Dark Shadows (film)

In 1760, young Barnabas Collins and his wealthy family set sail from Liverpool to the New World, establishing the town of Collinsport in Maine and their grand estate, Collinwood. Fifteen years later, Barnabas spurns the advances of his servant, Angelique, secretly a witch. She murders his parents with dark magic and curses Barnabas out of jealousy so that "all he loves will die". Under the spell, his fiancée Josette falls from a cliff to her death; Barnabas throws himself after her but survives, further cursed by Angelique to eternal suffering as a vampire. Angelique turns the town against Barnabas, and buries him alive.

In 1972, Maggie Evans, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Josette, travels to Collinwood to fill the position of governess. She assumes the name Victoria Winters, and meets the dysfunctional Collins descendants: matriarch Elizabeth; her brother Roger; her teenage daughter Carolyn; Roger's young son David, who believes he sees his late mother's ghost; and live-in psychiatrist Dr. Hoffman. That night, Victoria is visited by the ghost of Josette.

A construction crew unwittingly frees Barnabas from his tomb; he apologetically feeds on their blood, and makes his way to Collinwood, perplexed by the modern-day technology and fashion he encounters. At the manor, he hypnotizes the caretaker Willie into his service, and reveals to Elizabeth that the legends of her long-lost ancestor are true. Barnabas asks to rejoin the family, and shows Elizabeth the manor's secret passages and hidden treasure. Though wary, she introduces him to the family as a distant relative from England with plans to reclaim the Collins fortune.

Elizabeth and Barnabas use his powers of persuasion and the family treasure to restore the Collins Canning Company and Collinwood to its former glory, as Barnabas adjusts to modern life and falls for Victoria. Angelique, having survived through the centuries and now owner of rival Angel Bay Seafood, is still in love with Barnabas; to protect Victoria, Barnabas gives in to Angelique's lust and they have gravity-defying sex in her office. Afterward, a remorseful Barnabas again rejects Angelique's love.

Barnabas hosts a "happening" at Collinwood for the entire town with Alice Cooper as entertainment. He finds Victoria, who reveals that she has seen the ghost of Josette her entire life; her parents committed her to an asylum, but she escaped and was drawn to Collinwood. She returns Barnabas' affections and they kiss, to Angelique's dismay.

Dr. Hoffman learns of Barnabas' true nature, and offers to drain his blood in search of a cure. He discovers her using the transfusions to de-age herself, and kills her. He confronts the greedy Roger and offers him a choice: to become a better father to David, or to leave Collinwood with enough money to live out his life elsewhere; Roger chooses the latter. Heartbroken, David is nearly struck by a falling disco ball, but Barnabas saves him with supernatural speed and catches fire in the daylight, revealing himself as a vampire to the shocked household.

Desperate, Barnabas meets with Angelique, who goads him into confessing to his murders, and demands he join her as her paramour. Barnabas refuses, and is again trapped in a coffin. Angelique destroys the Collins’ cannery and, with a recording of Barnabas' confession, rallies the town against the family. David frees Barnabas, who confronts Angelique at Collinwood. They battle, and Angelique enchants the house to turn against the family, despite the efforts of a shotgun-wielding Elizabeth and Carolyn, who outs herself as a werewolf. Angelique reveals that she was responsible for the werewolf that bit Carolyn as an infant and for the deaths of David's mother and Barnabas' parents. The ghost of David's mother incapacitates Angelique, and the household escapes the burning manor. Angelique offers Barnabas her heart, which crumbles as she dies.

He races to the cliff and finds Victoria, unwilling to live as a mortal with him, but he refuses to turn her into a vampire. She steps off the cliff, and he leaps after her, biting her as they plummet to the ground. Victoria awakens in Barnabas’ arms as a vampire, declaring herself Josette, and they passionately embrace.

The camera pans to Dr. Hoffman's corpse in the ocean, whose eyes suddenly flash open.

• Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, an 18th-century vampire who awakens in the 20th century.[6]
  • Justin Tracy as Young Barnabas
• Eva Green as Angelique "Angie" Bouchard, a vengeful witch who plots a vendetta against Barnabas and his family, posing as five successive generations of the "Bouchard Women" who owns a seafood cannery called Angel Bay.[6] Her face and body begin to crack over the course of the film, resembling a porcelain doll.
  • Raffey Cassidy as Young Angelique
• Bella Heathcote as Victoria Winters, David's governess and Barnabas' love interest.[6] Heathcote also plays Josette du Pres. Victoria and Maggie Evans' roles in the original series were combined in the film, with Maggie adopting the name Victoria from a poster for Victoria, British Columbia on the train to Collinsport.
  • Alexia Osborne as Young Victoria
• Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the family matriarch.[6]
• Jonny Lee Miller as Roger Collins, Elizabeth's "ne'er-do-well" brother.[6]
• Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Julia Hoffman, the family's vain and often inebriated live-in psychiatrist, hired to treat David's belief in ghosts.[6]
• Jackie Earle Haley as Willie Loomis, the manor's caretaker.[6]
• Chloë Grace Moretz as Carolyn Stoddard, Elizabeth's rebellious 15-year-old werewolf daughter.[6]
• Gully McGrath as David Collins, Roger's "precocious" 10-year-old son.
• Ray Shirley as Mrs. Johnson, the manor's elderly maid.[7]
• Christopher Lee as Silas Clarney, a "king of the fishermen who spends a lot of time in the local pub, The Blue Whale."[8][9]
• Alice Cooper as himself[8]
• Ivan Kaye as Joshua Collins, the father of Barnabas Collins.[10]
• Susanna Cappellaro as Naomi Collins, the mother of Barnabas Collins.[11]
• Josephine Butler as Laura Collins (credited as David's Mother), the mother of David who was killed by Angelique and appears before him as a ghost.
• William Hope as Sheriff Bill (credited as Sheriff), the sheriff of Collinsport.
• Guy Flanagan as Bearded Hippie
• Sophie Kennedy Clark as Hippie Chick 1
• Hannah Murray as Hippie Chick 2
• Shane Rimmer as Board Member 1

At the San Diego Comic-Con 2011, it was also confirmed that four actors from the original series appear in the film. In June 2011, Jonathan Frid, Lara Parker, David Selby and Kathryn Leigh Scott all spent three days at Pinewood Studios to film cameo appearances. They all appeared as party guests during a ball held at Collinwood Manor.[12][13][14] Frid died in April 2012, making this his final film appearance.

In July 2007, Warner Bros. acquired film rights for the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows from the estate of its creator Dan Curtis. Johnny Depp had a childhood obsession with Dark Shadows, calling it a "dream" to portray Barnabas Collins, and ended up persuading Burton to direct.[15] The project's development was delayed by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. After the strike was resolved, Tim Burton was attached to direct the film.[16] By 2009, screenwriter John August was writing a screenplay for Dark Shadows.[17] In 2010, author and screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith replaced August in writing the screenplay.[18] August did, however, receive story credit with Smith for his contribution to the film. Filming began in May 2011. It was filmed entirely in England, at both Pinewood Studios and on location.[6] Depp attempted to emulate the "rigidity" and "elegance" of Jonathan Frid's original Barnabas Collins, but also drew inspiration from Max Schreck's performance in Nosferatu.[19]

Additional crew members and Burton regulars are production designer Rick Heinrichs, costume designer Colleen Atwood, editor Chris Lebenzon and composer Danny Elfman.[6] French cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel — known for his work in Amélie, A Very Long Engagement and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — worked on the project.

Dark Shadows was released on both Blu-ray and DVD in the United States on October 2, 2012, the date confirmed by the official Dark Shadows Facebook page, and the official Dark Shadows website.[39] The film was released on both formats several days earlier in Australia; in stores on September 24, and online on September 26, 2012.[40] The film was released on October 15, 2012 in the UK.

The DVD includes just one featurette, "The Collinses: Every Family Has Its Demons",[41] while the Blu-ray contains a total of nine short featurettes and six deleted scenes.[42] Several worldwide releases of both the DVD and Blu-ray contain an UltraViolet digital copy of the film.

In December 2011, Pfeiffer told MTV that she was hoping sequels would be made for the film.[43] On May 8 of the following year, various tabloids like Variety reported that Warner Bros. may have wanted to turn Dark Shadows into a film franchise.[44] On the same day, Collider mentioned that the ending lends itself to a possible sequel. When Burton was asked if he thought that this could be a possible start to a franchise, he replied, "No. Because of the nature of it being like a soap opera, that was the structure. It wasn't a conscious decision. First of all, it's a bit presumptuous to think that. If something works out, that's one thing, but you can't ever predict that. [The ending] had more to do with the soap opera structure of it."[19]

• Vampire film

There have been two other feature films based on the soap opera Dark Shadows:

• House of Dark Shadows (1970)
• Night of Dark Shadows (1971)

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Dark Shadows

• Dark Shadows at IMDb
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• Dark Shadows at Metacritic