Review of Dark Shadows (2012) by Georgios M — 19 May 2013

This film got trashed even before it was released by original Dark Shadows fans, so it wasn't off to the best start by any means. Fans took one look at the 'comedic' trailer and didn't like what they saw.

as a 'non-hardcore fan' of the original series (i love the show, but never got into it as much as others) I too was quite puzzled by the trailer. Will it be a comedy? Are they not taking the source material seriously? Luckily for me, I am a huge Tim Burton/Johnny Depp fan, more so than I am a Dark Shadows Tv Series fan, so no matter what direction they went with the film, I was always going to watch.

I went into the movie expecting to see a typical Tim Burton film. Gothic, romantic, comedic, horrifying, and action packed.. all together in one film, like only Tim Burton can deliver.... and I wasn't disappointed.

This film is everything you would expect from a Tim Burton movie. Very reminiscent of classics such as Edward Scissorhands, the film combines elements of different genres to create something very unique, in typical Burton fashion.

It is evident in the film that Depp, Pfeiffer and Burton were all fans of the original series. Depp and Pfeiffer's performances were both brilliant, and are the 2 standouts in my opinion. Depp works perfectly well as a vampire and I feel he did a marvellous job of recreating Jonathon Frid's original character.

Eva Green was also very good as Angelique. Overall, the cast did a great job of recreating the Collins family. Collinwood, looks absolutely amazing, and the art direction in the film was spot on. Danny Elfman's score, yet again, is absolutely magnificent.

Gloomy, gothic, big and romantic, the score immediately sets the mood and atmosphere for the film. As Tim Burton has said in regards to the film, when you watch the series now.. it has a very weird vibe to it, as it is trying to be a serious soap opera, yet it has its comedic elements to it, without even really trying.

Missed lines, sets collapsing, crew members visible on screen, Burton has said that he tried to capture all of this into the film, and it was a very difficult sort of vibe to capture in his opinion. But I believe he did a great job in doing this, it is a difficult sort of thing to do, but when looking back at the series now, I think the film holds up and it definitely maintains that same sort of vibe that the series has.