Dark Shadows
| release date | May 11 2012 |
| studio | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| director | Tim Burton |
| writer | Seth Grahame-Smith, John August |
| starring | Johnny Depp, Jackie Earle Haley, Bella Heathcote, Cloe Moretz, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Thomas McDonell, Gulliver McGrath, Jonny Lee Miller, Alice Cooper |
| site | darkshadowsmovie.com |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
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I personally enjoyed Dark Shadows and had a good amount of fun. This is by no means Tim Burton’s greatest achievement, but it is an fun diversion from reality. The cinematography alone is worth the price of an admission ticket. The film is essentially a dark movie filled with black humor in just the right places. The characters are all well developed and the actors gave it there all. I personally enjoyed every second Michelle Pfeiffer graced the big screen and I am very happy she is taking on some fun roles again. Some of the actors are underutilized, but they do the best they can. There are some pace issues as well but the conclusion of the film is filled with some campy action scenes. Overall, Dark Shadows is the perfect film to see on a rainy summer day, nothing more than that.
3 1/2 out of 5 skulls
The good news: the film is nowhere near as to being the completely goofy schlockfest the abominable advertising campaign and numerous previews news articles make it out to be. Unfortunately, there are a handful of scenes where the campy humor is over-milked beyond what it should they should have been. Regardless, Depp is terrific and the rest of the cast is definitely up to par. Dark Shadows mostly, if not always, captures the dark themes consistent with the original and 1991 reboot. 8.5/10
Having only minimal exposure to the original Dark Shadows, I loved Tim Burton’s campy melodrama. As expected, it’s visually stunning, and often hilarious, thanks in part to screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith who gives Johnny Depp some exceptionally droll bon mots. Sure it meanders, and much of the cast gets lost in the thin story, but it is supposed to be a soap opera! And this is a fun, sudsy horror comedy (though, not likely for hardcore DS fans).
I saw this movie with my friend a few days ago, and we had a blast. It was a hilarious good time. I watched a few of the original episodes to psych myself up and to understand the storyline, but I couldn’t get into it. Soap operas aren’t my thing. After seeing the movie, it makes me wanna try and watch them. I love how this was mostly a comedy, and a tribute to the series, rather then a boring melodramatic soap opera. Johnny Depp was great as Barnabas Collins, the vampire of Collinwood Manor. I love how it had a classic ‘fish-out-of-water’ story. It was like taking Bela Lugosi’s Dracula and putting him in the 70′s hippie age. This is definitely a Tim Burton film because everyone wears pale Marilyn Manson-type makeup, and it has Helena Bonham Carter, along with Danny Elfman music. Chloe Moretz gives a great performance as Carolyn Stoddard. She’s the rebellious teenager we’ve seen in all of Burton’s other films like Ryder in Beetlejuice.
In the 1700′s, Barnabas makes the mistake of breaking the heart of a witch named Angelique. She curses him by turning him into a vampire and locks him in a coffin for 200 years. In 1972, the Collins family are trying to find a governess for young David who claims to see the ghost of his mom. Along comes Maggie, who changes her name to Veronica Winters. When Barnabas is found and awakened, he returns home to return the manor to its former glory and re’vamp’ the family business. When Angelique returns and threatens his family, Barnabas must take action and seek revenge on the witch who cursed him. If you want a smart gothic fun hilarious vampire movie that pays tribute to the 70′s era and the original series, I would definitely recommend DARK SHADOWS!!!