Blog of Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows/Vampirella Crossover Comic From Dynamite Entertainment

Ed Gross — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:41:07 +0000

A pair of ’60s vampire icons are going to have a crossover adventure in the pages of Dynamite Entertainment’s comic miniseries Dark Shadows/Vampirella. Offers Dynamite, “In Dark Shadows/Vampirella #1, when the disappearance of a family friend brings Barnabas Collins to New York, he is ill-prepared for the seedy underworld of clubs that awaits him! And Vampirella’s quest to find the “Big Apple Butcher” sends her on a collision course with the vampire of Collinsport! Will Vampirella and Barnabas uncover the shocking identity of this madman before they kill each another?”
Coming in August, the series will be written by Marc Andreyko, with art by Patrick Berkenkotter.

Dark Shadows In Your Hands: What Do You Do With It?

Ed Gross — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:26:56 +0000

As suggested by Blog of DS contributor Patrick, the reigns of Dark Shadows has been put in your hands. You have a $150 million budget. What do you do with it? How do you present Dark Shadows to a modern audience that will allow the film to have its broadest appeal (remember, you’re responsible for about $300 million, with marketing and print costs thrown in)? Can you hold on to the basic tenants of the concept? Do you do a film, miniseries or weekly series? Go wild! Let us know what you think.

Dark Shadows: Post Your Reviews Here!

Ed Gross — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:54:06 +0000

To one and all, we’re several hours away from the first midnight shows of Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows. I hope you’ll post your reviews here and let’s get a lively discussion going. What worked and what didn’t? Have they bastardized DS or given it a new lease on life? We wanna know!

Blog of DS Editor Ed Gross Reviews Dark Shadows – WARNING: SPOILERS

Ed Gross — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:18:05 +0000

This is a time of Hollywood reboots, reimaginings and regurgitations in which the prevalent attitude seems to be if it worked once, it can work again. There’s also the other dynamic that has fallen into place in which it’s been deemed necessary to drastically alter a concept from its original incarnation and present it to the modern audience in a very different way.
   For instance, 21 Jump Street went from being a cop drama to a full-blown comedy; the ‘60s sitcom The Munsters is being turned into a horror drama on NBC; The CW’s reboot of the Linda Hamilton/Ron Perlman Beauty and the Beast isn’t going to actually have a beast in it, but, instead, a U.S. soldier on whom an experiment has gone terribly wrong; and now there is the eighth Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration, Dark Shadows.
   Normally in a review it would be appropriate to set up a background of the premise, but on this particular site that doesn’t seem necessary.
   Both Burton and Depp have professed their childhood love for the original Dark Shadows, offering up the classic line, “I used to run home from school every day to watch it,” repeating the mantra of so many veteran fans. They’ve also said that this movie has been inspired by their memories and their overall love for the show…. Now I have been a DS fan since 1968, having caught the show by accident back then and never quite recovering from the experience. But if anyone was to come to me and try to get me to share my memories or impressions of the show, it would never be anywhere close to what is being presented in theatres beginning on May 11th.
   Some of the essential ingredients are certainly there – Barnabas’ love for Josette Du Pres and her reincarnation in the present, the curse of vampirism placed upon him by the scorned witch Angelique, the odd Collins family, Collinwood (which looks stunning, thanks to production designer Rick Heinrichs and his collaboration with Burton), Dr. Julia Hoffman, David Collins and his late mother (who isn’t a Phoenix as she was on the old show, but is definitely supernatural in nature), etc. – but it’s all presented in such a bizarre way. Not bizarre as in typically Burtonesque, just…. strange. As promised by the filmmakers, things start off seriously enough in the past, but once Barnabas is freed from his coffin, the “humor” of him adjusting to the world of 1972 kicks into play. The idea of playing that humor is fine – one element never really explored in any depth in the past was Barnabas’ fish out of water situation, but, unfortunately, many of his observations here simply aren’t that funny. And then any time the film does seem to connect with anything in a remotely serious manner, something truly inane happens to take the audience out of that moment. Which is so incredibly frustrating, because when you look at the central plot – the battle between Barnabas and Angelique and the preservation of the Collins family – there was definitely a strong enough concept there, but it’s all marred by the determination to camp up virtually every situation.
   While Johnny Depp does an interesting job portraying Barnabas, frequently suggesting some of the essence brought to the role by the late Jonathan Frid (who is on screen with his fellow co-stars from the original series for what amounts to about two seconds), too often Burton has the audience laughing at the character rather than with him. This Barnabas, trying to find a comfortable place to sleep, does so in a closet, a cardboard box, upside down against a curtain, etc. And when he inadvertently steps into a shaft of sunlight, he’s the last one to notice that he’s on fire, which is apparently okay since someone is conveniently nearby with a bucket of water to douse him. In his battle with Angelique, at one point she projectile vomits what looks like a stream of pea soup circa The Exorcist, which he manages to elude. But then she does it again and he ends up completely covered in the substance, looking like someone who’s been slimed at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.
   And wait until you get to the ending. Things play out in such a way – with so many random elements thrown into the fray – that you’re left with the feeling that rather than attempting to preserve any sort of memory of Dark Shadows or paving the way for future generations to enjoy the concept, there was a hidden agenda in place to ensure the polar opposite.
   The cast of this movie is fine – all playing things a little eccentrically, but effectively. And, as noted earlier, the core concept works, but for anyone who thinks the problem with Dark Shadows stems from the challenge of taking five years worth of a soap opera and distilling it to a feature film, they couldn’t be more wrong. According to screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith, the earliest stages of this film had a “much darker” screenplay by John August, but then the decision was made to lighten it up and August’s script was discarded. As a result, the problem with this film stems from the overall vision of Burton, Grahame-Smith and Johnny Depp, which was clouded at best, callous and cynical at worst.
   As the credits begin to roll, you’re left asking yourself one question: what the hell were they thinking? At film’s end, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard professes that the Collins family will endure… Uh, no they won’t. At least not this particular branch.

