Dark Shadows -The Movie

So, I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to watch this movie. I’m a chicken and I simply can’t handle scary movies, so I feared that this movie was more scary than funny. But, in the end I decided to get over myself and go, after all it is Tim Burton and Johnny Depp 😉

The movie starts very dark in around 1770. The Collins family immigrate from Liverpool, England to America. In America they start a fishing business and a very succesful one. They become very rich and build a huge beautiful mansion. Their son Barnabas Collins is a very handsome young man and he has an affaire with one of the maids, Angelique. She begs him for his love, for he breaks her heart and tells her that he doesn’t love her.

He had fallen in love with the blond and innocent Josette. Unfortunately there’s no happy ending for those two, because Barnabas has scorned the wrong woman, Angelique is a witch and a vengeful one. Blinded with jealousy she kills Josette, by putting a spell on her so she walks of a cliff. Barnabas jumps after his true love, but Angelique turns him into a vampire, so he doesn’t die.

On Angelique’s quest to ruin Barnabas she also kills his parents and she turns the villagers against him and he’s buried in a casket far out in the woods.

Then we jump ahead to 1972, the lovely 70’s. The Collins family is close to being bankrupt and there’s only four of them left. Angelique has started her own fishing business and has entirely taken over the Collins’ business.

At the mansion lives Elizabeth Collins (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) her teenage daughter Caroline. Elizabeth’s brother Roger and his troubled son, David. The staff has been reduced to two people, one older than the other. Then there’s Dr. Julia Hoffman, a shrink who’s there to help the family.

We are introduced to the family through Victoria a young girl, who applies for a position as governess at the Collins mansion. She’s suppose to take care of David, who the family claim is crazy because he insist on having conversations with his dead mother.

So, phew here we are. Then accidentally Barnabas is dig up from his grave. Then he has to try survive in 1972, after having been buried for nearly 200 years. He returns to restore his families former glory and defeat Angelique.

That’s basically the story. The rest of the movie doesn’t contain that much story, it’s mostly funny. So, I’ll continue to my review. 🙂

Tim Burton the director is a genius in telling gothic stories and create beautiful images that are dark and filled with fog and mystery. He’s has done a create job, but unfortunately the story isn’t great. I know that it’s based on an old television show, so I don’t know who to blame for the story, therefore I will not blame anyone. I’ll just move on to the cast.

Johnny Depp is brilliant as always, he plays Barnabas perfectly. No doubt about that. I’m just sick of him playing the same part over and over again. He likes the weird and corky characters, but it’s starting to annoy me a little bit. This is just my opinion and I can’t bitch about his performance in this movie, because he’s doing great. But, he’s not the one running the show.

The past thing about this movie is the female leads. Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins is beautiful, strong and determined. I instantly fell in love with the character and well Michelle Pfeiffer is always something special and she can play anything. If you like her in this movie you’ll love her in Stardust where she’s the one being a wicked witch 😉

Elizabeth’s teenage daughter is also fantastic. I don’t know the actress, but I’m sure she’ll become huge some day. She’s a teenage daughter with an enormous T, it’s hard to write that much about her, but she sure makes this movie worth to watch.

Someone who was a bit of a disappointment was Helene Bonham Carter, she plays the therapist and well I had almost forgotten that she was even in the movie. She’s Tim Burton’s leading lady in private life and his supporting actress in most of his movies. I usually love her, but in this one she just didn’t bring that much to the table. Unfortunately, because she’s usually amazing. I especially love her in Big Fish and Alice in Wonderland.

Then we arrived to the best thing about this movie, Eva Green. She’s plays Angelique and she’s magnificent. First of all she’s just so beautiful and there’s something enchanting about her. Second of all she’s just so wicked and cruel. It’s not enough that Barnabas is buried underground for centuries, no no she also needs to ruin his family, that’s diabolical. A true woman scorned.

The cute thing is that when he returns she quickly admits that she loves him and just wants to be with him. She has loved him for 200 years and she constantly blackmail him into staying with her. It’s brilliant. She’s not just evil, she has a reason, she wants to be with the man she loves, but he refuses to so she destroys him. Makes perfect sense to me 🙂

She’s just drop dead gorgeous. I’m usually not this gay, but for her I’m pretty sure I could be 😉

All in all, the movie is worth watching, don’t expect too much. But you can expect lots of laughs and it’s funny to watch Tim Burton’s image of the 70’s. So, go watch it. It’s worth the money 😉