With that in mind, let's step into a comparison of the two versions of Dark Shadows.
Taking place in New England, the Collins family establishes a fishing industry in the late 1700's. Barnabus, the heir to the Collins empire doesn't return the affections of a seductive witch. In jealousy, she kills his parents, lover, and curses him to a living death as a vampire. She then sets the frightened villagers on him, where he is buried for nearly 200 years.
Fast-forward to the 1970's, Barnabus is unearthed to discover the Collins fishing corporation only a shadow of it's former glory, and vows to assist his dysfunctional descendants in re-building their fortune. However, the witch - now the Collins' number one competitor - is still alive and well, and still very bitter at Barnabus.
Unless, of course, he swallows his pride to be with her and no one else.
Despite the fact that 60's-70's film and television had that campy, over-done style to its acting, it has one thing that it can hold over Burton's adaptation: when you label something as a "soap opera" or "drama", that means the story knows what it's trying to do. This is to deliver continuing installments of a storyline with a dramatic air, usually portraying tragedy and the like. Moving past soap stereotypes, that means we have a solid idea of what to expect, what the writers are supposed to deliver.
The movie trailer portrayed a comedy of sorts with sexual undertones, and that's what I was looking forward to while sitting through the previews.
What I was treated to was a movie that didn't seem to know what the heck it was doing. You have the typical Burton cast - Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter with a few other well-known stars. Yes, the actors were talented; Eva Green's rasp when she spoke made me grin and Chloe Grace Mortez's hippy/beatnik portrayal of Carolyn was hilarious. So what was the issue?
The writing.
It seemed like a drama writer was attempting a comedy, but was too caught up in the story to focus on the jokes. The movie in its entirety was presented as a comedy (leading woman and man get together, bad guy loses, et cetera.) but that was smothered by bad dialogue, pain within the characters, and a not-really-happy ending. The movie was trying to pay tribute to its gothic roots and make people laugh at the same time, when in reality it needed to pick one and stick with it.
The TV show, meanwhile, had writing problems as well. While I only watched the pilot episode, it was failed to serve that purpose: to hook the watchers and pull them in. Still, it was fun to riff-track the bad acting and slow pace, and there's one shot that I laughed at when the cameraman's shadow showed on a character's back.
Burton's Dark Shadows had a lot going for it - a great cast, awesome effects, and a set storyline. Perhaps, however, it needs to stay in the past century for a reason.
- Much luvz, Hideki.
