Dark Shadows (2012)
Average Rating: 5.3/10
Reviews Counted: 232
Fresh: 88 | Rotten: 144
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: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 47
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 29
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: 249,411
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
Cast
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Johnny Depp
Barnabas Collins -
Michelle Pfeiffer
Elizabeth Collins St... -
Helena Bonham Carter
Dr. Julia Hoffman -
Eva Green
Angelique, Angelique... -
Jackie Earle Haley
Willie Loomis -
Jonny Lee Miller
Roger Collins -
Bella Heathcote
Victoria Winters, Vi... -
Chloe Grace Moretz
Carolyn Stoddard -
Gully McGrath
David Collins -
Ray Shirley
Mrs. Johnson -
Christopher Lee
Clarney -
Ivan Kaye
Joshua Collins -
Justin Tracy
Young Barnabas - Age... -
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 Brow...
Windcliff Doctor -
Charlotte Spencer
Coat Check Girl -
Gabriel Freilich
Hippie 3 -
Thomas Grube
Construction Worker ... -
Jeff Mash
Construction Worker ... -
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 (yo... -
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
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Dark Shadows Trailer & Photos
All Critics (232) | Top Critics (47) | Fresh (88) | Rotten (144) | DVD (3)
The only reason to see Dark Shadows is to discover how dire and pointless-how flat-out dreadful-a movie can be even when it has Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Helena Bonham Carter attached to its flimsy pretext.
Top CriticThis is not so much a coherent movie as it is a long, expensive joke in search of a purpose.
Mostly 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.
Johnny Depp once again takes a role where he allows the make up and prosthetics to do the acting for him...
The nadir of Burton's career and is likely going to be his biggest flop, a film that's not a comedy, not a drama, not a horror film, and not a fantasy.
There's more than enough here for us older folks - and some younger ones, too - to have us exclaiming, Fangs for the memories.
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.
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.
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.
Audience Reviews for Dark Shadows
Super Reviewer
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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