Dark Shadows

     Dark Shadows is one of the many movies I have watched coming from acclaimed director Tim Burton and one of my favorite actors Johnny Depp.  I've always liked their movies together like Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.  I always had the liking of how Tim Burton was able to mix the darkness and colors of the films he had made, and how Johnny Depp was able to shine through them with his acting skills.

     In this movie, Depp plays the role of Barnabas Collins, a wealthy playboy that broke the heart of a witch named Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green).  In turn, she killed Josette du Pres (Bella Heathcote) the lover of Barnabas and also turned him into a vampire.  After which she led the town on sealing Barnabas inside a coffin and buried somewhere in the town's forest.  After two centuries, Barnabas is accidentally freed by a construction team.  Puzzled by the new things he's seen, he returns home to his ancestral home Collinwood Manor and finds it in ruins and his descendants, dysfunctional and harboring dark secrets as well.

     The story goes on as Angelique finds about Barnabas' freedom and swore to win his love or be locked up again in a coffin.  Barnabas fights back by rebuilding the family business and win back the respect of the town his family had build so hard, the town of Collinsport.

     It really was such a treat to have watch this movie...  The scenes were as superbly done by the master himself, Tim Burton who was able to yet again make the darkness alive.  The funny antics of Johnny Depp really elevated the scenes, like the love scene they had at Angelique's office or simply him cursing at the McDonald's sign after he got freed.  Every character really played their parts well, even the silent old maid who never even said a single word.

     This movie is a must see to those who want to have a good laugh with the family or a lovely evening with their love ones.

Opening across the Philippines in May 10, 2012, “Dark Shadows” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Dark Shadows: Character Infos

Synopsis: In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America.  But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family.  

Two decades pass and Barnabas (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 (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 very changed world of 1972.  He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin.  The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets.  

Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist,

Dr. Julia Hoffman (Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.

Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, 

(Jonny Lee Miller);

her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz);

and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath).

  

The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, 

played by Jackie Earle Haley, 

and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, who resembles Barnabas' long lost love Josette, played by Bella Heathcote.

     

Opening across the Philippines in May 10, 2012, “Dark Shadows” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.