Dark Shadows (2012)
Average Rating: 5.3/10
Reviews Counted: 227
Fresh: 87 | Rotten: 140
The visuals are top notch but Tim Burton never finds a consistent rhythm, mixing campy jokes and gothic spookiness with less success than other Johnny Depp collaborations.
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Critic Reviews: 45
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 28
The visuals are top notch but Tim Burton never finds a consistent rhythm, mixing campy jokes and gothic spookiness with less success than other Johnny Depp collaborations.
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Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 226,358
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Movie Info
Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet-or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy...until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the
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Cast
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Johnny Depp
Barnabas Collins -
Michelle Pfeiffer
Elizabeth Collins Stodd... -
Helena Bonham Carter
Dr. Julia Hoffman -
Eva Green
Angelique, Angelique Bo... -
Jackie Earle Haley
Willie Loomis -
Jonny Lee Miller
Roger Collins -
Bella Heathcote
Victoria Winters, Victo... -
Chloe Moretz
Carolyn Stoddard -
Gully McGrath
David Collins -
Ray Shirley
Mrs. Johnson -
Christopher Lee
Clarney -
Ivan Kaye
Joshua Collins -
Justin Tracy
Young Barnabas - Age 6 -
Susanna Cappellaro
Naomi Collins -
Josephine Butler
David's Mother -
William Hope
Sheriff -
Shane Rimmer
Board Member 1 -
Michael J. Shannon
Board Member 2 -
Harry Taylor
Henchman -
Glen Mexted
Captain Rubberpants -
Guy Flanagan
Bearded Hippie -
Nigel Whitmey
Hard Hat 1 -
Philip Bulcock
Hard Hat 2 -
Sophie Kennedy Clark
Hippie Chick 1 -
Hannah Murray
Hippie Chick 2 -
Victoria Bewick
Hippie Chick 3 -
Sean Mahon
Collinsport Cop -
Alexia Osborne
Young Victoria -
Richard Hollis
Vicky's Father -
Felicity Brangan
Vicky's Mother -
Michael Anthony Brown
Windcliff Doctor -
Charlotte Spencer
Coat Check Girl -
Gabriel Freilich
Hippie 3 -
Thomas Grube
Construction Worker 1 -
Jeff Mash
Construction Worker 2 -
Raffey Cassidy
Young Angelique -
Janine Craig
Go Go Dancer 1 -
Adelle Young
Go Go Dancer 2 -
Dominica Van Santen
Go Go Dancer 3 -
Josephine McGrail
Go Go Dancer 4 -
Gulliver McGrath
David Collins -
Thomas McDonell
Barnabas Collins (young... -
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
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Dark Shadows Trailer & Photos
All Critics (227) | Top Critics (45) | Fresh (88) | Rotten (141) | DVD (3)
This is not so much a coherent movie as it is a long, expensive joke in search of a purpose.
Top CriticMostly Dark Shadows is silly when we're trained to expect slightly richer fun from Burton and Depp.
Fans of Depp's past collusions with Burton will find their rewards along the way. But there's a perfunctory vibe to the goings on, a weariness amid the weirdness.
Clearly, they made the movie they wanted to make. It's just not the movie this "Dark Shadows" fan hoped to see.
Dark Shadows' only meaningful relationship is between Depp and his audience. He's a persona now, no longer an actor.
How bad is "Dark Shadows"? It makes you long for a "Twilight" movie. That's bad.
Burton really needed to lean his horror-comedy more toward horror. Instead, it's reminiscent at times of Love at First Bite and the feature film remakes of The Addams Family and The Brady Bunch.
It turns into a bit of a mess towards the finish line, but at least it's a fun mess, and if you're looking to Tim Burton for narrative tidiness you must be thinking of another Tim Burton.
Dark Shadows should have been a return-to-form for director Tim Burton, but with a bloated budget and way too much room to play, Burton delivers yet another wasted effort.
Though lacking in relevant extras, Warner's Blu-ray release of Tim Burton's latest underpraised ode to resurrection and individuality looks and sounds spectacular.
Made for an audience of no one, Dark Shadows is a mess of campy horror, "fish out of coffin" comedy, and gothic melodrama.
Not a colossal failure but an indicator that Burton and Depp could stand to step outside their collective me + you = cinematic magic mindsets.
...following Graeme-Smith's lead, Burton has made, quite possibly, the worst film of his 30-year career.
Dark Shadows is never short on stunning backdrops and impressive cinematographic techniques. It looks a treat. But with Dark Shadows, like Depp himself, you can only put so much make-up on an ageing face and sell it as fresh.
