Depp flower-powered vampire

DSH-02908rv3G JOHNNY DEPP as Barnabas Collins in Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures gothic comedy DARK SHADOWS, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Dark Shadows

DIRECTOR: Tim Burton

CAST: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green , Michelle Pfeiffer, Gulliver McGrath, Jackie Earle Haley

CLASSIFICATION: 13 SV

RUNNING TIME: 113 minutes

RATING: ****

Yep, I know you’re thinking it – another movie with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. And yes, it is, but to much delight yet again.

It seems director Tim Burton can’t help himself when starring these two in his quirky Gothic movies. We have a winning formula here with his mixture of comedy, drama and horror. The white pasty make-up, the 19th-century attire and the language to go with it all concocted into the hippie era is very entertaining.

The film starts in Liverpool in 1752, when Mr and Mrs Collins and their son, Barnabas, emigrate to the US and establish a fishing business, making them the wealthiest family in the area.

Barnabas (Depp) grows up to be quite a ladies’ man and has a sordid relationship with maid and witch Angelique (Green) who, to her dismay, learns he doesn’t actually love her. Enraged, she uses her powers to bring death upon anyone who may fall in with him, then turns him into a vampire and has the townsfolk bury him alive.

Entombed for almost 200 years, Barnabas’s coffin is unearthed thanks to construction workers. But Barnabas must now face life in 1972 and that’s what makes this movie entertaining.

Barnabas’s battles with the hippie era are easily the movie’s best scenes as we see him trying to deal with the developments of this new era he finds himself in. His odd and anachronistic ways raise quite a laugh – from his discovery of roads, cars and girls in skirts to a McDonalds.

Filled with 1970s paraphernalia, make-up and costumes, Burton’s film gives us a good feel of that generation meshed with that of Barnabas’s 1800s Gothic look.

His ancestoral home is now occupied by his remaining depressing, worn-out descendants.

The family are: Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Pfeiffer), her brother Roger (Johhny Lee Miller), her daughter Carolyn (Moretz), Roger’s son David (McGrath), and then the governess, Victoria (Bella Heathcote), the caretaker, Willie (Haley), the senile maid, Mrs Johnson (Ray Shirley) and a live-in psychiatrist, Dr Hoffman (Carter).

His once-grand estate has fallen into ruin and he must restore it. Elizabeth is the one Barnabas entrusts with his true identity. But his arbitary behaviour raises the suspicions of psychiatrist Dr Julia Hoffman, who digs up more than she can handle.

The Collins family’s assets, in their near-poverty state, are that of a rundown fish factory and a few working boats. Barnabas’s efforts in gaining control of his business, and his continual battle to get used to things in the 1970s, spark genuine laughs. Barnabas is a vampire, after all, and needs blood, which includes mass murder scenes to which Burton brings a nice horror touch.

Barnabas can be a terrifying killer, but women have a weakness for him, and vice versa. He is a well-mannered, well-meaning vampire most of the time, until his stomach is empty or someone challenges his beloved family.

Burton cleverly uses the cinematography and great special effects to help set the tone for his well-known themes.

Depp remains true to his Willy Wonka/Jack Sparrow characters’ sketches that he seems to have established in recent efforts, making Burton’s work come to life.

The strong cast deliver their performances well and the story-line holds a few intriguing twists and turns.

What adds great flavour, too, is the soundtrack with tracks such as Nights in White Satin, Bang a Gong, My First, My Last (My Everything) and No More Mr Nice Guy (as sung by Alice Cooper in a humorous appearance).

If you liked… Sweeney Todd… you might enjoy this.