Moretz is the One Great Highlight.

Rating: 5/10 (10 June 2015)

Dark Shadows (2012): Dir: Tim Burton / Cast: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green, Bella Heathcote, Helena Bonham Carter: Remake of a soap opera from the 1960's / 70's, and it regards the skeletons in our closets. It begins in the several centuries ago with Johnny Depp playing Barnabas Collins whose relationship is severed when he rejects the advances of a witch. As a result his parents are killed, then his lover is placed under a spell that has her walk over a cliff to her death. Collins dives to his death but the witch's curse renders him a vampire. Further rejections renders him locked in a coffin until he is dug up in 1972. He reenters the Collins residence where some humour emerges from his transcend into the 1970's. Unfortunately the premise gives way to subplots that never seem complete. We have Barnabas giving the father of the house a decision but it seems like a cop out. The whole subplot about the female doctor seems out of place. Then we have a wooden character played by Bella Heathcote whose image represents Barnabas's deceased lover. She is suppose to tutor the boy of the house but that subplot seems forgotten. Depp is amusing as Barnabas in his eighth collaboration with Tim Burton, but this is no Sleepy Hollow. Michelle Pfeiffer steals moments as the head of the Collins house, and Eva Green is terrific as the witch who has a high flying sex scene with Depp. Helena Bonham Carter is given a rather unnecessary role as a doctor of sorts who knows a secret and fails to reveal it. The visual effects are exquisite but the screenplay seems hidden in the darkest shadows. Score: 5 ½ / 10