UPDATED: Variety & Others Review Dark Shadows

Ed Gross — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:01:29 +0000

Variety has posted its review of Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, and to put it mildly, it’s not a rave. Here are some highlights from their commentary: “…Outfitting ABC’s cult-worshipped, occult-themed soap opera with super-slick production values and a tone that veers unsteadily between kooky comedy and gothic horror, this bizarre but weirdly bloodless retro-camp exercise is neither funny nor eerie enough to seduce the uninitiated, and will court bemused reactions at best from the series’ still-estimable fan following…
“…With a smirk and a wink, the filmmakers have inflated an enduring relic into an extravagantly empty postmodern artifact, an object lesson in the perils of camping up a property that had no shortage of camp appeal to begin with. Gone is the atmosphere of grave, haunted solemnity that lent the series an irresistible conviction, despite its melodramatic trappings and rudimentary special effects. In its place are lavishly detailed sets, some mildly coarse sexual innuendo, and one joke after another predicated on the supposed hilarity of a Victorian aristocrat trying to navigate the era of disco and free love.”
sigh

UPDATED WITH ADDITIONAL REVIEW EXCERPTS:
SCREENDAILY.COM: Dark Shadows, based on the cult soap opera of the late 1960s and early ‘70s, comes to the big screen directed by Tim Burton, which unfortunately turns out to be as much of a mixed blessing as one might fear. Though sporting his usual stylish production design and imaginative visual flair, this gothic comedy nonetheless suffers from the same lack of narrative focus that has haunted other recent Burton offerings like Alice In Wonderland. Johnny Depp, working with Burton for an eighth time, gives a spirited performance where the affectation doesn’t outweigh the effectiveness, but still one walks away from the film remembering the costumes but not really the characters that wore them.
“… there is a welcome kinkiness on display that gives the film a consistent jolt. This is provided primarily by Green, whose fetching figure and naughty eyes keep Dark Shadows on edge. Her back-and-forth with the stiff, formal Barnabas entertains throughout and is in some ways reminiscent of Burton’s Batman Returns and its unconventional love story between adversaries who are more compatible than they care to admit. (Ironically, Pfeiffer, who played Catwoman in Batman Returns, is mostly on the sidelines for Dark Shadows.) But ultimately Dark Shadows can’t overcome a clear flaw, which is that Barnabas’s conflicted feelings for the alluring Angie are far more compelling than his supposed bond to the bland Victoria, who may be the reincarnation of his dearly departed Josette.
“Depp is known for embracing outlandish, mannered performances in Burton’s films, but his Barnabas is actually tightly controlled, an old-school gentleman hopelessly out of step with 1970s culture. It’s a funny turn that he wisely underplays, but without an engaging story to propel him, it mostly exists in a vacuum. Likewise, the supporting cast largely fade into the background, making it easier to admire what really works in Dark Shadows, which are Colleen Atwood’s impeccable costumes and Rick Heinrichs’ immaculate production design.”

