Tag Archives: Barnabas Collins

‘Dark Shadows’ Brings Out Best In Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer

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“Dark
Shadows” finally hit theaters Friday (May 11), and let me tell you, it’s a doozy. There’s a lot to admire about Tim Burton‘s reimagined “Shadows” (and there are some problems as well), but the question that has lingered with me most since seeing the film is who exactly Tim Burton made it for.

I’m not sure it was “Shadows” purists, those who ran home from school to soak up the strange, dark and wonderful late-’60s soap opera and who still have a strong connection to the style and feel of the original. It’s probably not for fans of Burton and Johnny Depp‘s earlier collaborations either, even though the trailers and TV spots sell it like it’s supposed to be.

“Shadows” has long been talked about as a passion project for Burton and Depp, so in the end, maybe they made it for themselves. And the thing is, up until the very last 15 or so minutes, I was right there with them: Their affection for the original is clear, the performances are uniformly wonderful and it gives Burton room to breathe in a way we haven’t seen in years. It’s unfortunate that its everything-but-the-kitchen-sink conclusion feels strangely tacked on, because until then “Shadows” is the best thing the pair have done together since Depp gave one of his finest performances in Burton’s touchingly bizarre 1994 film “Ed Wood.”

Barnabas Collins isn’t anything like Depp’s crazed Mad Hatter from “Alice in Wonderland” or his maniacal Willy Wonka from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Don’t be fooled by the jump-cut trailer — it actually falls among his more reserved performances. The zingers that seem borderline farcical in the trailer work better than you expect — they certainly earned hearty laughs from the audience when I saw the flick — and are peppered throughout, lending a more even tone than I expected.

Depp’s Barnabas is an old-fashioned gentleman trapped in the body of a monster, and the actor never lets that fact get lost, even when the film’s myriad subplots pull him in a hundred different directions. His vampire is far more human than the actor sometimes seems in movies in which his character’s heart is still beating.

In a testament to how winning Depp is, he’s able to play a 200-year-old vampire in (occasionally too obvious) white makeup without sucking all the air out the room, leaving room for the supporting players to soar. Most notable are Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Green.

Pfeiffer is in full-on grande dame mode as family matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. It’s a kick to see the thrice Oscar-nominated actress get a meaty role in a big picture like this, and she does not waste the opportunity, providing the entire affair with some much-needed grounding. Her gaze is steely and she carries herself regally, though years of hardship have clearly chipped away at her character’s resolve, all of which comes across like a metaphor for the crumbling estate she guards, Collinwood.

Green is a four-alarm hoot as the evil witch Angelique Bouchard, or Angie, as she’s come to be known by the townspeople in Collinsport, where she’s reinvented herself as a fishing magnate specifically to take down the Collins family business. Sure, she’s an evil witch who has been tormenting the Collins family for centuries, but these days she’s more of a cherry-red-convertible-driving good-time girl — albeit one with grudge that runs deep. Green chews the scenery and spits it out, which works like gangbusters in an over-the-top movie like this. She’s so game throughout, you almost find yourself rooting for the bad guy.

As for Burton’s direction, there’s an unexpected streak of sentimentality and nostalgia running through “Shadows” that recalls “Big Fish” as much as it does the film’s more logical brothers (“Sleepy Hollow,” “Beetlejuice”). Operating on sets instead of green-screen soundstages, he hasn’t set his “Shadows” in a cartoon.
Collinsport feels like a real place — the family manor has character, and there’s Gothic atmosphere to spare.

We haven’t hit on the story too much because, well, there’s a lot of it. In his rush to cover as much ground from the series as possible (and leave the door open for possible sequels), screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith is a little too quick to truncate story lines that were developed over a more than thousand-episode run on the soap. It’s all hung broadly on the milestones of Barnabas’ attempts to reinvigorate the family business while courting Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote) and acclimate to the many changes that have happened during the 200 years he was entombed.

