DARK SHADOWS
US, 2012, 113 minutes, Colour.
Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote, Chloe Grace Moretz, Gulliver Mc Grath, Christopher Lee, Alice Cooper.
Directed by Tim Burton.
Some audiences will find this comedy/parody a hoot, Tim Burton style. On the one hand, it has no uplifting moral values to explore. On the other, it is an entertaining and often clever spoof. (The danger is that some audiences will either take it too seriously or not seriously enough, expecting Johnny Depp to be Jack Sparrowish again.)
For audiences who remember the 1987 Beattlejuice, one of Tim Burton’s earliest films, the Collins family, living in a dilapidated 18th century Maine mansion, won’t seem too surprising in their eccentricities. Burton has filmed a lot of fantasies since then. This time, he is clearly intending to enjoy himself and provide another opportunity to work with Johnny Depp (their eighth collaboration in twenty two years). He has been intrigued by the 1970s’ television series (1225 30-minute episodes from 1966-1971), created by Dan Curtis, Dark Shadows, and decided to give it a big screen treatment, big cast, big design, big effects. But, it is still Gothic horror soap opera.
The film opens in 1760 on a dingy Liverpool dock with the Collins family setting out to settle in Maine. Barnabas, the little boy, is given a baleful eye by the servant, Angelique, and her mother. The Collins family prosper in Maine with a fishing company, a town, Collinsport, and a huge baroque mansion. But, the adult Barnabas rejects Angelique again, is smitten by Josette who, under one of Angelique’s spells, throws herself from a cliff into the raging sea. What is Barnabas to do but to follow her – but that is not enough for Angelique who curses the Collins family, transforms Barnabas into a vampire, then binds him, puts him in a coffin, bolted and buried. And, that’s just the beginning!
When builders on a site strike the coffin, Barnabas is freed (vampirising the workmen since he is so thirsty!). Finding the ancestral home, he settles in only to find the curse has reduced the family to penury and that Angelique, who has had a prosperous 200 years, is behind everything. It is 1972.
Johnny Depp is at his best as Barnabas Collins. He is pasty-faced, black-rimmed eyes, 18th century vesture, prim British accent and a flow of ornate 18th century prose. Depp is completely and consistently serious, perfect in timing, which makes his performance all the more effectively amusing. And getting used to cars (dragons) big M signs (Mephistopheles?), coping with television and Carpenter’s songs, reading Love Story… a deal of amusing details. The plot? Well, Angelique goes to work again to destroy the Collins family success and to win back Barnabas (in what must be one of the funniest, edited sex scene collages in films).
The cast is interesting. Michelle Pfeiffer is now the matriarch with a rebellious and sullen teenager, Chloe Grace Moretz (Hugo, Let Me in). There is the weird cousin Willie (Jackie Earle Haley), the callow brother-in-law (Jonny Lee Miller), the orphaned child, David (Gulliver McGrath) and the resident psychiatrist, Julia Hoffman (Burton giving his wife Helena Bonham Carter yet another mad character to play). Angelique is played by Eva Green. And Christopher Lee gets a welcome scene.
It all ends somewhat apocalyptically, in the American vein.
If Gothic horror soap-opera does not appeal, forget it. But, if witty, sometimes absurd, spoofs do appeal, you may very well like it.
1. The collaborations between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp? Range of characters, fantasies? Strange worlds? The cast for this film?
2. The background of the television series, the 1970s, horror in a contemporary American setting, comic style?
3. The production values and impression: the 18th century Liverpool, the docks, the dark, the voyage? Maine, the coast, the cliff, building the mansion? Interiors? Art style and decor? Costumes and period? The contrast with 1972, the town, the mansion dilapidated, the secret corridors, basements, treasure? The rooms, the cannery, modern, offices? The countryside, the building site, the hippies’ camp?
4. The action and special effects, the falling into the sea, the ghosts, the vampire behaviour, the battles, Angelique and her body collapsing? The collage of the sex scene and its fantasy and comedy? The finale?
5. The musical score, Danny Elfman and the rich score, the 1970s songs, Nights in White Satin, the Carpenters, the Seekers, T-Rex?...?
6. The parody, of vampire stories, of American dynasties? Dysfunctional families, eccentric families? Ghosts? The commercial world of the 70s? The jokes at the expense of 70s icons – Love Story? Drugs? Hippies? Alice Cooper and his sending up himself and his image?
