My Movie Reviews: Dark Shadows

Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins and Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard in Dark Shadows (2012)

Dark Shadows (2012) is a horror comedy that is a remake of the Gothic horror soap opera Dark Shadows by Dan Curtis the aired from 1966-1971. The screenplay was written by Seth Grahame-Smith while the film was directed by Tim Burton and was produced by Richard D. Zanuck, Graham King, Johnny Depp, Christi Dembrowski, and David Kennedy. The film was released May 11th, 2012.

THE CAST

Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins

Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard

Eva Green as Angelique Bouchard
Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Julia Hoffman

Jackie Earle Haley as Willie Loomis

Jonny Lee Miller as Roger Collins

Bella Heathcote as Victoria Winters and Josette du Pres

Chloë Grace Moretz as Carolyn Stoddard

Gulliver McGrath as David Collins

MY THOUGHTS

I know that I am only twenty years old, but in a world were the Internet exists, it is highly possible that one so young could be exposed to the awesomeness of Dark Shadows. I watched several episodes of Dark Shadows online and I fell in love with it. I'm not a big fan of soap operas, but Dark Shadows was different. In 2010, it was my first time hearing that there would be a remake of Dark Shadows. I was very exited. Since the 2004 revival series created for the CW (for the WB at the time) fell through, I was hoping that this remake would actually make it to the big screen. My expectations for the film were high, due to the cast used for the characters. But to be quiet honest, I think my expectations were too high. The film was good, but it wasn't great. I was impressed with the way the cast portrayed the characters and brought them to life in the modern times. One back side was that the film is considered a "horror-comedy." This I wasn't aware of prior to watching the movie. It had it's moments that were dark and serious (which Tim Burton is good at), but the comical scenes take away the darkness that is and was Dark Shadows. It doesn't completely put a damper on the entire film, but it slightly tainted it. To top that off, some characters were combined (which causes confusion at first), and then they threw in a random werewolf (nope... not Quentin). SPOILERS: The movie does end with an interesting cliff hanger, showing Dr. Julia Hoffman in the lake that Barnabas threw her in opening her eyes before the credits roll (indicating a possible sequel). SPOILERS END. The film lacks a lot of what the series held, but then again, remakes of TV shows, books, or movies like Dark Shadows cannot always be made as well as we would like them to be. Despite its downfalls, Dark Shadows (2012) delivers just enough to have you a little scared and make you laugh, all while staying family oriented. This film will probably be great to those new to the series, but to most fans of the original, it will probably be considered a disappointment.

That being said, I give Dark Shadows (2012): ★★★★★ 3 out of 5 Stars

Nice try... but try again.

"If I can't have you... No one can!!"