Dark Shadows

What's with all the complaints from the so-called experts, huh? Every time I sit down for a Tim Burton film, I know I’m in for something quirky and unorthodox... and once again, that's exactly what I got. Sure, sometimes he makes films to bring in some cash, like Planet of the Apes, but then there are times when he’s just checking off another dream project from his creative bucket list. Who cares if Dark Shadows cost $150 million when Johnny Depp’s production company is footing the bill? I honestly really enjoyed it. It had everything I wanted—so what if it was a little too predictable? The characters were spot-on, the cast was fantastic, and the music was just as fun as I’d hoped. The atmosphere was magical, and the story was exactly what you'd expect from Burton. Visually, no complaints here either. I don't get why others see any major issues. Another thing I love about Tim is his knack for casting either well-known, unique faces or fresh, original talent, and this film is no exception. Everything about it just clicked for me. And okay, maybe it wasn’t groundbreaking, and I could’ve done without a few scenes, but I had a great time. Oh, and let’s be real—Eva Green probably made every guy in the audience pretty happy. (05/16/2012)

What We Screw Up in the Shadows... Despite the vampire character, this Gothic pride, which suits death so well, is eager to see itself in the mirror. But behind it, there’s nothing left. This has been happening since Charlie’s factory for chubby kids, and some don’t want to admit it. With a bit more of a pointy bust, Eva Green was like Vampira in Ed Wood. It’s no wonder that the firefighters went to Tim Burton’s calves before they went to the Collins estate. (06/10/2024)

Burton fizzled out and there was nothing left but a bunch of make up, pretty sets and once emotive themes. More than anything else, the character of Barnabas is an unintentional authorial self-reflection by a filmmaker who, since Sweeney Todd, has been copying himself and chasing the ghosts of the past. (05/10/2012)

Tim Burton's dumbest and most boring film, and I say that as a great admirer of his. So, let's summarize. Typical Burton goofy humour? There’s none of it. Burton's famous bizarre visual styling? Non-existent. The always so distinctive music of Elfman? I didn’t catch it. Immersive plot? Plot? What plot? So what the hell, at least some minor tidbits, like Barnabas's confrontation with modern times? Criminally underused. I'll let Barnabas's fangs bite me if I'm making this up, but these were my two longest hours at the movies in years. (05/13/2012)

It's such a shame that Dark Shadows came along just as most viewers were running out of patience with Tim Burton. I actually like the master of strangeness, and the story of Barnabas Collins seems better to me than the quickly fading Alice in Wonderland or the even more Burton-esque Sweeney Todd. There are a lot of oddities happening at Collinwood that amaze me with the director's imagination, or t which I can hardly resist laughing. Johnny Depp works perfectly as an atypical protagonist without batting an eye, and the rest of the film is stolen by the pubescent princess Chloë Grace Moretz even in a smaller space. Riding the waves of Danny Elfman's soundtrack, I made it to 90% with a slight reserve for distance and further projection, which a few years later confirmed that the rarely appreciated spectacle got stuck on the turbulent cliffs of the time. (05/30/2012)