Dark Shadows

As an actor, you need to feel challenge, as well as have a good connection with the director. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton have worked together since Edward Scissorhands, and there seem to be something magical about their team work. Most of the movies they have worked on together have a message, everything from life itself to fantasy. With their latest collaboration, they try a different approach, a vampire movie. Do they still have the magic left, or is it vanished after all these years?

In the year of 1760, Joshua ( Ivan Kaye ) and Naomi Collins ( Susanna Capellaro ) sail from Liverpool to North America, Maine. Here they set up a fishing port called Collinsport. The Collins Family are very succesfull, as they build Collinwood Manor. Joshua and Naomi´s son Barnaby ( Johnny Depp ) lives like a playboy. But his life is about to change, as he breaks the heart of one of their servants Angelique Bouchard ( Eva Green ). She is a witch, and puts a spell on his love Josette du Pres ( Bella Heathcote ), wich forces her to jump deep into the sea. While Barnaby sees his love die from the fall, he also jumps to join her in death. But before he lands, Angelique has cursed Barnaby to live as a vampire. She arrange to blame him for what happened, as the village decide to bury him alive. In the year 1972, a young woman named Maggie Evans ( Bella Heathcote ) travels to Collinsport, interested in helping Collins family with their son David Collins ( Gulliver McGrath ) She gets the job, from matriarch Elisabeth Collins Stoddard. Later that night, construction workers find a coffin, buried deep underground. Barnaby wakes up, as he finds out it is 1972, a completely different world from what he knows. He decides to find his family Collins, to see if the new generation knows who he is. Angelique finds out Barnaby has returned, wich makes her furious. She will win his heart again, or his curse will continue forever.

It´s a great thing when you don´t have any expectations, and come out of the cinema smiling. Dark Shadows is a very dark comedy, brilliant made, with so many funny details. Johnny Depp delivers another amazing performance, as the lost vampire Barnaby, who wants to break his curse. Tim Burton is not a typical mainstream director, he can still make movies in his own style, without beeing too much. Who else would have made this combination, a vampire arranging a party with Alice Cooper ? There are a lot of funny moments, wich makes this horror comedy strong enough to stand on it´s own. It´s great to see a completely different approach on vampires, instead of the typical Twilight story. Dark Shadows is a great time, with a fantastic cast like Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Christopher Lee, Jackie Earle Halye, and many more. I suggest you watch this one, especially if you love Tim Burton movies, you won´t be dissapointed.

Rating: DDDD