Living In Dark Shadows

Well hello again my friends , welcome back another week is upon us and with another week comes a new movie review. Now this week we are reviewing the new movie by director Tim Burton ( Edward Scissorhands) called Dark Shadows which is based on the old television show from the 70's which aired on ABC and to which Tim Burton was a big fan of . Well the big screen version stars Burton regular Johnny Depp ( Pirates of the Caribbean ) in the lead role of Barnabas Collins a man cursed to live his life as a vampire. This movie also features actress Michelle Pheiffer ( Dangerous Minds ) as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard , Eva Green ( Casino Royale) as the witch Angelique Bouchard , Chloe Grace Moritz ( Kick-Ass ) as Carolyn Stoddard , Jackie Earl Haley ( Watchmen) as Willie Loomis and another Burton movie regular Helena Bonham Carter ( The Kings Speech) as Dr.Julia Hoffman.

The year is 1752 and young Barnabas Collins has moved to Maine with his mother and father from Liverpool England to start a new life and expand the family fortune, years later Barnabas no longer a boy but a young man spurns the affections of a witch named Angelique Bouchard who also worked as servant in the Collins estate known as Collinwood. For rejecting her Angelique curses Barnabas in which she kills his true love , turns him into a vampire and hands him over to the towns people where they chain him in a metal coffin for all eternity. Flash forward to the year 1972 and a group of construction workers unearth Barnabas's coffin and end up releasing him from it and upon being released from it he returns to Collinwood only to find the estate in a state of neglect with the family business in ruin while the remaining Collins family members have fared no better. Barnabas vows to return his family name to prominence again and try to find a way to break his curse but not if the witch Angelique has anything to do about it as she is still very much alive and has made it her personal mission to destroy the Collins family but still wants Barnabas to love her.

This particular movie is very much in the style we expect from director Tim Burton with its dark humour which had it's moments particularly between Johnny Depp and Eva Greens characters in the film , the dark and dreariness in the scenery used quite often which is common in Tim Burton's movies. Johnny Depp was as always enjoyable to watch as was Eva Green in this movie but for me the rest of the cast while talented seemed somewhat wasted in this movie . While I was expecting more from this movie by the previews that I had seen , I did enjoy it to a point it even had some pretty good 70's music in it but the jokes were not all that funny and it just seemed to be missing something that I just couldn't put my finger on to make it better.

For these reasons I must only give it a 6.0 on the Justin Scale as I did enjoy it to a certain point but it was a little weak and this is the reason that I must say when it comes to Dark Shadows I must step out into the light and say Flick-It. If you are a big fan of Johnny Depp then you might want to see it but I would say wait till it comes out on DVD or you could even go on cheap movie night at the theatre if you wanted to see it. So as always it is time to call it a wrap on this review so as always Good Morning , Good Afternoon , Good Evening and as always Good Viewing I will see you all again at the movies.