was being thought during the filming process.  There also exists the needed suspense, the viewer becomes emotionally involved, as well as intellectually.  The viewer becomes interested in the story of the movie, instead of the movie being made.  Also, and last but not least, the director's character helps keep the viewer interested.  His obsessions, his insanity, and his domination all play an important role.

These were all ideas discussed and pondered over by Dr. Reimer and the students of his class.