The
first time I watched the preview for Dark Shadows I already got pretty
excited to watch the whole thing. The story is about a vampire, Barnabas
Collins. After being cursed by a witch and buried for 200 years, he is
accidentally released by a group of workers. The only thing is... he is
now in the 70s. Before you start thinking “another vampire movie?” you
should know that the original Dark Shadows was a gothic soap opera that
aired from 1966 to 1971 (and had a remake in 1991). As soon as it came
out I mentioned to a friend and she told me there was no way she would
go with me. Why? Because she is a fan of the soap opera and apparently
it had a very different approach, it was really dark and scary while the
preview for the movie clearly showed it was a comedy. Oh hell, I’ve
decided to go anyway.
I am aware that director Tim Burton tends to get a love/hate reaction from people but I believe I’m something in between. I am not going to run to the movie theater whenever one of his movies comes out just because it’s him. But I’m not going to refuse to watch it either if the movie looks interesting.
The cast once again has Burton’s friend Johnny Depp and also Burton’s wife Helena Bonham Carter. No problem with that since they are both really good actors and they seem to get all the craziness and awkwardness of Burton’s characters. I loved to see Michelle Pfeiffer on screen again. Eva Green looks beautiful as the witch Angelique. I actually had to do a little research to find out where I’ve seen her before, I would have never remembered it was from the 007 movie Casino Royale. Even singer Alice Cooper is there! Speaking of music, If you enjoy buying soundtracks there are two choices, the great original score from Danny Elfman - another longtime contributor in Tim Burton’s movies - or the one with all the cool 70’s hits you hear in the movie.
The visuals of the movie are impressive since the very beginning. The clothes and the sets fill your eyes. The whole mix of the 70’s culture with the old grey looks of the city and the Collins mansion turns out to be really interesting. That is the best the movie has to offer the audience and it can only get you so far. Even though it has its (few) funny moments it still ended up being a little bit too long. By the end I was already checking my watch and I don’t usually do that. If a good 20 minutes of it had been cut off I believe I could’ve kept my interest longer. All in all it is an interesting movie. I am curious to watch the old soap opera now and I wonder if it’s going to make me change my opinion about the movie....
