Generation Gap Shows Here For Eternity

Rating: 7/10 (14 October 2012)

When Dan Curtis did this series on ABC in the 1960's, he was not yet a top television producer. It was tackling the oddity of a soap opera about vampires 5 days a week that would later give him the opportunity to do major projects like "The Winds of War" on ABC. I say this because you have to remember the material from the original series is really not classic stuff.
What has been done here is like the series on steroids. There is more action in 2 hours than there was in 6 weeks of the old show. Thankfully the music here is much better than the original series which had music much like an endless rhapsody of murky swamp. I give the sound track and A Plus.
The film opens very well going back to the origins of Barabus Collins. The the Moody Blues "Nights in White Satin" (1972)is well chosen for the credits and the start of the 1970's, As for the train credit sequence, I have no problem with it.
There is a lot of subtle 1970's humor here which if your too young, you miss it entirely. I thought the entire cast is chosen well for the film. The sets and murky mood are well established.
The level of the humor is low but effective. The interactions of the cast is great. The script is a problem but considering the source material which is not great, the script is OK. The popularity of the 60's series was basically built around Jonthan Frid.
The movie tries to build it around Johnny Depp. To an extent that works as Depp's Barnabus gets most of the punch lines. That is about the most diversity Barnabus can get. Love the image of Depp almost looking like a famous pop singer. To sum it up, the casting, sets, and music including Alice Cooper are the strengths of this movie. The script is what it is. Watchable? Sure, I have seen much worse than this.