Dark Shadows the 2012 horror-comedy movie
Plot summary
Dark Shadows is a 2012 horror-comedy movie about Barnabas efforts to help his descendants regain their family honor and family business. Barnabas is a 200 year old vampire imprisoned in a coffin for by a jilted lover and witch, Angelique Bouchard. Barnabas is unearthed by constructions workers who accidentally come across his coffin. Barnabas is finally free, and he heads to his mansion. Barnabas descendants are headed by Elizabeth Collins, her brother and their children. Elizabeth accepts Barnabas to the mansion on condition that he does not reveal his identity to the rest of the family. The rest of the family hence assumes he is a distant relative from England. Unfortunately, the quest to revive the family business is met with hurdles.
First, Barnabas realizes that his arch enemy Angelique is in town and is cause of the failure of the family business (IMDb, 2012). Though he revives the family business, Angelique is determined to show the community that Barnabas and the entire Collins family are bad. Barnabas kills Dr. Hoffman and under hypnosis admits it to the town who once again hate the family. As the movie goes on, Roger’s son David play a crucial role of revealing Angelique’s identity by attacking her. David also summons his mother’s ghost who screams and results to Angelique falling to her death. The movie ends with Barnabas and his love, Victoria seated at a cliff. Victoria is also a vampire having jumped off the cliff forcing Barnabas to revive her to a vampire.
Story
Dark Shadow is a story about a family that tries to live a normal life despite its history of vampires. Unfortunately, the secrets of the past always come to be exposed in the future. Elizabeth and Barnabas try to keep it a secret that Barnabas is a 200year old vampire. However, they are unlucky as Barnabas has mortal enemies such as Angelique. The movie is a story of triumph of good over evil as Angelique, responsible for the deaths of Josette, and David’s mother dies (IMDb, 2012). Angelique had also cursed the Collins family hence the long spell of terrible luck in their business. The Collins, with the help of Barnabas faces their secret and overcome their tribulations.
Acting
The movie uses professional’s actors to bring out the story line. The main character is Johnny Depp who acts as the more than 200year old vampire Barnabas Collins. The other characters are Michelle Pfeiffer who plays Elizabeth Collins, Barnabas descendant and matriarch of the family. Helena Bonham acts as the family live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Hoffman who looks at David and his beliefs on ghosts. Eva green acts as Angelique Bouchard, the vengeful witch out to destroy Barnabas and his descendants. Other actors include Jonny lee and Jackie Haley who play Roger Collins and Willie Looms. The main actors i.e. Jonny Depp, Eva Green and Michelle Pfeiffer, strongly bring out the characters Barnabas, Angelique, and Elizabeth (IMDb, 2012). It is through these main characters that viewers get the main idea of the story. The story unfolds based on these three characters. Supporting characters such as Dr. Hoffman, David, and Roger works towards developing the plot of the story.
Cinematography
Dark shadows blends humor, Goth, monster movies and soap opera. The movie has horror scenes as well as scenes with a soap opera feel entangled with supernatural theme. The movie is also set on a strange gothic mansion. The movie gracefully shifts between a tragic romance stories to horror though there are moments when the shift between the two themes appears misplaced. Victoria, the Collins nanny takes a strong role in the beginning g of the play as character with a mysterious past (IMDb, 2012). However, the entrance of Barnabas reduces her role to the extent that she comes off as a victim. The directors also use heavy make-up and dark colors to bring out the gothic nature of characters such as Barnabas.
Discussion of Director’ Style
The director, Tim Burton, blends comedy and Goth and horror to bring out a series of themes that shift across the characters in the movie. Burton also brings out the peculiarity of Collins family. The Collins family comes from a descendant of rich and prosperous people. However, the apparent male head Roger is a town’s thief stealing from people during occasions like parties. Burton gives Elizabeth the role of leaders of the Collins family, and she emerges a strong character determined to protect her family and subsequent secrets (IMDb, 2012). The main villain Angelique rose from a poor background, having been the daughter of a maid in the Collins family. Burton creates a plutocratic ideology in class representation in which the aristocrats, the Collins are the good people whereas the classless, Angelique, are the bad people.
Personal Reaction to the Film
The movie is quite exciting to watch as it blends different styles and themes. The visuals are perfect with characters like Barnabas clearly depicted as a 200 year old vampire. The characters are also on point taking up their roles in a manner that demonstrates their acting skills. However, the storyline of the movie is unclear as they are various perspectives that a viewer can take. For instance, there is a story about vengeance as demonstrated by Angelique against Collins family; there is also a story on love as told between Barnabas and Victoria. It is, therefore, unclear whether the viewers should view the movie as a gothic, horror or comedy as it has the three styles. Overall, though, it is quite an entertaining movie.
Work Cited
IMDb. (2012). Dark Shadows. IMDb movies
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