DARK SHADOWS (PG)
When: Out now
Where: General release
MAYBE you didn’t get the memo, but Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are really good friends. Just in case anyone ever dares challenge this, the pair have made eight films together since 1990, each more dark and eccentric than the last. Isn’t that nice?
Their latest love-in is Dark Shadows, a film that offers Burton fans a healthy dose of his trademark Gothic aesthetic and Depp fans that oddball acting style they love so much. However, this collaboration proves that maybe the friends should start socialising in different circles.
Based on the 1960s mega-camp supernatural television show of the same name, Dark Shadows follows the mysterious Victoria Winters (former Neighbours star Bella Heathcote) to the town of Collinsport, where she applies for the governess position at the rundown Collins mansion.
There she finds matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer), her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn (Chloë Grace Moretz), her dodgy brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), and his peculiar son David (another Australian actor, child star Gulliver McGrath).
Despite the psychiatric care of Dr Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter) David insists that he is still in contact with his mother – despite the fact that she has been dead for three years. Victoria is unfazed by all this (that deer in headlights expression is just god-given), until long lost relative Barnabas Collins (Depp) shows up at their doorstop pledging to lift the family out of financial ruin. By the way, Barnabas hasn’t set foot in the house for two centuries because, oh yeah, he’s a vampire. Cue conflict with an equally immortal jealous ex, Angelique (Eva Green), who has stolen the Collins’s fishing business and put a curse on them (she’s a witch, obviously), and some internal fighting among the greedy Collins clan, and you have a two-hour film.
Dark Shadows works in terms of beautiful sets and costumes, a hilarious performance by the all grown-up Moretz, and a gravity-defying fight sequence. However, the storyline drags as Depp’s Barnabas begins to resemble every Sweeney Todd/Ed Wood/Mad Hatter role he’s ever played, and Pfeiffer’s comedic timing isn’t used nearly enough. Tim and Johnny, I think it’s time to take a break.