Consider Barnabas’ attempts to make himself mortal again with the help of Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter, bringing as much drunk fun as she can to an otherwise thankless part). It was the through line of the early-’90s revamp of “Shadows” but is a side note here — one saddled with an unnecessary added twist.

But with more working than not, we were willing to forgive that lack of focus until things took a fiery final turn. Perhaps unable to find a reasonable way to wrap up the many story lines, Grahame-Smith and Burton take things a little too far off the rails with a noisy and scattered climax that doesn’t make much sense. Even the actors seem unsure of what’s happening, and Depp, Pfeiffer and Green struggle to stay afloat amid all the noise.

(We’re not even going to go there with the last-minute plot twist tossed at Chloë Moretz’s character.)

“Shadows” will almost certainly leave casual fans baffled, not because it’s bad (to be fair, some in the MTV Newsroom were not as turned off by the ending as we were), but because it’s a passion project wearing the mask of a summer blockbuster.

Have you seen “Dark Shadows”? Let us know in the comments below!

Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Shadows.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Johnny Depp Enjoyed Playing ‘The Reluctant Vampire’ In ‘Dark Shadows’

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Few actors will completely throw themselves at a role like Johnny Depp. He always seems fascinated by the character, and that interest really comes through when he speaks about his work.

For “Dark Shadows,” Depp’s interest in Barnabas Collins comes from the contradictions within the character. Yes, he’s a vampire, but he never wanted to be. For Depp, that’s where the fun comes in.

“Playing the reluctant vampire, in a sense, who has been locked in a box for 200 years,” Depp said, “it’s his misfortune to be let out in an age where things are probably at their most surreal in terms of 1972.”

That particular time period only makes things harder for Barnabas, and as Depp explained, there may not have been a stranger time for his 18th century vampire to wake up.

The era seems odd just looking back 40 years later, but for a vampire who had been locked away in the 1700s, it has to be one hell of a culture shock. “It was a very, very odd period. Things were changing radically. The peace and love thing was over with, and we were rapidly approaching disco, so there was musically and aesthetically. That was the fun of it, to place this hyper-elegant figure from the late-18th century into one of the weirdest times of all time.”

“Dark Shadows” is open in theaters everywhere.

What do you think of Johnny Depp’s take on the classic character of Barnabas Collins? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!

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‘Dark Shadows’ Brings The ‘Teenage Angst’ Out Of Chloe Moretz

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Although much ado has been made over “Dark Shadows” star Johnny Depp‘s portrayal of reluctant vampire Barnabas Collins, the Tim Burton-directed, 1970s-set vampire dramedy also features a cast of equally quirky characters and talented actors like Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloë Moretz and newcomer Bella Heathcote.

Each and every character in the film has some serious baggage, which the audience becomes privy to over the course of the film. When MTV News caught up with Moretz and Heathcote recently, we asked them to give us the inside scoop on their characters: Moretz’s saucy, over-sexual teenager Carolyn Collins and Heathcote, who plays double duty as both Barnabas’ long-dead, ghostly love interest Josette, as well as the Collinses’ new governess, Victoria.

“Let’s just say teenage angst [is her issue],” Moretz said of Carolyn Collins. “To be general, but she’s this flower girl stuck in middle of this seaport in Maine, and it’s not the most romantic thing for her. She’d rather be at Woodstock, she’d rather be listening to music with a bunch of people with her.”

Heathcote admitted that both of her characters are dealing with some baggage, whether of this world or not. “I think for [Victoria], she spends all of her adult life trying to hide something. Something happened in her childhood and she’s got a lot of baggage from it. She’s very guarded, she’s a bit damaged but trying to put up a solid front,” Heathcote explained. “Josette is basically the opposite. She’s completely open, romantic, idealistic. It was fun to play both,” she said. “It was fun to go into each character, each costume. They’re so different, it was great to have the opportunity to do both.”

For Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays the financially burdened and expectedly quirky Collins matriarch Elizabeth, the Oscar-nominated actress relished the opportunity to get into the headspace of an unbalanced woman, but even more so a second opportunity to work with creative and inventive director Tim Burton.