FILMPIE.COM: “Perhaps my expectations were misaligned but I was disappointed by Dark Shadows. The lure of director Tim Burton and a half-decent trailer had me thinking this would be a sharp, witty black comedy. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. There were only a handful of genuine laughs… and that puts it on a par with Scary Movie 3.
“The film gets too bogged down with lengthy dialogue-driven sequences. Knowing that Burton is sitting in the director’s chair, you keep thinking they’re going to lead up to something clever but that’s rarely the case. Instead, we’re left with dumb jokes highlighted by a scene where Barnabas pulls out the back of the television set and tries to comprehend how there are small people inside. It was like watching Mel Brooks’ awful 1995 comedy Dracula: Dead And Loving It.
“The screenplay doesn’t help his cause but Johnny Depp’s isn’t too bad as Barnabas Collins. We’ve seen this melancholic persona from him many times before but he still gives his character a little flavour. It’s a shame the rest of the talented cast are so underutilised. Michelle Pfeiffer, Jackie Earle Haley, Helena Bonham-Carter and Chloe Grace Moretz are pushed too far into the background and contribute little to the overall story. Deserving of praise are the gifted set decorators and make up artists who have helped bring this world to life.
“I confess to not having seen any of the 1960s television series on which the film is based. Perhaps it may explain some of the gaps in the story such as how Barnabas developed hypnotic powers and how he can’t see himself in the mirror. I’m also unclear about the “ghost” in the film and what purpose she serves. It felt like we were only given part of the story.”

QUICKFLIX.COM: “Dark Shadows is Tim Burton‘s best film in a decade. You’d have to go all the way back to Big Fish, or perhaps even 1999′s Sleepy Hollow to find anything comparable in quality. That might be damning it with faint praise, however. Even the biggest Burtonees wouldn’t go to the mattresses over the joy-killing, childhood-ending Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or his just-OK adaptations of Sweeney Todd and Alice in Wonderland. Lest we forget he’s also responsible for coining the phrase “reimagining” while promoting his Planet of the Apes do-over back in 2001; two crimes that we’re still paying for today. Ape Lincoln! That was a thing!
“Dark Shadows deserves better than to be called his “best film in a decade” merely by trumping such cinematic sludge (seriously… Ape. Lincoln.). Sure, it continues the trend of modernising a pre-existing property, which feels like an enormous, ongoing practical joke for a filmmaker as imaginative as he. Here though, he takes the Brady Bunch Movie approach, sweetly skewering the 1960s supernatural soap opera it’s based upon and good-naturedly teasing the era in which it was spawned. And yes, his regular co-conspirators Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and the shaman that renders them all ageless have returned to wreak scenery-eating havoc once again, but the resulting bubbly concoction is significantly more delectable than anything they’ve conjured together in some time.”

MATTSMOVIEREVIEWS.COM: “…Thanks to an undercooked screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith (with a story credit to Burton regular John August), this talented cast is wasted portraying banal characters lost amongst the shuffle of one sub-plot on top of another, Burton squeezing multiple story arcs into a two hour run time yet never allowing characters to flourish or relationships to develop. As a result the emotional dramatics fall flat and its stakes never register, making this an empty vessel of a movie.
“It’s a shame. The first 20 min of Dark Shadows brought a promise of something moody, creepy and entertaining as the howling sounds of “Nights in White Satin” from The Moody Blues (one of several great 1970s era tracks featured) plays over the opening credits as we follow Australian actress Bella Heathcoate and her disarmingly big blue bug eyes, as she travels upstate to meet the Collins family for a governess position at Collins Manor, an impressive construction put together by production designer Rick Heinrichs and beautifully shot by Bruno Delbonnel.
“Another highlight is Johnny Depp’s funny and creepy performance, playing a man from another time with the right amount of inquisitiveness and a vampire with welcomely classic conventions, no doubt inspired by the likes of Bela Lugosi and of course the original Barnabas Collins, Jonathan Frid.
“Under Burton’s direction it is effort wasted. Depp is not doubt a man of utmost loyalty (other frequent collaborators include Terry Gilliam and Gore Verbinksi), yet too often of late Burton’s direction has not been able to match Depp’s brilliance, with Dark Shadows another Burton blunder. Into the darkness may it stay.”

Dark Shadows Stars Lara Parker & Kathryn Leigh Scott on Good Day L.A.

