Dark Shadows
So now we have a fish out of water story that's also trying to cash in on the vampire craze. However, does it just feel like a cash in or is it actually fun watching? Let's find out.
In 1752, the Collins family travel to America. Once there, they begin their own business and become incredibly rich. Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) lives his happy life with the woman he loves, until an evil and jealous witch, Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), casts a spell on Barabas' love. This spell makes her throw herself off a cliff and Barnabas jumps after her. She dies, but Barnabas lives because a second spell turns him into a vampire. Some time later, Angelique gets the whole town against him and they lock him in a coffin buried underground. Fast forward to the year 1972 where Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote) is getting a job at the Collins family manor. She's introduced to the residence of the house, Elizabeth Collins (Michelle Pfeiffer), Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), Roger Collins (Jonny Lee Miller), Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz), and David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). She gets the job of being David's private teacher, which allows her to live there. Some time later, a construction crew digs up Barnabas' coffin. He kills them and makes his way to Collins manor. Once there, he convinces them to let him stay. The next day, he's informed that Angelique has taken over the family business, so Barnabas sets out to get the Collins family business back to the way it was.
For starters, this movie was completely advertised wrong. Every trailer for it makes it look like a straight forward comedy. While there are some funny moments in the movie, this is more serious and darker than your typical comedy. I actually liked that it did that. Too often are fish out of water stories used solely to have some basis for a comedy. While they do that here, it's down played a bit. The fact that he's in another time period is more used to develop his character more than only telling jokes. The darker moments do work in the movie's favor as Barnabus is a vampire. Having a vampire with no dark moments gives you Twilight, and we most certainly don't want that.
While I didn't find anything truly terrible in the movie, there's still some things I want to bring up. Namely, the time period. Why did this need to be set in the 70s? For those that don't know, this movie is based off a late 60s to early 70s TV show of the same name. The movie actually takes place a year after the show was cancelled, but why? Nothing in the movie really feels like it needed to be 70s because it wouldn't work in modern times. We still have people that go against others like hippies. We still have music and musicians that go crazy for performances and sing about monsters. While it's not bad to have it set in the 70s, it just seems like a missed opportunity since modern day society and our technology is more advanced than the 70s. Then there's the family. Don't get me wrong, I loved these characters and the actors and actresses do amazingly well, but the movie doesn't give them the time to develop. We're just stuck with Depp through the whole movie and when something unexpected happens that makes no sense, we're just expected to buy it because that person wasn't Depp. The biggest disappointment is with the character Victoria. She plays the love interest and at the beginning, she seemed like she'd be a somewhat main character. The when Depp arrives, the movie pretty much forgets she exists until it needs her back for a few minutes.
So should you see Dark Shadows? I'd recommend waiting for it to come to DVD for a rental. While it's still enjoyable, nothing about it really screams "see this in theaters". It's a decently made film that can be used to pass the time or for when you want to watch a fun vampire movie with some friends.
In 1752, the Collins family travel to America. Once there, they begin their own business and become incredibly rich. Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) lives his happy life with the woman he loves, until an evil and jealous witch, Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), casts a spell on Barabas' love. This spell makes her throw herself off a cliff and Barnabas jumps after her. She dies, but Barnabas lives because a second spell turns him into a vampire. Some time later, Angelique gets the whole town against him and they lock him in a coffin buried underground. Fast forward to the year 1972 where Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote) is getting a job at the Collins family manor. She's introduced to the residence of the house, Elizabeth Collins (Michelle Pfeiffer), Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), Roger Collins (Jonny Lee Miller), Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz), and David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). She gets the job of being David's private teacher, which allows her to live there. Some time later, a construction crew digs up Barnabas' coffin. He kills them and makes his way to Collins manor. Once there, he convinces them to let him stay. The next day, he's informed that Angelique has taken over the family business, so Barnabas sets out to get the Collins family business back to the way it was.
For starters, this movie was completely advertised wrong. Every trailer for it makes it look like a straight forward comedy. While there are some funny moments in the movie, this is more serious and darker than your typical comedy. I actually liked that it did that. Too often are fish out of water stories used solely to have some basis for a comedy. While they do that here, it's down played a bit. The fact that he's in another time period is more used to develop his character more than only telling jokes. The darker moments do work in the movie's favor as Barnabus is a vampire. Having a vampire with no dark moments gives you Twilight, and we most certainly don't want that.
While I didn't find anything truly terrible in the movie, there's still some things I want to bring up. Namely, the time period. Why did this need to be set in the 70s? For those that don't know, this movie is based off a late 60s to early 70s TV show of the same name. The movie actually takes place a year after the show was cancelled, but why? Nothing in the movie really feels like it needed to be 70s because it wouldn't work in modern times. We still have people that go against others like hippies. We still have music and musicians that go crazy for performances and sing about monsters. While it's not bad to have it set in the 70s, it just seems like a missed opportunity since modern day society and our technology is more advanced than the 70s. Then there's the family. Don't get me wrong, I loved these characters and the actors and actresses do amazingly well, but the movie doesn't give them the time to develop. We're just stuck with Depp through the whole movie and when something unexpected happens that makes no sense, we're just expected to buy it because that person wasn't Depp. The biggest disappointment is with the character Victoria. She plays the love interest and at the beginning, she seemed like she'd be a somewhat main character. The when Depp arrives, the movie pretty much forgets she exists until it needs her back for a few minutes.
So should you see Dark Shadows? I'd recommend waiting for it to come to DVD for a rental. While it's still enjoyable, nothing about it really screams "see this in theaters". It's a decently made film that can be used to pass the time or for when you want to watch a fun vampire movie with some friends.