An enjoyable vampire feast

Rating: 7/10 (4 June 2012)

'Too many dull and hideous vampire movies are being produced these days'. Said one of the moviegoers sitting behind me. 'Tim Burton better deliver'.
I could really understand why he was so irritated. The waves of movies (and TV shows) about vampire-ish creatures of any kind attack us from everywhere all year long. I wouldn't mind if they were even half as good as old Nosferatu (1922) or Dracula (1931) with Bela Lugosi. The thing is, though, that vampires nowadays tend to be, how should I say, too pretty and shiny. They do not resemble the archetypal monster that was able to scare people away with a single look.
However, taking into consideration that Dark Shadows is based on a fantastic TV series (which aired from 1966 to 1971), and that it's built on collaboration between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, I thought that this might finally be a vampire picture worth watching.
Even though it doesn't actually share any similarities with the classic horror show, it still is an enjoyable movie in its own Burton-y style. The art direction, costumes, make-ups and sets are spectacular, as always. In its visual sense it's definitely a thing of beauty.
Unfortunately, it lacks a bit in its storyline. The beginning is very promising, but it becomes less and less engaging as it runs towards those important, but not very promising, final minutes.
It starts off with a fine introduction of Barnabas Collins' (Depp) teenage years in a wealthy estate of Collinwood, and shows us why he had been turned into a vampire in the first place. We find out about the love that he lost, because of an overly jealous woman called Angelique (Eva Green). She was also responsible for putting him into a coffin buried deep in the ground.
Fast-forward 200 years. The Collinwood Manor is now a ruin occupied by Barnabas' distant relatives, including the family's fortune-keeper Elizabeth (Pfeifer), useless brother Roger (Miller), his grieving son David (McGrath), and a chilled-out 15-year-old Carolyn (Moretz). There is also the live-in psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman (Carter) and a drunken servant Willie (Haley). And how can I forget about the old lady that actually doesn't say a word, but steals every scene that she's in (the whole audience was laughing so hard every time she appeared).
After an accidental turn of events Barnabas is finally freed from his horrible trap and returns to the old house with a bang. I must say that with the minute Johnny Depp arrived on the screen again with his pale-as-a-wall face the movie become much more entertaining. The enjoyment he shows when he examines the marvelous architecture and décor of the Manor is so expressive and funny, that it provides for some of the best scenes of the film. That, and also his utter fascination with everything 1970's- style, like a Big McDonald's sign or a lava lamp (it sure looks like blood in a urine).
The burning scenes of fiery flirtations between Angelique and Barnabas show that even the undead are able to give out some of the hottest 'cadaverous cold' love-making sequences of the past few years.
All in all, I have to say that Tim Burton was once again able to make a movie that can yield a huge amount of laughs from the viewer. Even though Dark Shadows doesn't measure up to pictures, such as Edward Scissorhands or Sleepy Hollow, it still shows a fair amount of potential in its ability to grasp one's attention. And Johnny Depp's acting, as the dignified and totally classy vampire (more Dracula, less Edward Cullen), is as neat and pleasurable as always.