In Tim Burton’s adaptation of the supernatural TV melodrama Dark Shadows, Johnny Depp’s eighteenth-century playboy Barnabas Collins is hit with a triple whammy of bad luck: He’s turned into a vampire, buried alive (or buried undead, if you prefer), and when he’s finally freed, it’s the seventies. Well, at least his wide-lapel suit jackets are back in style! Burton’s take on the material amps up the humor, and the result is an unlikely one: a gothic, romantic, supernatural action comedy. Will it work, especially in the summer? Well, it’s definitely different from everything else in the marketplace, including the source material (though there’s an undeniable Addams Family vibe at play here), but with lead roles from a passel of always-intriguing actresses like Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, and Chloë Moretz, hopefully there will be enough for us to sink our fangs into.
