Dark Shadows (2012)

[indianasmith]

I finally got to see this one tonight and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it!  It had its humorous moments, but was overall darker than i expected.  Depp was great as Collins, and Michelle Pfeiffer was very believable as Elizabeth.  Eva Green was SMOKING as Angelique too!  I am just old enough that I rmemeber watching the original, but nyoung enough not to really remember any details, so any departures from the original storyline were not as glaring and bothersome as they might have been.   Burton did nhis work well with this  one and had fun doing it!

[Allhallowsday]

Nobody (no one) got rich in the 18th or 19th century selling... FISH. 

DUMB MOVIE. 

[Umaril Has Returned]

I'm a huge Dark Shadows fan, but for me it's all about Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Alexandra Moltke, David Selby, Lara Parker and all the rest.  The "filmed live" nature of it, the wonderful sets, theme music and overall atmosphere.  Just making a movie with the same character names and a few shared plot points is nothing more than a novelty act IMO.

Right on. Same when I watched it as a kid. It was wonderfully tacky and borrowed heavily on recyling the actors for multiple roles almost as much as iriwn Allen recycled his props for his TV shows, but there was a classic feeling that was present that won't ever be re-created.

Perhaps much of that feeling does with the fact that it was TV's first true horror soap opera as well,  and also the fact that it was new and original, as well as Jonathan Frid's magentism as Barnabas.

Anyway I went to see the remake when it came out,  and I thought Johnny Depp was too young for the part, and the makeup was too pastel-looking. But there were some good parts...anyone catch Christopher Lee's cameo as the ship captain at the Blue Whale inn? 

[Allhallowsday]

I'm a huge Dark Shadows fan, but for me it's all about Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Alexandra Moltke, David Selby, Lara Parker and all the rest.  The "filmed live" nature of it, the wonderful sets, theme music and overall atmosphere.  Just making a movie with the same character names and a few shared plot points is nothing more than a novelty act IMO.

Right on. Same when I watched it as a kid. It was wonderfully tacky and borrowed heavily on recyling the actors for multiple roles almost as much as iriwn Allen recycled his props for his TV shows, but there was a classic feeling that was present that won't ever be re-created.
Perhaps much of that feeling does with the fact that it was TV's first true horror soap opera as well,  and also the fact that it was new and original, as well as Jonathan Frid's magentism as Barnabas.
Anyway I went to see the remake when it came out,  and I thought Johnny Depp was too young for the part, and the makeup was too pastel-looking. But there were some good parts...anyone catch Christopher Lee's cameo as the ship captain at the Blue Whale inn? 

I suppose there might be some good parts.  But, it was so dumb!  CHRISTOPHER LEE's cameo was a treat, though JONATHAN FRID's cameo was so quick that it was easy to miss. 

[Umaril Has Returned]

I'm a huge Dark Shadows fan, but for me it's all about Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Alexandra Moltke, David Selby, Lara Parker and all the rest.  The "filmed live" nature of it, the wonderful sets, theme music and overall atmosphere.  Just making a movie with the same character names and a few shared plot points is nothing more than a novelty act IMO.

Right on. Same when I watched it as a kid. It was wonderfully tacky and borrowed heavily on recyling the actors for multiple roles almost as much as iriwn Allen recycled his props for his TV shows, but there was a classic feeling that was present that won't ever be re-created.
Perhaps much of that feeling does with the fact that it was TV's first true horror soap opera as well,  and also the fact that it was new and original, as well as Jonathan Frid's magentism as Barnabas.
Anyway I went to see the remake when it came out,  and I thought Johnny Depp was too young for the part, and the makeup was too pastel-looking. But there were some good parts...anyone catch Christopher Lee's cameo as the ship captain at the Blue Whale inn? 

I suppose there might be some good parts.  But, it was so dumb!  CHRISTOPHER LEE's cameo was a treat, though JONATHAN FRID's cameo was so quick that it was easy to miss. 

I know....I didn't even see Jonathan Frid's cameo, although a few other people in the audience picked it out.  The girl I was with was one of them.

The one thing that was funny as all hell in the movie though is when Barnabas calls Alice Cooper "the ugliest woman ever." That got quite a roar from the crowd, LOL

[Allhallowsday]

...The one thing that was funny as all hell in the movie though is when Barnabas calls Alice Cooper "the ugliest woman ever." That got quite a roar from the crowd, LOL

Yeh, that was one of the funny parts...

[Umaril Has Returned]

...The one thing that was funny as all hell in the movie though is when Barnabas calls Alice Cooper "the ugliest woman ever." That got quite a roar from the crowd, LOL

Yeh, that was one of the funny parts...

Yeah it was funny and it was funny too when Barnabas woke up ith the McDonald's sign above him. All in all, a strong effort but came up quite a bit short...

[claws]

I can see why this wasn't the huge hit it should have been. It's flawed, uneven and totally missing the typical Depp/Burton magic/charm. If anything, this felt like watching a beefed up but still empty version of The Addams Family.
That said, there are a few fun moments but they are far in between. My rating went down from 3/5 to 2.5/5. This remake didn't satisfy me 

[Chainsawmidget]

I can see why this wasn't the huge hit it should have been. It's flawed, uneven and totally missing the typical Depp/Burton magic/charm.

Burton and Depp should try to avoid working together for a long time.  Their schtick has gotten old and lacks any real imagination anymore.

[Umaril Has Returned]

I can see why this wasn't the huge hit it should have been. It's flawed, uneven and totally missing the typical Depp/Burton magic/charm. If anything, this felt like watching a beefed up but still empty version of The Addams Family.
That said, there are a few fun moments but they are far in between. My rating went down from 3/5 to 2.5/5. This remake didn't satisfy me 

I think that maybe,  in a way the Burton-Depp magic is slowly running out.

Burton has, in a way, over-used Depp for these type of movies (the Gothic-type stuff)  and in doing so, Depp has had to maybe sacrifice or cut back on certain aspects of his movies as to try to avoid typecasting.  Either that or it was just one of those things he just wasn't meant to do?

[Fausto]

Elisa Hansen of TGWTG did a video review of Dark Shadows, and why Burton's film version didn't work. She hits on a lot of excellent points:

http://blip.tv/mavenoftheeventide/vampire-reviews-dark-shadows-6157411