Review of Dark Shadows (2012) by Terry D — 09 Apr 2018

Tim Burton evokes the atmosphere and melodrama of the classic Dan Curtis television soap opera, all the while injecting it with subtle and wry Burtonian humour at almost every turn. Johnny Depp, as always, is interesting to watch and listen to.

At first he had me thinking that he might have 'mailed it in' with this performance. However, he methodically and eventually won me over soon enough. I believe that he incorporated attributes of the previous Barnabas's -- Jonathan Frid from the aforementioned original and Ben Cross from the '90s revival -- into his repertoire here, and I also started hearing some Trevor Howard (English actor of the 1930s-'80s) in his speech.

Of course, there's also a nice quirky assemblage of supporting characters...and I would like to have seen more of some of them. Regrettably, as has essentially become ubiquitous with the mainstream big budget movies of our day, this one chooses to push the ole' envelope at the end and unnecessarily goes a tad too far in the film's final act.

Finally, a plentitude of well-placed period music adds to the proceedings.