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Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: October 2, 2012.
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfieffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
Director Tim Burton resurrects the cult classic TV show Dark Shadows in the feature film that begins in the year 1752 where Joshua Collins (Ivan Kaye) and his lovely wife Naomi (Susanna Cappellero) leave their native England for the shores of America with their Barnabas in tow. As times goes on, however, the Collins family curse soon afflicts the man who Barnabas (Johnny Depp) would become. Settled in the town of Collinsport, Maine, Barnabas winds up with anything that a man could want but makes the mistake of breaking the heart of a witch named Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green) when he pushes her aside and instead chooses the love of the beautiful Josette (Bella Heathcote). Proving that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, she turns him into a vampire and then buries him alive.
Fast forward two hundred years and Barnabas, still stuck six feet under, winds up being let out of his grave and into the completely different present - at least the present as it was in 1972. Newly awoken, he returns to the Collins family home which has been more or less abandoned and fallen into a serious state of disrepair. Not without his pride, Barnabas moves back in to the dilapidated abode and decides to go about repairing it and reestablishing his family name. Upon doing so, he meets the current crop of Collins family member: matron Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer),her teenage daughter Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz) and lazy brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), Roger's insane son, David (Gully McGrath), and the family's personal psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter - you just knew she'd pop up in here somewhere). Fleshing out the motley crew is the family servant, Willie Loomis (Jackie Earle Haley), an aged alcoholic who knows more than he lets on about things. With the Collins' business situations in very dire straits, Barnabas decides to take the reins from Elizabeth, though of course there's one giant thorn in his side: the competition for their fishing business comes from the Angel Bay Fish Cannery on the other side of town and it's run by none other than that old witch, Angelique Bouchard, who is still very much in love with Barnabas despite her having had him buried alive. Things start to go bad when Barnabas falls for a woman named Victoria (Bella Heathcote), who bares more than a slight resemblance to Josette.
Dark Shadows starts off played fairly straight but once Collins has been transported into the 1970s, shrugs off the strong gothic style of the opening scenes and opts instead to play Barnabas for laughs as he essentially becomes a fish out of water. Depp plays the character about as well as anybody outside of the late Jonathan Frid probably could, slinking around in the dark and made up to look as pale as you'd expect someone to be, given that they'd been laying in a coffin for two centuries. The humor, however, is predictable. It almost all stems from Barnabas' attempts to understand the world of 1972 - when Alice Cooper is inexplicably hired to perform at the family ball held to reopen Collinwood Manor Barnabas describes him as an 'ugly woman' before going on to marvel at automobiles and lava lamps and all those other marvels of the modern age. Depp is good in the part. He looks interesting, he moves well, he becomes a creature of the night in every way you could hope he would, but the rest of the cast falls pretty flat here, playing fairly thin characters subjected to little more than parodies of the various movie stereotypes we're all familiar with.
With the comedy uneven and the cast tepid save for Depp, we are left with the visuals, many of which are quite impressive. This isn't a movie that will appeal to those without a taste for Burton's style, because it looks in a lot of ways like his other 'gothic' films, but there's no denying the style and macabre elegance on display here. The set design is great as is the attention to detail in the costuming of key characters. The cinematography is wonderful and the score impressive as well. It's a shame more wasn't put into coming up with a more interesting story. Though there are those who will no doubt (and somewhat understandably) write this film off immediately simply because it's a comedic updating of a cult classic, there was potential here - much of it, however, is reasonably wasted. Lots of style, very little substance.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Dark Shadows arrives on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer from Warner Brothers framed at 1.78.1 widescreen. Not surprising, the movie looks very dark and shadowy, with great use of shadow throughout the movie, which is made up of almost entirely bleak colors. This is all intentional, of course, and in keeping with the tone of the content but those hoping for a transfer that boasts non-stop gorgeous color reproduction won't find it here. With that said, the black levels are very good as is shadow detail and what little color there is in the movie comes through nicely. There are scenes where detail is very impressive and plenty where it is not, though this seems intentionally, things almost look a little bit chalky in spots, but it works. You definitely get the impression watching this movie that it looks just as it should and that it is very much in keeping with intentions of the filmmakers.
The main audio option on this disc is a top notch lossless track by way of the English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix, but Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound tracks are also available in French, Spanish and Portuguese with removable subtitles provided in English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese. There's a lot of great surround activity here and it suits the movie nicely, handled with sometimes very clever subtlety. The scenes that take place inside Collinwood Manor have got some great rear channel activity, the kind of background noises you'd expect to hear if walking through an aged home, while the scenes that take place in the woods have similarly appropriate sounds throughout. Dialogue stays clean and clear and the score is rich and strong without over sounding overblown. There's really nothing to complain about here at all. Does it rock your surround system the way a modern action movie might? No, but like the transfer it suits the movie perfectly and given the frequently clever use of sound that takes place throughout the film, the experience is all the better for it.
The main extra on the disc is Warner's Maximum Movie Mode viewing option which allows you to interact with the movie at various points and learn more about it by what is essentially a fancy picture in picture track. When enabled, as the movie plays out you get input from cast and crew as to the making of the film and are provided with some details regarding sets, characters, effects, makeup, costumes and more. The Focus Points, they being the mini-featurettes that are intertwined with the Maximum Movie Mode viewing option, are also available on their own if you'd rather access them individually. Combined they run for just under forty minutes, subjects covered are: Becoming Barnabas, Welcome To Collinsport, The Collins: Every Family Has Its Demons, Reliving A Decade, Angelique: A Witch Scorned, Alice Cooper Rocks Collinsport, Dark Shadowy Secrets, A Melee of Monstrous Proportions and Dark Shadows: The Legend Bites Back. These are interesting enough and can be watched on their own or by way of a play all option off of the menu.
Six minutes of moderately amusing deleted scenes are also included here. All of the extras on the disc are in high definition. Animated menus and chapter stops are also included. As this is a combo pack it also includes a standard DVD version of the movie as well as a digital copy. Both discs fit inside a Blu-ray case that in turn fits inside a slipcase with a lenticular cover.
The Final Word:
A few amusing moments, a really good performance by Johnny Depp and some really nice visuals make this take on Dark Shadows worth watching, but you can't help but walk away from it feeling like it could and should have turned out to be more than it is. Warner's Blu-ray release, however, is excellent.
Dark Shadows available on Blu-ray Combo pack, DVD and for download 10/2!
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
