Watched the movie, Dark Shadows and I was (we were) pleasantly surprised.
When we saw the previews, we were on the fence, it’s Tim Burton and that in and of itself says a lot. I’ve seen a lot of Tim Burton movies and I’ve liked some and fallen asleep during others. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my all time favorite movies, while on the other hand, I fell asleep shortly into The Corpse Bride.
If you’ve ever seen some of his artwork, you’ll realize just how twisted he can be, it’s quite interesting. That being said, we wanted to see Dark Shadows, just never did and then it was out of the theaters. I don’t even remember it being at the $2 theater, lucky us, it’s on TV!
Dark Shadows was created in the style of the old TV and radio shows, very cool in that respect. It starts off in the 1800s, I think, and when Barnabas Collins is awakened it’s 1972, so the costumes, hairstyles, cars, the music, all terrific…pay phones, awesome!
I didn’t know all the actors, but Johnny Depp was great as Barnabas Collins, the vampire, who awakens in a time not his own, it was interesting to watch his reaction to everything new. Helena Bonham Carter, as weird as ever, I think she’s typecast, what do you think? She is involved with Tim Burton, so I don’t think there’s a movie he’s done she hasn’t been in.
Jackie Earle Harley was great as the drunk butler, the name may not be familiar, but his face is and when I say Moocher from Breaking Away and Kelly Leak from The Bad News Bears, ah, oh yeah. The last major player was Michelle Pfeiffer, she was great, still looks fantastic and played her part so well.
Rounding out the cast, with minor roles was Christopher Lee, who you see for a moment and Alice Cooper, yes, I said Alice Cooper! Who, by the way, looked exactly the same, and by that, I mean, he never seems to age. And, a bit of trivia…the first time I saw Alice Cooper, The Muppet Show in 1978!
There were parts to the movie that you looked sideways and said “huh?” or “really?” or “ewe!” Other times you laughed, you were shocked, “they really went there?”. There was action, romance, violence, apologetic vampires, bad witches, family secrets, hidden abilities, unrequited love, money, family bickering, murder, but always, at the heart of it all, a love story. Awe.
Bottom line, we liked it and would watch it again, there I said it. We liked it.
Peaches Prattlings 