Movie: Dark Shadows
I went to this movie purely out of nostalgia for the old show, which I used to run home from school to watch. It was set in Maine, and had vampires, witches, ghosts. There was just nothing else like it. I'm watching it now on Netflix as I eat lunch and blog. "Cousin" Barnabas has just shown up at Collinswood.
So off we went last night, with low expectations, just to see what Burton and Depp had done with it. Apparently they were both huge childhood fans, as well.
It wasn't awful. In fact, it was quite entertaining and not nearly as campy as I'd expected. The sets were awesome, probably the way Dan Curtis would have done it if he'd had the finances. The cast was very good, too, and the costuming fab, right down to Elizabeth Stoddard's macrame earrings! (You'll have to see the movie to get that.) Bits and pieces of dialog from the series surfaced, too. "But the name Victoria is so beautiful I couldn't bring myself to sacrifice a single syllable." Ha!
I did look for mic booms and camera men blundering into frame as they did in the old show (earning the show the nick name "Mic Shadows), but they didn't go that route. An opportunity missed, Mr. Burton. ;-)
The story itself wasn't bad, though it took considerable liberties with the original story line. Vicky and Maggie are conflated. The old house doesn't exist. But it didn't matter in the thread of this reality. What Burton did was engaging and fun to watch.
There are some nice Burtonisms: The pumpkin patch in the front yard, the shape of Widow's Hill.
The depiction of Maine was fun. Although there wasn't any passenger train service there by the early '70s. The town of Collinswood, the look of the boats and the cannarys was pretty darn good. And thank the film gods that no one attempted a Maine coast accent, ayuh!
Johnny Depp was a hoot. He and Bonham Carter as the doctor were the biggest parodies. The campiness of their performances sometimes jarred a bit, since the rest of the movie was operating on a different level of humor. The vampire on witch sex scene is pretty funny, more of a spoof on wild sex scenes than anything else.
The '70s were brought in more directly in the movie than they were in the show. I particularly liked the scene of Barnabas hanging out with the hippies in the woods. But best of all: ALICE FREAKIN' COOPER performed!!!!!!! The cool thing about Alice is that he's aged well because he always looked like hell. I was such a fan. I guess I still am.
Between the movie and the original show, I still prefer the show in all its dated, low budget, soap opera glory, but if you've seen one, then it's worth seeing the other.
So off we went last night, with low expectations, just to see what Burton and Depp had done with it. Apparently they were both huge childhood fans, as well.
It wasn't awful. In fact, it was quite entertaining and not nearly as campy as I'd expected. The sets were awesome, probably the way Dan Curtis would have done it if he'd had the finances. The cast was very good, too, and the costuming fab, right down to Elizabeth Stoddard's macrame earrings! (You'll have to see the movie to get that.) Bits and pieces of dialog from the series surfaced, too. "But the name Victoria is so beautiful I couldn't bring myself to sacrifice a single syllable." Ha!
I did look for mic booms and camera men blundering into frame as they did in the old show (earning the show the nick name "Mic Shadows), but they didn't go that route. An opportunity missed, Mr. Burton. ;-)
The story itself wasn't bad, though it took considerable liberties with the original story line. Vicky and Maggie are conflated. The old house doesn't exist. But it didn't matter in the thread of this reality. What Burton did was engaging and fun to watch.
There are some nice Burtonisms: The pumpkin patch in the front yard, the shape of Widow's Hill.
The depiction of Maine was fun. Although there wasn't any passenger train service there by the early '70s. The town of Collinswood, the look of the boats and the cannarys was pretty darn good. And thank the film gods that no one attempted a Maine coast accent, ayuh!
Johnny Depp was a hoot. He and Bonham Carter as the doctor were the biggest parodies. The campiness of their performances sometimes jarred a bit, since the rest of the movie was operating on a different level of humor. The vampire on witch sex scene is pretty funny, more of a spoof on wild sex scenes than anything else.
The '70s were brought in more directly in the movie than they were in the show. I particularly liked the scene of Barnabas hanging out with the hippies in the woods. But best of all: ALICE FREAKIN' COOPER performed!!!!!!! The cool thing about Alice is that he's aged well because he always looked like hell. I was such a fan. I guess I still am.
Between the movie and the original show, I still prefer the show in all its dated, low budget, soap opera glory, but if you've seen one, then it's worth seeing the other.
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Cool! I have the exact same birthday (month, day, year) with Viggo Mortenson!
And I loved Alice Cooper's performance and that Barnabas kept referring to him as 'That Alice Cooper woman!" lol
Of course I've been and Alice Cooper fan since I was eight. It didn't change much when I discovered we share the same birthday when I was twelve.