The beginning of the fall of Depp

Rating: 5/10 (21 January 2015)

Dark Shadows is one of those movies that you expect to be excellent with Johnny Depp vamping it up all comedic, with a cool 70's vibe, but somehow this still falls short. The story itself is good -interesting which sees Barnabas Collins (Depp) turned into a vampire by a witch, then buried alive. Two centuries later, he is freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. Returning to his ancestral home, he then aids his dysfunctional descendants.
There were lots of things I liked here; the special effects were kinda dazzling including Johnny playing dress up (again) and damn did I ever laugh at that violent love scene (up and down the walls). The fact that it took place in the 70's was fun, groovy baby, and Michelle Pfeiffer did a good job as the family matriarch.
Watching Barnabas struggle in this modern world was also initially amusing but truthfully most of the really good bits were shown with the trailers on TV. Ultimately I felt kinda meh about the whole movie, I can't put my finger on why this wasn't better though. 08.13