7. Johnny Depp, all serious and straight for a comedy performance, in the 18th century, in the 20th century? His timing? His accent? The effect?
8. Barnabas Collins and his narration, Liverpool in the 1760s, going to America? As a boy, the ship, seeing Angelique and her hostility? Arrival in Maine, the family prospering, building the town, the fishing industry, building the mansion over many years? Barnabas and his rejection of Angelique? Barnabas and his love for Josette? Angelique and her spells, curses, Josette at the cliff, throwing herself over? Barnabas, falling over the cliff? On the rocks? Survival? Angelique turning him into a vampire, chaining him, burying him? Her curse on the Collins family?
9. 1972, Elizabeth as the matriarch, her control, Carolyn as the teenage daughter, in rebellion, her room? Roger and his not wanting to be there, lack of prosperity, not caring for David? David and his memories of his mother’s death? Willie, weird, the caretaker – and Mrs Johnson helping him? Julia Hoffman and her presence, caring for David? Her bizarre appearance, hair? Contributing to the bizarre atmosphere?
10. 1972, the political background, the Vietnam War, the hippies, drugs, the idealism of the protesters? The contrast with business, prosperity? The movies of the period, the television programs, the reference to Love Story and the quote? The music and the nostalgia?
11. The building site, the digging, finding the coffin, loosing the vampire, the bloodthirsty killing of the workers? The later regretful killing of the hippies? Doctor Hoffman? The blend of the serious and the comic in the treatment of the deadly vampire realities and the comic send-ups?
12. Johnny Depp’s performance as Barnabas Collins? His appearance, clothes, his manner of speech, British, 18th century? The audience enjoying the different vocabulary and expressions? His coming to 1972, seeing the car on the road as a dragon? The McDonald’s? signs for Mephistopheles? His ignorance of cars, television and the songstress within? The vocabulary puns – and his being asked whether he was stoned? His arrival, the encounter with Willie, hypnotising him, making him his servant? Washing away the blood? His meeting Elizabeth, the truth, the corridors, the treasure in the basement? The secrecy? The plans for the family, for the fishing company, for the mansion? His reaction to being in the mansion again, the portraits, the dilapidation, his reaction to each member of the family? His being entranced by Victoria, memories of Josette?
13. The meeting with Angelique, her two hundred years history, the portraits in the boardroom? The curse and the downfall of the Collins family? Yet her love for Barnabas as well as her revenge? Her plans, wanting to take over, the deals? The sexual encounter – and the editing and pace for comedy? The fire in the factory? Carolyn attacking her – as a werewolf? Her fighting Barnabas, the ghost appearing, the battle, the blood, the end, her handing out her heart, everything cracking and falling to pieces?
14. Julia Hoffman, eccentric type, psychiatrist, her attitude towards the family, to David? Her learning the truth about Barnabas? Hypnotising him? Offering the transfusions to make him normal? Taking the blood for herself? Barnabas killing her?
15. Carolyn, the rebellious teenager, her offhand remarks, her place in the family, her werewolf attack at the end?
16. David, the little boy, grief about his mother, the ghost, talking to his mother, the messages? Finding Barnabas a father figure? The lack of rapport with his own father? Barnabas’s deal and his father leaving? His helping at the end, opening the coffin (after twenty minutes)?
17. The father, his place in the family, his infidelities, his wanting prosperity, lack of interest in his son? His taking the deal – and leaving?
18. Victoria, the advertisement, on the train, her being accepted, being very nice to everyone, her sense of destiny? Her resemblance to Josette? Barnabas and his attraction, his reticence, making known his love for her? Under Angelique’s spell, the repetition of the death on the cliff, with Barnabas for all eternity?
19. Clarney, Christopher Lee, his screen presence, his role in the town, the fishing contracts?
20. Barnabas, the hippies, their idealism, their enthusiasm – and their deaths, with apology?
21. Barnabas, redecorating the house, restoring the artwork, having a ball, a happening – and getting Alice Cooper? Alice Cooper’s performance? The jokes about Alice Cooper being an ugly woman? Barnabas’s business sense, the prosperity of the factory? Its destruction?
22. The final battle, the house coming alive, the statues? The destruction? The collapse of the house, burning? The apocalyptic touch? The future for the family?
23. An entertainment – relying on humour, parody, audience knowledge of genres and conventions?