Ed Gross — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:05:13 +0000

Original Dark Shadows stars Lara Parker and Kathryn Leigh Scott appeared on Good Day L.A. to talk about the original series as well, their new books and, of course, the Tim Burton film. Look for some clips from the original series.

Kathryn Leigh Scott And Lara Parker Talk “Dark Shadows”: MyFoxLA.com

Entertainment Tonight Goes Behind the Scenes on Dark Shadows

Ed Gross — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:36:21 +0000

In this report filed by Entertainment Tonight, they go behind the scenes on Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, covering various aspects of production and intercutting production footage with interview snippets.

Two New Dark Shadows Featurettes

Ed Gross — Mon, 07 May 2012 02:20:15 +0000

Warner Bros. has released a pair of new Dark Shadows behind-the-scenes featurettes that take a look at the making of the film while also offering up some new sequences that haven’t been seen before.

Dark Shadows Producer Graham King: Film is NOT a Remake of the Series

Ed Gross — Sun, 06 May 2012 18:29:58 +0000

The Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex column is featuring an interview with Dark Shadows producer Graham King, who details during the course of the conversation that this new movie is decidedly not a remake of the original soap opera. What follows is an excerpt.
HC: The Dark Shadows name has a lot of history — ABC aired more than 1,200 episodes of the gothic soap opera – but it’s a blank spot for most moviegoers now. That may not matter at all, though, because in tone, plot and approach, this film is more about Tim Burton than the old series…
GK: No question, no question. When Johnny first talked to me about Dark Shadows, I have to admit, I had no idea what it was. It didn’t play overseas — it didn’t play in the U.K., that’s for sure, when I was growing up. Then obviously I did a lot of homework and looked into it and you know what, people say this is a remake of the old TV series but it’s really not. I feel it’s a very commercial, accessible film for people to go to and have a really fun time. Tim and Johnny put their stamp on it and when that happens it’s special and, for me, to be involved in that — and in a movie that is pure entertainment — is really nice.
HC: More than any other movie star of his stature, Depp finds roles where he can submerge himself in makeup and costume. You’ve been working with him for the better part of a decade now; do you wish you could see more of him in his movies, so to speak?
GK: [Laughs] Well I’ve been lucky enough to work with Johnny a few times when he’s not in all the makeup — “Rum Diaries” and “The Tourist” — and he’s so versatile that he can play any role. What I love about “Dark Shadows” is his dry sense of humor. And, as you know, Johnny carries that with him 24/7. There are moments in the movie where his response to things — just the look on his face — are hilarious. I’ve seen it over and over again and I laugh every time…. Johnny can deliver lines just without saying anything.
HC: Depp grew up loving “Dark Shadows” — was that apparent in that first conversation you had with him about this project?
GK: Absolutely, yes, absolutely. He started telling me all of this, with a lot of excitement. I was thinking, “What is he talking about?” He was absolutely a man on a mission to play this role. He loved it when he was a kid and obviously it shows in the film. Johnny loved every minute of being Barnabus [sic].

Lara Parker Praises New Dark Shadows Movie

Ed Gross — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:17:07 +0000

Count Lara Parker, Dark Shadows’ original Angelique, among the fans of Tim Burton’s take on the material. Lara (who will be discussing her DS novels in an exclusive interview at Blog of Dark Shadows next week) has certainly noted the response of veteran fans to the approach of the movie, but has put things in perspective. In an interview with The Republic she offers, “The Dark Shadows fans are extremely vocal and passionately loyal to the original show. But they are a drop in the bucket to Johnny Depp’s fans. They think they are the deciding factor, and I think that’s lovely. …They remind me of the Tea Party. They’re so right. You can’t argue with them. …. They say they won’t go see this movie. Well, they’ll go see it.”
She believes that the film is actually an homage to the original, noting “His sets are like paintings. He goes far beyond what we could do in our little studio in New York.”
She, of course, appears briefly in the film along with the late Jonathan Frid, David Selby and Kathryn Leigh Scott. “I was so excited and so thrilled,” she said. “Jonathan and Johnny Depp were introduced. It was a sweet moment. I’m not sure Jonathan knew who Johnny Depp was — he didn’t watch TV or keep up with popular culture — but Johnny Depp was extremely warm. I think Jonathan finally realized that this young actor in white makeup was going to be the new Barnabas.”
For much more, including Lara’s feeling about Eva Green as the new Angelique, click HERE.