“It’s so exhilarating walking this tightrope every day with Tim, who’s so willing to take such huge chances and risks,” Pfeiffer said of the joys of being in a Burton film. “For someone like me who likes to play things safe, he helps me bring that out in my performances, and I think just being in the presence of somebody with that much creativity and also the cast of characters he surrounds himself with, not only actors but in every department, is just exhilarating.”

Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Shadows.”

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Johnny Depp Secures Place As ‘Alpha Vampire’

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In a recent interview with this big screen vampire, Johnny Depp opened up about any potential vampy face-offs with fellow heartthrob and big-screen bloodsucker Robert Pattinson.

When asked if there’s any sort of blood feud with the “Twilight” star, Depp noted that it’s all cool between the two actors. “There’s room for two vampires on this block — as long as he remembers I am the Alpha Vampire,” he told UsMagazine.com at the London premiere of his campy vampire flick, “Dark Shadows,” which opens this weekend.

Of course Edward Cullen and Barnabas Collins aren’t really cut from the same vampire DNA. Where Edward is brooding and sullen, Barnabas is on the other end of the spectrum, with his oddball charm and old-world demeanor. And their transitions to the modern world are quite different. While Edward had been living in the world over the course of his vampire life, Barnabas had been in a coffin for 200 years before emerging in the 1970s.

When MTV News spoke to Depp about the film, he noted that exploring Barnabas’ evolution in the contemporary world was what drew him to the story.

“Playing a kind of reluctant vampire, in a sense, the reluctant vampire who has been locked in a box for 200 years and his misfortune to be let out in an age when things are probably at their most surreal in terms of 1972,” Depp said. “It’s a very odd period. Things are changing radically; the sort of peace and love thing was over with, and we were rapidly approaching disco, so musically and aesthetically, that was the fun of it, to place this hyper-elegant figure from the late 18th century into one of the weirdest times of all time.”

The film is the latest collaboration between Deep and director Tim Burton. It’s the big-screen adaptation of the 1960s soap opera of the same name.

Who do you think is the Alpha Vampire: Edward Cullen or Barnabas Collins? Leave your pick below!

Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Shadows.”

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Johnny Depp Drawn To ‘Reluctant Vampire’ In ‘Dark Shadows’

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Those familiar with the work of Johnny Deppare likely aware of his penchant for exploring characters who are quirky and misunderstood — so his decision to take on the role of conflicted vampire Barnabas Collins in “Dark Shadows” is not at all surprising.

The Tim Burton-directed family melodrama is an adaptation of the popular TV soap opera of the same name, which began airing in the late 1960s and interested Depp not just because he was a fan of the show and had always dreamed of playing a vampire, but because this particular vampire never wanted to be one in the first place and has to learn how to exist in the strange and curious setting of the 1970s.

“Playing a kind of reluctant vampire, in a sense, the reluctant vampire who has been locked in a box for 200 years and his misfortune to be let out in an age when things are probably at their most surreal in terms of 1972,” Depp explained of why Barnabas is more interesting than your average fictional bloodsucker. “It’s a very odd period. Things are changing radically; the sort of peace and love thing was over with, and we were rapidly approaching disco, so musically and aesthetically, that was the fun of it, to place this hyper-elegant figure from the late 18th century into one of the weirdest times of all time.”

Depp’s conflicted Barnabas is supported by an equally strange cast of characters played by Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Chloë Moretz, Jackie Earle Haley and Jonny Lee Miller, who all relished the opportunity to camp and vamp up for a cause — not that the film is a straight comedy, by any means.

“It’s a funny film for me, because I never considered it a comedy,” Burton said. “I was always trying to capture the weird vibe of ‘Dark Shadows,’ which is a weird thing to try to capture. It was a weird daytime soap opera. … It’s not like I’m being campy with it or anything,” Burton said. “The guy’s been locked in a box for 200 years, and [when] he comes out … something weird is going to happen.”

Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Shadows.”

