SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES - Johnny Depp and Eva Green square off in the wondrous "Dark Shadows," based on the cult classic TV series.
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES – Elaborate special effects are a mixed bag these days. Yes, they are a bit of a magic lamp device, creating amazing worlds, locations and creatures from scratch, but most of the time they simply overwhelm the story and the performances. Thus, I was hesitant to dip back into 2012 and sample Tim Burton’s feature adaptation of the iconic television series Dark Shadows. However, I thought the film was a lot of fun. Burton and Johnny Depp have struck gold before (Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood) and they find an ideal playground here. Depp portrays Barnabas Collins, heir to a New England cannery fortune who by rejecting the romantic notions of lovely Angelique Bouchard (a stunning Eva Green of Casino Royale) is cursed and buried alive for two hundred years. It turns out that Angelique is a formidable witch and she will allow no one to come near Barnabas, least of all the love of his life, Josette (Bella Heathcoate) who is sent to her doom, jumping off a cliff. Cut to 1972, workers unearth the chained coffin of Barnabas who is now a ravenous vampire with a thirst for vengeance against Angelique – who now heads the top cannery in Maine. Returning to the decaying Collins mansion, Barnabas meets his heirs – matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer), her gold digging brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), her daughter Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz), Roger’s young son David (Gulliver McGrath), and Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), the live-in shrink. He’s also introduced to David’s new governess, Victoria Winters (also Bella Heathcoate), who is a dead ringer for long dead Josette. The effects are delightful and playful, but in Seth-Grahame-Smith’s screenplay, they never distract from the fierce mano y mano between Barnabas and the terribly powerful Dominique who will use her formidable feminine wiles to destroy the Collins family and their legacy. Depp is having a ball with this fish-out-of-water story and he’s surrounded by colorful and perfectly cast characters. Green is just terrific as Dominique; Chloe Grace Moretz is wonderfully sensual as the rock music obsessed daughter; and Helena Bonham Carter is charming as a shrink who needs her own shrink. Check this one out. And stay safe.
Picture Editor | Director | Creative Producer
3 年thank's for sharing. Do you think vampire shows are going to be popular again?
Writer/Filmmaker
3 年Sorry, I thought this was awful, soul-less uninspired dreck.