Tim Burton is well known for his eclectic blend of Gothic and dark humors, this is clearly evident from two of his classics Beetlejuice (1988) and Edward Scissorhands (1990) [and the two Batman pictures too].
Dark Shadows is a welcome return to that lovely early Burton style, dark, gothic, and humorous. The film starts with a wonderful Gothic prologue (which happened to look like a deleted scene from 2007’s Sweeney Todd) that introduces us to the history of the Collins family and the conflict between Barnabas Collins and the evil witch, Angelique Bouchardt (she wants to be his girlfriend but he’s just not that into her)
However after that, the focus shifts to Victoria, a reincarnation of Barnabas’s love (who was murdered by Angelique through magic) who is hiding a dark past. Through her, we are introduced to the present (1972) Collins family household. You’d think she is the protagonist but alas, the protagonist is still Barnabas and we are soon treated to the hilarious way of him walking around, flabbergasted by how much has changed since he was buried 200 years ago.
Soon Barnabas returns to the now ruined family mansion and moved in with his descendants and help them restoring the family’s glory. Angelique soon returns to the picture as a rival business and still trying to be Barnabas’s girl.
The film has its moment, it is entertaining, and the visuals are better than any films released this year so far, but sadly what it has abundant in visuals and mise-en-scene, it lacks in narrative. The film’s setup is also somewhat misleading by taking us through Victoria’s perspective as she is soon vanishes from the picture until the last 5 minutes.
In short like the Collins mansion, which starts out grand and ends up in ruin, so is the film’s narrative structure. But stylistically this is definitely a Burton film, and none of his films are really, really bad. A decent entertainment and a visual paradise.
3/5
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