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‘Dark Shadows’ Sneak Peek Reveals Johnny Depp’s De-Fanging Plan

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With just two weeks left until the big release of “Dark Shadows,” Warner Bros. is stoking the coals of excitement with a new featurette that brings not only behind-the-scenes interviews and footage, but offers up an important new plot detail from the film.

“The legend of the vampire has been told for centuries, capturing the dark shadows of our imagination and inspiring filmmakers and actors to breathe new life into the undead,” a voice-over reminds us at the top of the clip. “But there’s never been a vampire like Barnabas Collins.”

Depp said the idea to do the film came naturally to him and Burton, who have worked together on eight films. “I’d always been sort of attracted to horror films and things like that, even as a very young kid,” Depp explains. “I said, ‘Tim, we should do a vampire movie together.’ ”

And when Johnny Depp and Tim Burton decide to do something, it has a way of getting done.

A large part of the featurette focuses on the history of vampires in movies and reminds us that one of cinema’s great vampires, Christopher Lee, is featured in “Shadows.”

“One of my favorite moments I’ve ever been able to experience in a film was I got to hypnotize Dracula; I got to hypnotize Christopher Lee,” Depp says. “He was, you know, the great Dracula.”

To get into character as Barnabas Collins, Depp didn’t stray far from the source material. “For Barnabas, everywhere I searched character-wise, I kept coming back to Jonathan Frid,” the actor explains. “He really did something beautiful with that character on the ‘Dark Shadows‘ series back in the ’60s and early ’70s.”

Frid, who cameos in the film and is shown arriving at a party at Collinwood in the featurette, died earlier this month in his native Canada. The clip closes with an “In Memoriam” dedication to the classically trained actor, who maintained a close relationship with the show’s fans by appearing at “Shadows” conventions and readings as recently as 2011, before his health began to decline.

The clip features some great new scenes from the film, including a fun bit where Depp’s Barnabas seeks advice from Chloe Moretz’s Carolyn Stoddard on “the art of courting a woman of this time,” but importantly introduces a major plot twist that we wondered (all the way back in October!) whether Burton would include in his film: Barnabas’ attempt to de-fang himself with the help of Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter) and become mortal again to pursue a romantic relationship with Bella Heathcote’s Victoria Winters.

“If a man can become a monster, then a monster can become a man,” Barnabas says in a voice-over while Dr. Hoffman surveys large blood-filled beakers and Depp sits with IV lines running from him. It’s a story line carried over directly from both the original soap and its short-lived ’90s remake. (Indeed, this particular story line was the focus of NBC‘s revival starring Ben Cross and Joanna Going.)

“By tapping into vampires, witches, ghosts, the reason they’re powerful is because we all kind of experience those feelings on some level,” Burton says of the film. “It’s something that remains in our popular culture because it’s strangely part of our everyday lives.”

Just two weeks to go, “Dark Shadows” fans! Are you excited for the flick? Let us know in the comments!

Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Shadows.”

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Tim Burton ‘Never’ Considered ‘Dark Shadows’ A Comedy

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Fans of the classic late-’60s soap “Dark Shadows” were surprised when the trailer for the film made it seem like director Tim Burton had reimagined his subject matter as a farcical comedy rather than the dark, Gothic soap opera fans remembered. Since then, there have been whispers that the film is far darker than it is being marketed, so we went straight to the source to find out what is really up with the buzzed-about film.

At CinemaCon 2012, MTV News asked Burton if he felt the trailer is reflective of his film, which hits theaters May 11, and while he admits there are humorous elements to the film, he said he doesn’t believe it can be classified as a comedy.

“Everything that’s in [the trailer] is in the movie,” Burton told MTV News. “It’s a funny film for me, because I never considered it a comedy. I was always trying to capture the weird vibe of ‘Dark Shadows,’ which is a weird thing to try to capture. It was a weird daytime soap opera.”

Burton, a longtime “Shadows” fan who said he “recalls the show affectionately,” said that whatever humor is in the film is there because the situation Barnabas is in when he is unearthed 200 years after being buried is innately humorous.

