Casting A Little Light on Dark Shadows: A Review
There will be spoilers behind the cut and allowed in the comments.
To preface this a bit: I am a Dark Shadows Fan. Barnabas was my first vampire, as it were. I watched my way through the original series and saw the Ben Cross series. Dark Shadows was a soap opera, first and foremost, but it was a gothic soap opera which had warped a lot of little minds in its day. Many of those minds are now making the media that is warping the youth of today. I am pretty well versed in the whole Dark Shadows rather complicated universe although I get a little shaky on all the timelines towards the end. At least the characters got a happy ending kinda sorta even though it was a paralleled timeline.
Yesterday Peter, Caroline and I went to see Dark Shadows after reading the parental guides that we usually read to get an idea of why it was PG-13. Part of it had to do with the number of people smoking which, by count, would have gone R if there had been one more person lighting up. There is some swearing but nothing extreme. And some sexual content which was the sticking point, but after some more reading it was mostly innuendo and one scene with Barnabas and Angelique that is so absurd and you can’t really tell what is going on unless you know what is going on. There is also one quick scene with Julia Hoffman with an implication but again if you don’t know what is going on, nothing is going on.
Short version is that I liked it.
Longer Version
Both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have stated that they are old school Dark Shadows fans and it shows in this film. This is like the House of Dark Shadows through the lens of Tim Burton, which makes it stranger as it goes along but it worked for me.
Casting is solid throughout. Depp is channeling Frid. It is the Barnabas that I know and love. Much care is given to the costumes for Barnabas to reflect back to the TV series. I counted about three outfits that looked right out of the TV show or the House of Dark Shadows gilm or seen on the cover of the books (which I have a complete set of). The cane is a little different but they are going for the silver and vampires don’t mix trope. That it looks scrimshaw or an ivory carving makes sense for the period that the cane is from. The famed ring on his hand is there as well.
Michelle Pheiffer , who I think is a brilliant actress, surprised me in this one with how good her performance is. Jackie Earl Haley was great fun as Willie Loomis. And Willie didn’t annoy me as much as he did in the TV series. Almost didn’t recognize Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone) as Roger Collins. It seems to me that Roger was the character that Burton and the screenwriter didn’t really know what to do with, which is a shame since they had such a strong actor in the role. Chloe Grace Moretz does a dynamite job as Carolyn.
The story itself had to be written for those who haven’t a clue what Dark Shadows is and those who know it too well and, for the most part, it succeeds. The characters are introduced, the situation is wound up and we are taken through the narrative. But this is a Tim Burton movie so there are some weird touches that work yet also remind you that this is Tim Burton’s world that is being played in.
The commercials make it look like a campy laugh riot. Not in the least. There is humor and that macabre sense of the weird that is so Burton. But there is a story being told and it is not pretty at times. So yet again the commercials and the film are two different animals.
So overall good film both as the Burton film and Dan Curtis’ Dark Shadows. Would see again without regret.
( More_Dark_Shadows_Brought_To_Light )
To preface this a bit: I am a Dark Shadows Fan. Barnabas was my first vampire, as it were. I watched my way through the original series and saw the Ben Cross series. Dark Shadows was a soap opera, first and foremost, but it was a gothic soap opera which had warped a lot of little minds in its day. Many of those minds are now making the media that is warping the youth of today. I am pretty well versed in the whole Dark Shadows rather complicated universe although I get a little shaky on all the timelines towards the end. At least the characters got a happy ending kinda sorta even though it was a paralleled timeline.
Yesterday Peter, Caroline and I went to see Dark Shadows after reading the parental guides that we usually read to get an idea of why it was PG-13. Part of it had to do with the number of people smoking which, by count, would have gone R if there had been one more person lighting up. There is some swearing but nothing extreme. And some sexual content which was the sticking point, but after some more reading it was mostly innuendo and one scene with Barnabas and Angelique that is so absurd and you can’t really tell what is going on unless you know what is going on. There is also one quick scene with Julia Hoffman with an implication but again if you don’t know what is going on, nothing is going on.
Short version is that I liked it.
Longer Version
Both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have stated that they are old school Dark Shadows fans and it shows in this film. This is like the House of Dark Shadows through the lens of Tim Burton, which makes it stranger as it goes along but it worked for me.
Casting is solid throughout. Depp is channeling Frid. It is the Barnabas that I know and love. Much care is given to the costumes for Barnabas to reflect back to the TV series. I counted about three outfits that looked right out of the TV show or the House of Dark Shadows gilm or seen on the cover of the books (which I have a complete set of). The cane is a little different but they are going for the silver and vampires don’t mix trope. That it looks scrimshaw or an ivory carving makes sense for the period that the cane is from. The famed ring on his hand is there as well.
Michelle Pheiffer , who I think is a brilliant actress, surprised me in this one with how good her performance is. Jackie Earl Haley was great fun as Willie Loomis. And Willie didn’t annoy me as much as he did in the TV series. Almost didn’t recognize Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone) as Roger Collins. It seems to me that Roger was the character that Burton and the screenwriter didn’t really know what to do with, which is a shame since they had such a strong actor in the role. Chloe Grace Moretz does a dynamite job as Carolyn.
The story itself had to be written for those who haven’t a clue what Dark Shadows is and those who know it too well and, for the most part, it succeeds. The characters are introduced, the situation is wound up and we are taken through the narrative. But this is a Tim Burton movie so there are some weird touches that work yet also remind you that this is Tim Burton’s world that is being played in.
The commercials make it look like a campy laugh riot. Not in the least. There is humor and that macabre sense of the weird that is so Burton. But there is a story being told and it is not pretty at times. So yet again the commercials and the film are two different animals.
So overall good film both as the Burton film and Dan Curtis’ Dark Shadows. Would see again without regret.
( More_Dark_Shadows_Brought_To_Light )