Film Review: Dark Shadows
Tim Burton’s latest, Dark Shadows, is very hit-and-miss. Having never seen the cult-hit original gothic soap opera, it is hard to tell how much Burton was trying to emulate the show but the principal problem with this production is that it has no real focus. The opening is a very typical Burton piece – a very gothic, dark tale of legends, curses and black magic. But once the film opens in the setting of 1972, the focus shifts to a cheesier vibe of 1970s-style comedy that doesn’t work with Burton’s darker, gothic vision. Whilst dark comedy can be a delightful piece of entertainment in general, within this context the two are completely separately worlds that do not compliment one another.
Another massive problem with the focus of the film is that it is fairly plotless. The opening tells of how the Collins family moved from Liverpool to settle in America, bringing in a prosperous fishing enterprise. In Collinwood mansion, one of their servants, Angelique (Casino Royale’s Eva Green) becomes infatuated with Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp – who else?), who does not reciprocate her feelings. Thus she gets revenge, using witchcraft to kill his family, his lover and finally to turn Barnabas into a vampire and have him locked in a coffin underground to suffer for all eternity. Angelique decides to begin to take over the town of Collinsport with her own fishing business, Angel Bay, trying to ruin the Collins family not only in that generation but for the future also.
Barnabas is awoken nearly two centuries later, and returns to Collinwood to meet his future family and restore the Collins name to its former glory, much to Angelique’s dismay. This is where the film loses all sense of plot, for whole characters and scenes feel entirely wasted and pointless, not developing its characters or story well, but simply setting up points for cheap-shot Back to the Future-esque jokes surrounding Barnabas’ adjustment to the 20th century (which feel tired and unfunny). Scenes between Barnabas and Angelique feel repetitive, and the final act in particular seems to wash whatever plot was present away as it becomes clearer to the audience that we aren’t really sure what Barnabas is actually doing to honour his vow to restore the family name aside from restoring the fishing business.
Very few characters felt as if they contributed to the story in any way, wasting the decent talent in the cast with flat writing, and one character suffers particularly in a cringe-worthy twist in the final act of the film. The stellar cast – Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Chloë Grace Moretz, Johnny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote and Jackie Earle Haley – add as much interest as they can into their expendable, undeveloped characters but are hindered by bad writing. Even the quick cameos from Christopher Lee and Alice Cooper felt completely pointless. Only an on-form Johnny Depp (who was obsessed with Barnabas Collins as a child when he watched the original TV series) carries the story with his amusing quirks and quips.
The costume design by Colleen Atwood is particularly commendable, the make-up fantastic and the porcelain-doll-like physique of Angelique’s character is gorgeous. But this is a problem that is consistent across many of Tim Burton’s later works – too much focus on the visuals (which, to be fair, are fantastic) and not enough focus on creating a winning script and story. Throwing a pretty veil over the skeletal frame of Dark Shadow’s story will not fool audiences.
Dark Shadow’s lacklustre execution is a pity, because there was enough material there to give it great potential. But a confused vision, wasted talent and a scattered plot made this film feel fairly lost, tedious and repetitive.
5/10