Doc's Facial Expressions: Real or just Psychological

During the viewing of this film, I was intrigued by Doc's facial reaction in two scenes, one of them is Khalil first mentioned Wolfmann's name, Doc pretended to be calm but raised his eyes with a mysterious look while writing on his little pad. The other is when Doc was shown little Amethyst's picture, he screamed in an extreme manner with a horrified expression.
I wonder if those two reactions really happened, or was more like a comic portrayal of his mental activity. Since such reactions in real life are very uncommon and certainly lead to an unpleasant experience of conversation.
I am not sure if reading the original book would help with my understanding. Anyway, many thanks to any explanations to come.