Dark Shadows – Official Poster – from IMDB.com

Dark Shadows (2012)

Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Seth Grahame-Smith (screenplay), John August (story) and Seth Grahame-Smith (story), Dan Curtis (television series)
Stars: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Green

I’m really not sure whether it’s because I can’t hate Johnny Depp and Tim Burton and I am always intrigued by the films they decide to make or whether it’s that I actually enjoyed this film but for the first time in my life I didn’t mind watching a film with a vampire as the lead character. I know that this wasn’t the best film ever made. There were so many issues with the script and the delivery of the story. It was cheesy and disappointing for a lot of the film as I wanted it to be more exciting and just simply better. The relationships between the characters felt incredibly forced and the only character I liked was the drunken Doctor (portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter) who only played a minor role and basically only turned up for one liners. There is one highlight of this film though and that is that I know the entire cast can play incredibly creepy extremely well now. If there was ever a film that was going to be high on the creep list it was this one, but they all take it to the extra level of creepy and in the light of the rest of the cast Johnny Depp seems reasonably sane in the film. The end of the film is surprising and it kind of made up for the rest of it but I can’t say that this is at the top of my favourite Depp/Burton films. I really wanted to love this film but it lacks what it really needed, some sanity within the creepy. I enjoyed it while I was watching it but it didn’t satisfy my expectations (as low as they were) for a good Depp/Burton film and it makes me sad that this is the case. If you like Burton and Depp you will probably enjoy this film but don’t expect it to enter your top ten of anything, not even worse films as it is simply mediocre.