Dark Shadows
Release: 11 May 2012
Starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Eva Green
Director: Tim Burton
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Length: 113 min.
Rating: PG-13
Tagline:
The legend bites back.
Basic Premise:
Barnabas Collins has been cursed to the undead existence of a vampire by the one woman who loves him most because he refuses to love her back. After being trapped for two centuries, he’s finally released into 1970’s Maine to rebuild his family, his family business and to fight off his old flame once more.
Review:
Tim Burton movies are an automatic view for me. I love that man. Mix him with Johnny Depp and Danny Elfman and you’ve got a win. He’s only disappointed me three times. The first was Corpse Bride. The second was Alice in Wonderland. The third was this movie.
It feels like Burton is straying from the dark and going more towards camp because Dark Shadows was VERY campy. I couldn’t get over how fake the blood looked. I mean, I know it’s a PG-13 movie, but so was Avengers and the blood they showed looked better than the tomato soup Burton offered.
I endured this movie. There were funny parts, but those didn’t make up for the plot holes and anti-climatic ending. I didn’t appreciate the hint at a sequel either. I haven’t seen a movie like this since Cursed (2005) with Christina Ricci, directed by Wes Craven.
Since I only ever saw one episode of the original series, I can’t speak to how the movie compares. My husband assures me they don’t have much in common. So fans of the series shouldn’t go expecting to see a movie version of the show they loved.
Parents, there’s a little cursing and a lot of sexual situations, but the violence is minimal.