I finally saw Tim Burton's latest film, Dark Shadows, today starring an incredible ensemble made of Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter. And it was brilliant! While it has not received rave reviews and is mainly hit or miss with viewers, the film is distinctly a Tim Burton work, and this may be one of my favorites of his. The film was an interesting mix of fantasy, the supernatural, comedy and sex, when all combined made an appetizing feature film. The first half of the film was my favorite, and after the first hour it began declining but still stayed afloat. The cinematography was wonderful, and I loved how Tim Burton portrayed the film visually. Tim Burton is a master of cinema, and I hope he continues making films for decades to come. The reason why I decided to do a full post on this movie was not simply because I'm a Tim Burton fanboy. I chose to write this because of the most important feature of the film which seems to go unsaid by critics: the film is an homage to the 1970s melodrama of television, and it is precisely this that made the film a standout in my opinion.
When I heard that Tim Burton was making this film many months ago, I researched it and found out that it was actually an adaption of a television series that aired from 1966-1971. It was originally a gothic soap opera that suffered from low ratings and boring plot lines. Fortunately, the incredible creator of the series, Dan Curtis, began introducing ghosts, then vampires, and following came zombies, werewolves, witches and parallel universes. It wasn't until the introduction of Barnabas Collins, a vampire, that the show gained its immense legion of fans, mainly young school kids who raced home to watch the now supernatural soap opera. It quickly became a show with a cult following, and is the television show with the second most episodes ever with 1,125 (Passions is number one with 2,231).
As with any soap opera, the acting is over-the-top and even laughable at times, but the show is highly addictive and the plot is ever changing and always unexpected. I've been watching the show on Netflix for many months now and it has quickly become one of my favorite shows ever. There are some really great characters, and the plot is entrancing. It's really incredible to watch a black-and-white television tackle such topics such as vampires, zombies and werewolves which seem to be commonplace today but were something brand new when Dan Curtis penned the show in 1966. And now the point I want to get to is the heart of the new Dark Shadows film.
While Tim Burton's adaptation wasn't the most faithful because of its use of comedy and emphasis on sex, it is exactly this stylization that represents Burton's intention for the film. He wanted to play off the melodrama of the show and almost make fun of the original show's sometimes crude acting and cheesy scenes. He also wanted to capture the spirit of the '70s with the film which is something I think he achieved quite well. Dark Shadows is more of a representation of pop culture of a certain time period than an intriguing film about a cursed vampire. And I think it is exactly this idea of capturing pop culture that entices me the most and makes my love affair with this film more pronounced. Tim Burton goes for the unsaid rather than the blatantly obvious, and he captures the spirit of pop culture rather than making a hollow Hollywood film meant to rake in billions of dollars at the box office. It is this passion of his that brought to life these characters and how they were so reminiscent of the originals. Dark Shadows is an homage to 1970's melodrama and popular culture that should be seen by all, whether or not you have seen the original television series.