Carl Theodor Dreyer's intense, moody films never saw much popular success in his day, nor were they particularly well-received. But his esteem has since grown to mammoth proportions and his is now considered one of international cinema's true geniuses. His painfully acute close-ups and usage of somber, psychologically oppressive atmospheres have been much imitated since—his influence being instantly recognizable in the work of Ingmar Bergman, for example. Day of Wrath, an imposing meditation on intolerance and hypocrisy, is as raw and brutal as Vampyr, a disturbing supernatural horror story, is eerie and surreal. The near documentary-like intensity of The Passion of Joan of Arc further describes Dreyer's difficult but vivid talent.