Dark Shadows
Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp), turned into a vampire and locked away for nearly 200 years by a love scorned servant and witch named Angelique (Eva Green) in Collinsport, Maine. Now, 1972, Barnabas is mistakenly freed from his coffin, returns to Collinwood Manor to find his home almost in ruins and his descendants dysfunctional to the point of disgrace. Meanwhile, for two centuries Angelique has been undermining the Collins family seafood business for her own benefit. Now it’s up to Barnabas to set things straight, with a little help from Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer), Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Grace Moretz), Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), groundskeeper Willie (Jackie Earle Haley), and David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). But not everything in Collinsport is shrouded in darkness, in addition to stopping Angelique, the lovely Victoria (Bella Heathcote), has caught the eye of Barnabas, how to win her heart is perhaps the bigger dilemma?
Sounds like the cast of Tim Burton film eh? Well you’d be right, although the story comes from different writers and is actually inspired by the original TV series from the 60’s and 70’s, that being the case, the usual art direction of Burton is largely kept in check, and interestingly enough the score from Danny Elfman seems largely uncharacteristic of his usual bag of tricks. Although for both Burton and Elfman I would suppose there’s only so many times one can go to the well and maintain fresh creative flow, so perhaps this change is good. Meanwhile, given that the film is based off a daytime drama, there of course have to be a few steamy scenes as well, something of a rarity in Burton’s catalog; naturally, the material is treated tongue in cheek which in some regards almost negates the steaminess and feels more in keeping with what Burton fans are used to. And, given that the film’s overall tone is comedic this all still fits together nicely. Sadly, what doesn’t fit together so nicely is the finale. As the storyline devolves to a relatively mundane showdown between supernatural beings, the film’s real sense of fun and purpose feels lost and ends with a fizzle rather than a bang. Still, fun and perhaps a matinee, Dark Shadows is rated PG-13.