“It’s not like I’m being campy with it or anything,” Burton said. “The guy’s been locked in a box for 200 years, and [when] he comes out … something weird is going to happen.”

As for comparisons to his previous films, most notably “Edward Scissorhands,” Burton said he can see the link, but confessed that there are many subtle differences between Barnabas Collins and any other character he’s put onscreen.

“Edward Scissorhands was more of a naive character. Barnabas has been around the block a few times,” Burton told MTV News with a laugh. “There is something about a character who doesn’t quite fit into the world, which is similar, just in this case, he’s been around a long time.”

Burton also gave us up-to-date news on one project many of his biggest fans are very excited for: “Beetlejuice 2.” The film is being written by “Shadows” scribe Seth Grahame-Smith, and for Burton, that’s as far as things have gotten.

“He’s working away on it,” the director said of Grahame-Smith, “so I’m just waiting to see what he does.”

As for whether we can expect him to make a return to “Batman,” the film franchise he started with the original 1989 blockbuster, he was straight to the point, saying, “I think I have enough on my plate.”

Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Shadows.”

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Tim Burton’s ‘Dark Shadows’: Just How Dark Is It?

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The death of actor Jonathan Frid, the original Barnabas Collins, makes this a sad week in the “Dark Shadows”-verse. The 87-year-old, classically trained actor passed away at a hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, on April 13 after a fall at his home. Frid cameos in Tim Burton‘s big-screen adaptation of the ’60s soap opera, which hits theaters on May 11. It will be his final screen appearance.

“Jonathan Frid was the reason I used to run home from school to watch ‘Dark Shadows,’ ” the film’s star, Johnny Depp, told the LA Times in an e-mail from the Arizona set of “The Lone Ranger.” “His elegance and grace was an inspiration then and will continue to remain one forever more. When I had the honor to finally meet him … [he] generously passed the torch of Barnabas.”

We hope Frid, who maintained a long, loving and appreciative relationship with “Shadows” fans, had a chance to see at least a rough cut of the anticipated flick. Some early reviews trickling out indicate it is quite different from what the trailers, TV commercials and print advertisements would have us think.

Two weeks back, after hearing Burton regular Danny Elfman’s menacing score and noting that it in no way lined up with the gonzo comedy the trailer seemed to be selling, we wondered if maybe the clip was cut to appeal to the broadest possible audience without much regard for the tone of the film itself. After all, a Gothic horror-comedy with a deep and dramatic back story is a much harder sell than a broad and cartoonish farce about an 18th Century vamp trying to get used to the electronic contraptions, female doctors and cars of the 1970s.

If the early buzz is any indication, we were right.

In a series of tweets (which have since been pulled down; lucky for us others cleverly snapped them up), Entertainment Weekly senior writer Anthony Breznican, who has seen the movie, shared his thoughts and they reveal a more complex and ambitious film that is alternately dark and absurd (in what sounds like a great way).

“I’ve seen final cut of ‘Dark Shadows.’ Tone similar to Burton and Depp’s ‘Sleepy Hollow’ — lots of humor, but with menacing, atmospheric edge,” Breznican wrote. “In ‘Dark Shadows,’ there’s an absurdist bent to the monster element. The creatures of the night are adrift in the self-obsessed world of 1970s … In typical Burton fashion, humans are scarier than the fiends. If u want ‘Interview w the Vampire,’ that movie exists. This is a more wry take.”

Most telling though, Breznican wrote, “If you dig screenwriter [Seth Grahame-Smith's] style w Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter then ‘Dark Shadows‘ will be to your liking, too.”

Grahame-Smith is a master of mixing comedy and drama with thrills and chills, as his books “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” and “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” display. It’s a fact seconded by an anonymous source from Hollywood Elsewhere, who’s also seen the film. “While it has ‘Beetlejuice’ elements, this is not a broad comedy. It’s a gothic romance with strong farcical elements, but the trailer makes it seem like ‘Love at First Bite’ and it definitely is not,” Hollywood Elsewhere wrote.

