Man oh man Tim Burton’s DARK SHADOWS has me torn. On one hand, what we’ve seen of the film so far looks every bit like the campy 60s soap that inspired it, even going so far as to have Johnny Depp look like a tranny Pee Wee Herman. Which I’m not so fond of. On the other hand, I can’t in good faith believe Burton and a cast of such talent can make a totally unwatchable film. But more than all that, my gal Michelle Pfeiffer reunites with the man that put her in the indelible Catwoman suit 20 years ago. And so, both gratitude and trepidation I feel for DARK SHADOWS…neither of which is remedied by the trio of new stills we have for the film above and below.
Also featured in the pics are Depp as Barnabas Collins, his gaudy estate (above), as well as mutton-chopped Jackie Earle Haley, who plays the character of Willie Loomis. For the record, Pfeiffer plays the character of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.
In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas has the world at his feet¡ªor at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Brouchard. A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.
Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman, to help with her family troubles.
Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins; her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard; and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins. The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters.
With Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter, Chloe Moretz, Gulliver McGrath, Bella Heathcote, Ray Shirley and Jonny Lee Miller as well – DARK SHADOWS casts May 11th.
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed