Dark Shadows
(2012)
In eighteenth century Maine, Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) is cursed to
become a vampire, then buried alive at the hands of spurned witch
Angelique (Eva Green). Exhumed in 1972, he vows to restore the Collins family to its former
glory, but must contend with Angelique to do so.
Put like that, Dark Shadows possesses a relatively straightforward
structure. But Tim Burton’s latest is a difficult one to quantify, as at times
it feels like neither fish nor foul. Ultimately this is more of a melodrama
than an out-and-out comedy, but it wouldn’t be a Burton film if it weren’t presented
with a self-amused flourish.
Somewhere around Sleepy Hollow Burton’s skill at handling action
sequences improved significantly, and he handles the set pieces here with
aplomb that was largely absent from (say) Batman. The scene setter opening
promises more than it can pay off (Bella Heathcote’s dual role as his lover and
her twentieth century double is underdeveloped) but the staging is exemplary.
So too, you can almost hear Burton whooping with delight at the feeding frenzy
of the unearthed Barnabas. In contrast, the seduction scene between Barnabas
and Angelique falls flat. Unsurprising, as the director has always chosen such
chaste material. It just doesn’t seem like his thing, and you can imagine him
wanting to get it in the can as quickly as possible.
I wonder how much remained of John August’s script after Seth
Grahame-Smith was brought in as a replacement. I suspect not a lot, as what is
here feels messy and undisciplined. Which for a Burton film can be a boon, but
he needs to be inspired enough to make the most of the material. Certainly, I
felt the film succeeded for the most part despite, rather than because of, the
writing. The milieu is heightened in the
way that most of Burton's films are, but the tone veers wildly even for him.
Soap opera plotting mixes with blowjob jokes and a protagonist who makes no
bones about massacring innocents. And then there's the entirely unnecessary
'70s setting (which gives rise to an extended entirely unnecessary Alice Cooper
cameo).
But this also meant that I was never too clear about what
direction the film was going to take. Which is quite refreshing in blockbuster
season, even if it was a symptom of an unfocused script. Again, maybe that just
makes it a typical Burton film where script and character come second to distraction
by the contents of his toy box.
There are no complaints regarding the supporting cast, with Eva
Green reveling in her grade-A bitch, Michelle Pfeiffer (interesting to see her
now in matriarch roles but only five years older than Depp, who's romancing
someone a quarter of a century younger than him), Johnny Lee Miller wearing a
syrup and Jackie Earle Haley having fun in full Renfield mode. Bella Heathcote
can’t hold her own against this lot, but she neither can she be blamed for the
weakness of the character (that said, one thing I did like was the ambiguity
concerning her “reincarnation”). Chloe Grace Moretz does her best with the
troubled teenager part, but gets a poorly-realised third act reveal.
Then there’s Depp. If you don't like Johnny in full eccentric
mode you'll want to give this a wide berth. His performance is most amusing,
but Barnabas Collins isn’t a comedy engine of a character in the way that Beetlejuice is. Depp
has free licence to indulge himself, but Barnabas is granted his share of
pathos too. The climax, in particular, is played very much for its dramatic
content.
I've seen this compared to Zemeckis' Death Becomes Her and,
quite aside from Eva Green's skin problems, that's not such a bad reference
point. Both are curate’s eggs, and have received their fare share of brickbats.
Indeed, Dark Shadows seems to have already been labelled a misfire (although it
is proving more successful in the rest of the World than the US). Not unlike
another perceived failure that has a lot going for it, Mars Attacks! Perhaps
comparisons to the source TV show (little known outside of the States) worked
against Shadows, as it fell at the twin hurdles of fan disapproval and throwing
vast sums of money at reinventing a property that not enough people cared about
anyway. This is not an unusual summer occurrence (Speed Racer, Land of the
Lost) and there are often rewards in investigating fare that, for whatever
reason, has proved too idiosyncratic for cross-over appeal.
I’d suggest this is Burton’s best since Big Fish, which some
might retort wouldn’t be difficult. There’s an idea that the director has taken
a prolonged tumble in the last decade (pretty much since his Planet of the Apes
remake). But he’s always been an erratic filmmaker, less interested in
narrative coherence than distractions and quirks of script or performance. It’s
probably legitimate to bemoan settling for stamping his own stylistic template
on pre-existing subject matter (rather than striking out with original
material) but it’s not as if he hasn’t been doing that since his third feature.
Dark Shadows may well achieve it’s own cult status in the future, distinct from
that of the TV show, but it will more likely be a consequence of viewing it as
an interesting failure, rather than a neglected gem.
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