Neither Burton nor Depp could determine a unifying tone for the movie, which winds up an unsatisfying tongue-in-cheek comedy. (Blu-ray edition)
It's just sort of a star vehicle for Johnny Depp, with everyone and everything else a secondary consideration at best.
It had so much potential, but given the result, it should have stayed in the shadows.
Dark Shadows really is just a mixed bag of chuckles and drama that never really gets the balance quite right.
While "Dark Shadows" has many wonderful elements, it is set up to become a new franchise for Warner Bros, but it just doesn't quite have that eternal bite.
Captures the grand sweep and often ridiculous theatricality of both soap operas and gothic romance.
There's much more bloody potential here for dark comedy (and shaded emotions) than we're lightly spattered with . . . offers no zany flourishes, dashing touches or striking shots.
Dark Shadows makes almost no attempt to reward cinema audiences.
In yet another over-designed cinematic letdown, director Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland; Sweeney Todd) weaves a choppy comic tale of resurrected ghouls set in the early 1970s.
Burton can still deliver a great visual hook and whimsical comedy. But he seems caught between his new laziness and his old genuine excitement about filmmaking.
Isn't sure if it is supposed to be a campy homage, a vampire black comedy, or a family friendly horror pic...doesn't come close to the duo's wondrous collaborations.
Dark Shadows gets stuck in neutral because of the uncertainty as to what kind of a film it wants to be.
Audience Reviews for Dark Shadows
Super Reviewer
One of the most surprising elements in Dark Shadows is how funny it actually is. There are impressive dialogue between films main characters written by Seth Grahame-Smith and i really liked the mix of retro-colours with more familiar gothic look of Burton. I also liked how effective some of the scares of this film are. Especially the first thirty minutes of this film are truly chilling haunted house material with ominous woods, eerie atmosphere and ghosts lurking in corridors of huge mansion. When the more comedic style kicks in the film loses some of it's sharpest edge but it still never gets boring or uninteresting.
It is fresh to see how playful Tim Burton still is with this kind of wicked material and how much fun he seems to have with his actors. Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter and Chloe Moretz are all extremely good in their roles. While Depp is fantastic as a cursed Barnabas Collinwood, it is actually women and their energetic performances that make this film as delicious as it is. Family of Collinwood is full of juicy characters and their close servants are equally far out. I must mention that i was also very surprised from the performance of Bella Heathcote who is one of the most impressive actors and biggest revelations of this film. She is completely unknown for me and truly captured something unique into her performance as a Victoria. All these actors and their characters run into a collision course in a one wonderfully staged climax that rivals as a one of the most impressive set pieces that Burton has ever made. It is as thrilling as Sleepy Hollow's heart pounding chase climax and as majestic as the massive final confrontation at the end of Planet of the Apes. It definetly goes up there as a one of the iconic moments in Burton's own career.
Dark Shadows has a screenplay that is often quite unpredictable in a best possible way but that screenplay also has its problems in a form of rhytm and balance of comedy and horror. If those minor flaws of screenplay would not exist then this could have been the masterpiece it nearly becomes. Dark Shadows is a must for anyone who like horror or Burton or especially if you like both of them. It is a funhouse full of inspiration and cinematic invention. It is also the best film in Tim Burton's career since his masterpiece Planet of the Apes. One of the very best films of 2012.
Super Reviewer
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- David Collins: Uncle Barnabas, why do you have ladies underwear on your head?
- Barnabas Collins: Never mind that.
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- Barnabas Collins: What is that thing?
- Dr. Julia Hoffman: It's a lamp.
- Barnabas Collins: It looks like a pulsating blood urn!
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- Carolyn Stoddard: He's not staying with us forever, is he?
- David Collins: I like him.
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- Elizabeth Collins Stoddard: Fight on, Barnabus, Fight on for us.
- Barnabas Collins: And fight i shall!
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- Barnabas Collins: I have another proposition. It reads thusly: You may place your wonderful lips upon my posterior and kiss it repeatedly!
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- Carolyn Stoddard: Are you stoned or something?
- Barnabas Collins: They tried stoning me, my dear. It did not work.
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Latest News on Dark Shadows
October 2, 2012:
RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Cinderella and Dark ShadowsThis week on home video, Disney releases another one of its timeless classics on Blu-ray, and Tim...
July 11, 2012:
Mid-Year Box Office Report Brings Mixed News for HollywoodDomestic revenue is at a record level, but the studios still aren't smiling.
May 10, 2012:
Critics Consensus: Dark Shadows Doesn't Scare Up Enough LaughsThis week at the movies, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp reteam to spoof the 1970s horror soap opera...
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Foreign Titles
- Sombras tenebrosas (ES)
