Dark Shadows Review

• 9th Oct 2012

My name is Laura and I’m a huge Tim Burton fan. I just wanted to get that out there straight away so you could understand the high expectations I went into Dark Shadows with. This man can do no wrong in my eyes and I will happily sit and marvel at everything he has to offer. It helps that I also happen to worship at the altar of Johnny Depp. So the ever reliant combination of these two with the added wonderment of Chloe Grace Moretz and Alice Cooper I was sold before a single frame had flickered before my eyes.

Maybe it was my sky high expectations, maybe it really is just a mediocre film but I walked away from it feeling it was utterly forgettable. I mean it’s not awful, it’s quite enjoyable while you’re sat in front of it and if you’re looking for a way to while away almost 2 hours I can certainly think of worse ones. However, once you hit stop it’s gone. I watched it with my boyfriend and we couldn’t even really find things to talk about relating to the film even immediately after. As forgettable as it may seem there are a couple of things that do really stand out in it. The first is how incredibly jealous I am of the bright orange of Helena Bonham Carter’s hair; it’s amazing and crowns psycho psychiatrist Dr Julia Hoffman perfectly. The second is Eva Green’s portrayal of Angelique Bouchard, every inch of her stunningly beautiful body oozes evil and, please excuse the pun, she is entirely bewitching.

I must stress this isn’t a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, I just felt a little let down by it. That probably has a lot to do with the high hopes I went into it with. There are a few moments that certainly raise a chuckle and I was happy to see a vampire that wasn’t mooning over some moody teenager. There are still some biological issues I have about vampires and their carnal urges, what with them being dead and all, but that’s another issue for different time.

The DVD was a little light on the extras and only had one featurette entitled The Collinses: Every Family Has Its Demons. I must admit I was a little disappointed at this and didn’t even actually watch it in the end.

As much as I’ve moaned about this, I know I’ll be buying it because it’s a nice easy watch. Sometimes you just need a couple of hours of escapism when you don’t want to have to think too hard and this is ideal for that.

 Laura Johnson