“The anachronism-based humor does work quite well. The film is funny, but it also has full-bodied horror elements,” the tipster continued. “In short, there’s more of the Burton ‘Sweeney Todd’ than the trailer implies. This is not Burton’s ‘Addams Family,’ but a successful amalgamation of his comedic and gothic horror styles.”

The tipster also adds that three-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer is a standout, calling her performances as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard “her strongest work in years.”
So there you have it. Fans of the show can breathe a sigh of relief, because it’s sounding more and more like justice has been done to their beloved cult soap opera. Burton maniacs can go back to being excited for his return to the darker, more Gothic terrain where he’s done his best and most interesting work. My “The Fabulous Baker Boys,”"Dangerous Liaisons,” “The Age of Innocence,” “One Fine Day,” “White Oleander” and “Stardust” all-day Saturday marathon can proceed as scheduled.
And, of course, the talented Jonathan Frid’s final screen appearance will be a fitting and appropriate return to the story he seemed to love so much.

Fans of the show, does buzz that the film has a darker side than we’re seeing in the ads make you feel any better? Let us know in the comments below and tweet me at @JohnMitchell83 with your thoughts and suggestions for future columns!
comments!

Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Shadows.”

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Jonathan Frid, Original Barnabas Collins In ‘Dark Shadows,’ Dead At 87

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Actor Jonathan Frid, best known as the man who brought vivid life to one of the most iconic undead characters in TV history, vampire Barnabas Collins in the soap opera “Dark Shadows,” died on Friday at the age of 87.

He died of natural causes after a fall at his home in Ancaster, Ontario, though his family chose not to release the news until now.

Frid was a classically trained stage actor, who began his stage career after a tour with the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London before going to receive a Master of Fine Arts degree in directing from Yale in 1957.

His talents were a strange match for “Shadows,” but Frid’s training brought an unexpected subtly to his performance, capturing the imaginations of viewers, including Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, both of whom were rabid fans of “Shadows” when they were young and labored for years to turn the soap into a feature film.

Playing a 200-year-old vampire who is unearthed in the late-1960s, Frid’s Barnabas was not a villain but a complex and often sympathetic antihero, who through the soap’s 1966-71 run continued to mourn the loss of his true love while trying to crave his bloodlust and protect his descendents from the evil witches and monsters that plagued their beloved family mansion, Collinwood.

The big-screen version of “Shadows” is set to open on May 11 and is easily one of the most anticipated films of the summer. Frid shot a cameo for the film, marking his first film role since 1974′s “Seizure” (Olive Stone’s feature-directing debut). While on set in London, he got to spend time with Depp, who plays Barnabas, and as Frid’s “Shadows” co-star Kathryn Leigh Scott told The Wrap, both Depp and Burton were effusive with their praise for the actor and his most famous character.

“Both Johnny Depp and Tim Burton looked at Jonathan and said, ‘We wouldn’t be here without you,’ ” Scott said.

After being based in New York City for more than 40 years and working to great acclaim both on and off Broadway, Frid retired to Canada in 1994, though he continued to act, performing one-man shows for charities in both Canada and the U.S., and appearing at “Dark Shadows” conventions, which have only grown in popularity over the years. He reportedly always felt a close connection to “Shadows” fans and maintained a website so they could follow what he was up to.

Frid’s cameo in Burton’s “Shadows” will be his last onscreen performance.

‘Dark Shadows’ Trailer: Five Key Scenes

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The wait is over! With less than two months to go before the May 11 release of “Dark Shadows,” we finally have a trailer, and it’s a doozy.

We’re going to come right out and say it: We love the trailer. It’s Tim Burton doing what Tim Burton does best. The look is dark and Gothic, but the feel is certifiably gonzo with a heaping side of camp and comedy. Based on its soapy source material, Burton could have taken “Shadows” one of two ways: He could have stripped it of the over-the-top camp and played it as a straight romantic drama where the protagonist was a conflicted vampire, which is what the creators of the early-’90s TV remake did, or he could turn the volume all the way up and have a little fun, flipping the super serious vibe of the original soap opera upside down and making a blood-splattered comedy. He clearly chose the latter, and that’s just fine with us.

