Anyone waiting to see the latest Tim Burton – Johnny Depp film, “Dark Shadows,” should probably just wait a bit longer.
“Dark Shadows” is a movie based on the television show of the same name that aired in the late 60’s and features an all-star cast with Johnny Depp playing the main character–Barnabas Collins. Other stars include Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Alice Cooper. Yes, Alice Cooper is still alive.
The story begins in 1790‘s Maine, where the Collins were a wealthy fishing industry family. All seemed happy until the young son, Barnabas, rejected a certain housemaid who happened to be a witch. Angered by this rejection, the housemaid-witch placed on curse on the family and she proceeded to kill off the Collins’ parents and Barnaby’s young fiancée in short order.
Then she condemns young Barnabas to an eternal life as a vampire and has the town mob chain and bury him in a coffin. Fast forward 200 years, and the coffin is unearthed in 1972.
Barnabas is astonished to find out the current state of the Collins family and fortune. Barnabas also has to readjust to living in 1972 and is amazed how much has changed since his departure.
So Barnabas sets on restoring glory to the family name and this is where most of the movie is played out. Barnabas soon discovers that the housemaid-witch is still alive and has been monopolizing the fishing industry for the past 200 years.
The ending concludes with Barnabas and the witch in an anti-climatic battle.
On the plus side, “Dark Shadows” featured wonderful scenery depicting the Maine coastline where the Collins mansion is located.
Alice Cooper’s music in the movie was also a plus, although they could have made his scenes slightly shorter since they had no real bearing on the storyline. Apparently, either director Tim Burton or Depp, who was one of the producers, is a huge Alice Cooper fan. As this is set in 1972, ironically, all the make-up artists in the world couldn’t make Alice Cooper look young again.
Besides this flaw, the special effects were amazing, but given the huge budget and Tim Burton directing, should anything less be expected?
Having never watched the original series on TV, I felt the story line could have been a little better. It seemed centered so much on Barnabas and the maid that most supporting characters lacked any depth.
The sexual scene involving Barnabas and the maid finally reuniting was longer than it needed to be and really didn’t contribute much to the movie.
Overall, the scenery and the special effects were an A plus. The cast was great, which left me disappointed that the plot and ending wasn’t thought of in the same regard.
If anyone is planning on taking children, I wouldn’t recommend to this for kids younger than 10 – the sexual scenes are a little much considering this is marketed as a family movie.
As a Johnny Depp fan, personally, I was a little saddened with the short hair, but he gives a great performance as always.
Overall, after seeing the movie, I wish I would have saved my money and waited for it to come out on Netflix.