Tim Burton continues his successful relationship with Johnny Depp in the big screen adaptation of Dark Shadows. Many of you may be unfamiliar with the show that originally aired from 1965- 1971 but I actually got to watch the remake in 1991 and I thought it was cool back then . One must also consider that I was 11 at the time but the Barnabas Collins in that version was actually quite good. Burton and Depp are going for something very different in this interpretation bordering along the Addams family and less like the source material. Most times I have issue with Hollywood’s insistence on deviating from the source material but I have to admit that this new vision has piqued my interest. Check out the new trailer as well as the plot synopsis so you have an idea of what you expect. Did any of you ever watch the old show? Will you be checking out this new interpretation in theatres.
Synopsis:
In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles. Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.
My Take On: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol [Blu-ray]
Slick’s Nit Picks: The Raid: Redemption (Serbuan Maut)
RANGO was the shit…on a totally unrelated subject:)
I like Johnny Depp being Johnny Depp, but I don’t know why they choose this movie for that. . . Depp has range (see him in “Secret Window” to know what I mean)–but when I saw the posters for this I THOUGHT Tim Burton was gonna take it darker ( I mean Caroline was scarier than that Trailer and it was for children). I love Tim Burton but I don’t understand why he feels this need to make adults laugh and then scare the wind out of children! It’s harder to scare adults (OK maybe not cause some actually bought the Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity–but you get what I mean), it makes more sense to creep out the adults.
She is pretty spot on with that. The one from 1991 had some camp but it wasn’t on this level. I think this is just another vehicle for Johnny Depp to act a fool lol.
I don’t think the OLD Dark Shadows was this tongue and cheek–My mother was a HUGE fan of it cause it was the first show she got to see here in NYC. . . I showed her the trailer and she said that it was “funny” but that is not Dark Shadows–that Tim Burton is just making a comedy and putting his own spin on it. Apparently Dark Shadows was tongue in cheek but not “hookey” (her words not mine LOL!)
Blah