 Vampyr was filmed between 1930 and 1931 . Everything being shot on location , as Dreyer believed it would be beneficial by lending the dream @-@ like ghost world of the film as well as allowing them to save money by not having to rent studio space . Dreyer originally wanted Vampyr to be a silent film , as it uses many elements of the silent era such as title cards to explain the story . Dialogue in the film was kept to a minimum . For the scenes with dialogue , the actors mouthed their lines in French , German and English so their lip movements would correspond to the voices that were going to be recorded in post @-@ production . There is no record of the English version being completed . The scenes in the chateau were shot in April and May 1930 . The chateau also acted as housing for the cast and crew during the filming . Life in the chateau was unpleasant for them as it was cold and infested with rats . The church yard scenes were shot in August 1930 . The church was not an actual church , but a barn with a number of tombstones placed around it . This set was designed by the art director Hermann Warm . 
