Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows Set to Shoot in January

Source: Deadline

July 15, 2010

Tim Burton's Dark Shadows is set to roll in January 2011, reports Deadline.

The film has also received a new writer in the form of Seth Grahame-Smith (author of "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"), who will rewrite the John August screenplay.

Based on the cult soap opera from the 1960's, the film stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, a popular vampire character who took over the show's focus after he first appeared one year into the series' original five year run

Wow, what a disappointment. At this point I am going to need this to get seriously good reviews because it now has to be just a comedy standing on its own merits. It is no longer Dark Shadows.

Sadly I think the last few years of OLTL already took care of that.

It's about what I expected - Tim Burton and Johnny Depp defecating on themselves and fliging their product at the screen. Two hacks ruining a fun show. No thanks.

Wow, what a disappointment. At this point I am going to need this to get seriously good reviews because it now has to be just a comedy standing on its own merits. It is no longer Dark Shadows.

Tim Burton movies always seem to get the same reaction, although critics have lost interest over the years (they were not fond of that Alice in Wonderland bastardization). I do wonder if this will get any box office. This is going to be alien to most viewers, and treating it as a joke will just lose more interest. Like his old flop Mars Attacks.

It's not even a mockery of the show--I hate to sound like a comic book fanboy but WHY BOTHER. As with Alice, just invent your own fantay and go with it. You could so easily do a vamnpire comes to terms with modern culture movie set in the 60s

Sadly I think the last few years of OLTL already took care of that.

It's about what I expected - Tim Burton and Johnny Depp defecating on themselves and fliging their product at the screen. Two hacks ruining a fun show. No thanks.

Tim Burton movies always seem to get the same reaction, although critics have lost interest over the years (they were not fond of that Alice in Wonderland bastardization). I do wonder if this will get any box office. This is going to be alien to most viewers, and treating it as a joke will just lose more interest. Like his old flop Mars Attacks.

I think even his fans have--as you said by the comments on the webpage. It's so lazy. And he has HUGE talent as a filmaker--I'll never deny him that. But since Sleepy Hollow (at least) has largely been re-using the same things.

I had no idea that they made Dark Shadows into a comedy. The trailer does look funny, but it is so strange.

I saw the trailer and it looks like it's going to be great.

I've seen every Dark Shadows episode and lets face it, it was a comedy, albeit not intended to be. From the trailer, I like the direction they are going and I'm hoping the movie is a fun ride.

There was some camp, but there were some very strong, serious moments.

I think camp that works is camp which isn't intentional. This type of forced camp is very hard to do. The only person who used to make it work was John Waters.

I saw the trailer and it looks like it's going to be great.

I've seen every Dark Shadows episode and lets face it, it was a comedy, albeit not intended to be. From the trailer, I like the direction they are going and I'm hoping the movie is a fun ride.

The campiness was a HUGE part of the appeal of the series, and any fan who denies that is, IMHO, well in denial. But this is simple, obvious comedy. I would have been impressed if Burton had managed to capture the campy quality in a movie that took itself more seriously. As it stands this could be ANY product--why bother using Dark Shadows and its characters? Burton was at his best (way way way back) when he worked on his own creations--maybe he should go back to that. It's completely lazy.

There was some camp, but there were some very strong, serious moments.

I think camp that works is camp which isn't intentional. This type of forced camp is very hard to do. The only person who used to make it work was John Waters.

I would argue this isn't even camp. It's flat out comedy, which is pretty different.

Thr 2nd trailer was shown with Alice Cooper during Once Upon A Time last night.

I want to like this but I'm having a hard time.

Reviews are mixed. The Times liked it but I have read a few reviews panning it.

I'm sorry, but this truly does look like [!@#$%^&*], IMO.

I thought it was great and paid homage to the original series in many different surprising ways. The Laura story, Quentin, Maggie Evans and so many other things were integrated which surprised me. Also the cameo with the original stars was extremely brief, but so touching. I wish they'd made Lara Parker or Kathryn Leigh Scott Mrs. Johnson or something. I LOVED Carolyn and David in this film and the actress playing Victoria was perfect. The only real letdown was the ending, which felt rushed.

Another thing--the film is NOT a comedy at all. The only comedic bits are whats featured in the trailer. Beyond that it's mostly played straight and the family is pretty dark and complicated. Michelle Pheiffer is a surprising delight and very powerful force as Elizabeth. I think had they come up with a better marketing plan this could've been a huge franchise. It's a shame it'll end up as a stand alone film because they set up a lot of future films well. Whoever decided to market as a comedy needs to be fired.

I refuse to pay to see it. This is how a good friend, whose opinion I trust but has NOT watched the show, said it went (he also said the group of guys he saw it with, two of whom didn't even know there was a tv show, hated it):

I saw it this morning and really was disappointed. The trailer/commercials had significantly lowered my expectations, but I didn't think it would be as bad as it was.

The have gutted the property of anything that made the show endearing. It is Dark Shadows in name only. There is no connective tissue, other than character names, to tie this to the source material.

Aside from that it's just a poorly constructed film. It starts out as Victoria's story, but quickly drops her once Barnabas is introduced. There is almost no plot. It's basically a series of jokes about how Barnabas is shocked by life in the 70s. We've seen this story many times before, and done much better. Plus it has little to do with the Dark Shadows brand I suspect. This isn't even a fun spoof like The Brady Bunch movie. I was happy for it to be over.

On Metacritic the reviews seem to run the gamut--the New York Times loved it, yet sent out one of their C level critics for some reason, not Scott.

I saw it today. I felt like something was missing, but overall I enjoyed it.

I loved it, in a different way than I loved the series.

The cast was phenomenal. Absolutely perfect, the bright spots being Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter and Michelle Pfieffer.

I thought Eva Green was the worst part of the film. I HATED campy Angelique, especially since she was involved in the cheesy comedy aspects of the film. I was hoping for a sexier, darker portrayal. A younger Michelle Phieffer would've been good in the role.

Here's an updated box office report: http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/dark-shadows-opens-with-550k-midnights/

Looks a little underwhelming in the US, but if word of mouth is good and it's consistant, I could see this film doing good. With international sales so strong, it'll be interesting to see where the total is at the end of it's theater run. I also find it so strange that it's doing better overseas (where nobody has seen the original) than in the US. I wonder if there was a different marketing approach that didn't show the film as a comedy.