“Shadows” stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, a rich and powerful playboy who is turned into a vampire and buried alive by the jealous witch Angelique (Eva Green). Two centuries later, in 1972, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb by thief Willie Loomis (Jackie Earle Haley) and finds the world quite changed and his once great estate, Collinwood Manor, in disrepair. His descendants, including reclusive family matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer), her drunken, snobby brother Roger Collins (Johnny Lee Miller) and bratty teenage daughter Carolyn (Chloe Moretz), haven’t fared much better. In the present, not only does he have to again face Angelique, but he has to contend with nosy psychologist Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter, who has more than a few secrets of her own.

Here are our five key scenes from the “Dark Shadows” trailer:

First glimpse of Barnabus as a vampire
After a fleeting look at a pre-vamp Depp in his 18th-century prime (and seriously, can we talk about how this guy never ages?), we see Angelique working her evil magic and casting her spell. Cut to Depp’s Barnabas taking in his monstrous new self from the crashing waves at the bottom of Widows’ Hill, the cliff where his love, Josette duPres (Bella Heathcote), took her own life. “What have you done?” he yells up at her.

The aesthetic created for Widows’ Hill is pure vintage Burton. The dark, rocky facade builds up to a point that looks like something from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” brought to life. Which means it’s pretty awesome.

Meet the Collins family
Sitting around the dinner table to welcome their long lost relative, we get introduced to all the key players in the film. “Who the hell is this?” Bonham Carter’s straightforward Hoffman asks.”I’m a vampire, Madame,” Barnabas responds.

The whole gang — Miller, Moretz, Pfeiffer, Bonham Carter and Gulliver McGrath (David Collins) — is there, and boy are they curious about this pale-faced creeper in some very vintage wares, but Barnabas is ready to hit the road to take care of business. “How soon can the horses be ready?” he asks. “We don’t have horses; we have a Chevy,” Pfeiffer admits.

“What sorcery is this?”
Barnabas just can’t seem to grasp the technological innovations that happened while he was chained up in that casket for a few hundred years. Of particular concern is the television, which he seems certain is nothing more than witchcraft.

“Reveal yourself, tiny songstress,” he demands before tearing into the back of the set. It’s a pretty random scene, but it perfectly sums up the tone of the humor the film seems after. Things are so weird nowadays, you guys, and the old dead guy just can’t wrap his head around it. Depp’s delivery is spot-on though, and we can see why test audience reaction to this scene was so warmly received.

Angelique rides back into town
Burton has taken many liberties with his film, but the most interesting of them might be his characterization of Angelique as a sassy fox with a mean-girl streak and plenty of attitude. When she returns from the late-1700s, she isn’t wearing her old corsets and talking about the old days; she pulls up to Collinwood in a cherry red convertible wearing modern clothes.

“You cursed me to be this hideous creator,” Barnabas cries. “You may strategically place your wonderful lips upon my posterior and kiss it repeatedly.”

Barnabas and Angelique’s freaky, house-trashing makeout
Even though she, you know, cursed him to eternal damnation because he just wasn’t that into her, we can certainly see why Barnabas can’t keep his claws off Green’s sexy witch. At the end of the clip, Depp and Green engage in some very rough foreplay. The magical pair throw each other from wall to wall before ending on the floor, where Angelique gives Barnabas one last lick with her very long tongue.

“That was a regrettable turn of events,” Barnabus says, taking in the destruction left in the wake.

So “Dark Shadows” fans, are you loving the fun and campy way Burton decided to tackle the sudsy soap? Or do you think he should have gone a different direction? Let us know in the comments below and hit me up on Twitter @JohnMitchell83 with your thoughts and suggestions on all things “Shadows.”

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