I have never seen the original Dark Shadows soap opera, but I knew of it. Even saw the original Barnabas in the movie! Was able to spot him from just seeing old pictures and such!
The story goes in the beginning when Barnabas was still human, he had a little affair with a maid, Angelique. She was obsessed with him and wanted him to love her. But he didn't. Instead he fell in love with someone else.
Angelique, as it turns out, is a powerful witch. So she cursed Barnabas' love to kill herself, then she turned Barnabas into a vampire and had him outted to the town who then locked him in a coffin.
(Nearly) two hundred years later, [you'll get the joke if you see the movie ;) ] Barnabas is unearthed to find himself in the 70s. He goes back to his family home and meets the new Collins family and decides he wants to help them, since they are suffering financially.
Barnabas struggles to control his vampire self and adjust to the new time. There are some surprises however, one is that Angelique is there, for I guess in this world, witches don't age either. And there's a reincarnation of his love Josette.
The movie definitely had its drama, since it was based on a drama in the 70s (I believe) show. And like the movie poster says, Every family has its demons. The surprises never ceased to amaze me either. You could tell when a character was being devious, they just had that look.
I have to say that this movie had it all, a Tim Burton film, with Johnny Depp, vampires, and Scooby Doo! Yup, at one point Barnabas was watching Scooby Doo on TV and I knew that this would be an awesome movie!
There is some comedy every now and then so the movie isn't all about the drama. There were a few slow parts here and there that just dragged a bit. Other characters took me by surprise as well at their actions. The ending was chock full of surprises though. Some of them were a little over the top. But I guess that can just be summed up to Tim Burton!
It was a pretty good movie and I apologize for this weird review! I don't review movies too often but thought I would review this since it falls into my genre category! I also plan on seeing The Avengers tomorrow, so I might review that too! Who knows!
You don't have to have seen the Dark Shadows show from long ago to know what's going on in this, it's just a movie based on the show. I still enjoyed it though! If you like Tim Burton's films than this might be one to see! There was also a preview for another of his films, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter! Looks petty cool too!
Overall movie rating 4/5 stars
I'm so glad you enjoyed this one, I was a little afraid about it. But now I really want to go and see it. thanks for the review!
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