•
Rating:
The cinema is painted black, the color that dominates in Tim Burton's latest film. The director returns to the big screen with his usual dark atmospheres, this time reimagining the characters from the 1960s American soap opera "Dark Shadows."
In 1760, the Collins family, English aristocrats, emigrate to America where they establish a hugely successful fishing company. Barnabas, the only heir of the family, is known as an incorrigible Don Juan. He makes the fatal mistake of seducing and abandoning one of his maids, Angelique Brouchard, because he is in love with Josette. Angelique turns out to be a witch and, out of revenge, casts a curse on Barnabas, a curse that will involve not only him but the entire family tree and future descendants of the Collins family. Barnabas' parents, to begin with, die a tragic death, and Josette, the young Collins' beloved, throws herself off a cliff. Blinded by pain, Barnabas also tries to commit suicide without success: Angelique's curse transforms him into a vampire, condemning him to immortality (and thus to eternal pain for the severe losses suffered) and persecution by the inhabitants of Collinsport, who bury him alive in a coffin.
About two hundred years later, in 1972, Barnabas is accidentally freed from his underground prison. Returning to the family mansion, he meets his descendants: Elizabeth (the true head of the family), Roger (a human wreck, a careless parasite), little David (Roger's son but motherless, with some "issues"), and Carolyn (a half-kind of flower child, a typical misunderstood teenager, with some "issues" herself). Along with what’s left of his family, Barnabas also meets the "employees" of the Collins estate: Willie (a perpetually drunk servant) and Doctor Julia (a depressed alcoholic).
This family portrait will be joined by Victoria Winters, David's governess. Who hides a secret.
Barnabas will discover how the Collins have fallen into ruin, how AngelBay (the witch's company) has taken hold of Collinsport, and how the world has changed while he was underground ("How long until the horses are ready?" "We don't have horses, we have a Chevrolet."). And most importantly, he will discover that women should not be made angry.
For the vampire, it's the beginning of the end. "They say blood is thicker than water."
In the cast, besides Tim Burton’s loyal followers (Johnny Depp as the vampire and Helena Bonham Carter as Doctor Julia), we have Michelle Pfeiffer (Elizabeth), Jonny Lee Miller (Roger), Eva Green (Angelique), Chloë Moretz (Carolyn), Gulliver McGrath (David), and... Alice Cooper (himself).
The film is engaging and definitely pleasant to watch for lovers of the dark touch. And for Johnny Depp's fans.
The protagonist, Barnabas, is decidedly charming and also decidedly grotesque: it’s hard not to chuckle just looking at him, so out of time and place. It suits the actor, no one could have done this part better than Johnny Depp. A brilliant character, funny in his "elegant" 18th-century style.
Tim Burton once again strikes with his "dark shadows."
Let's hope that, like all Tim Burton films, this one doesn't become a fad for the bimbiminchia as well. But it's the usual vain hope I express every time one of his films comes out. I can't stand to see it so underrated.
"Every family has its demons."
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By Geo@Geo
It’s the story of a family cursed by a witch in love and deceived by a young 18th-century playboy, who, upon awakening 200 years later, struggles quite a bit to find his bearings.
If I had to define Burton’s latest work, I would reuse the term 'a mix of genres,' but with a dose of romance and sentimentality that we probably haven’t seen in a while.
By Mely
Burton has managed to harness this growing interest in Gothic creatures by creating a film that has little to do with the recent vampire films and TV series.
The film has it all: irony, love, fear, revenge, sensuality, romance, jealousy, all themes that make Dark Shadows more than a teen movie, more than a vampire film.
