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Dark Shadows
Plot (Spoiler Alert)In 1760, Barnabas Collins is cursed by a witch, Angelique Bouchard, by killing his love, Josette, and turning him into a vampire. The townspeople lock him in a coffin and bury him for eternity. 196 years later, in the year 1972, Maggie Evans, who changes her identity to Victoria Winters, moves to Collinsport to apply for a governess job at the Collins mansion. Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the owner of the mansion, welcomes her and introduces her to the family. Her daughter, Carolyn, her brother, Roger, and his son, David. The other people who live in the mansion are Dr. Julia Hoffman, the family’s psychiatrist, and Willie Loomis, the mansion’s caretaker. Roger’s wife passed away years ago and David has had a hard time accepting her passing because he believes he has seen her spirit. Victoria believes him because she has the gift to see spirits too. That night Vicky gets a visit from the spirit of Josette du Pres to inform her that someone is coming to the mansion. Somewhere else, construction workers discover a coffin after digging it up. They open it and Barnabas Collins jumps out and drains their blood. He wonders around Collinsport discovering how much it has changed. He goes to the mansion seeing it looks a wreck. He finds Willie and asks him what time period he is in and if there are any living heirs to the Collins family. Willie informs Barnabas that it is 1972 and there are four relatives. Willie becomes Barnabas’ servant after that. Barnabas enters the house and speaks with Elizabeth telling her that he is Barnabas Collins from the 18th-century turned vampire. His proof is by showing her a secret passage that leads to an underground fortune. Elizabeth can’t believe it. Barnabas wants to help regain the family honor and to be a part of the family. Elizabeth wants to keep it a secret and Barnabas makes a promise. Barnabas has been informed that the family’s fishing business has been sunk by another company called Angel Bay. Barnabas says he will do what he can to restore it. He meets the rest of the family and Dr. Hoffman. Victoria enters the room and Barnabas believes he is seeing Josette, the love of his life. Barnabas finds her very beautiful and he kindly introduces himself. Victoria finds him very polite. Angel Bay’s owner is Angie, but her real name is Angelique Bouchard and she is the witch who transformed Barnabas into a vampire. For the past two centuries she has been adapting to the life around her. Angelique hears that construction workers were found murdered last night. Angelique is shocked to find out that Barnabas has escaped. She goes over to the Collins mansion to speak with Barnabas. He doesn’t recognize her at first until he gets a close look at her face. Barnabas is furious at her for transforming him into a vampire and having him locked up in a box for 196 years. The people of Collinsport know Angelique as a kind soul and to them Barnabas is a stranger who no one would believe when he tells them she is a witch. Barnabas informs Elizabeth that Angie is the witch that cursed him. Barnabas thinks of what he has suffered because of her, but Elizabeth tells him to stay strong and fight for the Collins honor. With the secret stash in the secret passage, Barnabas uses it to have the mansion redone, get the Collins’ business up and running and hire the best fisherman of Collinsport by hypnotizing him to quit Angle Bay and work for the Collins. Barnabas even takes the time to spend it with Victoria. Dr. Julia Hoffman has had some suspicions about Barnabas of why he acts so odd. She hypnotizes him to find out the truth and confesses that he is a vampire. Hoffman goes to Elizabeth freaked out of her mind after finding out the truth. Elizabeth convinces Hoffman that she would be fascinated with him and Hoffman agrees. Hoffman wants to experiment with Barnabas by seeing if she could inject him with human blood that could maybe make him human again. Angelique is not happy that the Collins business is doing well with it’s success. She arranges him to meet with her, offering to buy the business, but Barnabas refuses. Angelique tries to seduce him and reminds Barnabas of the times he wanted her. If he won’t have her then she’ll take away everything including the woman he has been eye balling, Victoria. Barnabas has no choice, but to go at it with Angelique. Barnabas admits he has a weakness for something like what they just had, but he also has to admit that he is not in love with Angelique. Angelique says there will be consequences if she can not have him. Barnabas wants to throw a ball at the mansion to celebrate their success. Carolyn advises Barnabas that they call it a happening. She makes a list of what they will need at this happening including having Alice Cooper sing at it. At the happening, Barnabas discovers Roger stealing from the guest’s coats and is very disappointed with him. He then sees Victoria outside all alone. He asks if she is alright and she tells him who she really is. Vicky’s real name is Maggie Evans and when she was a child her parents sent her to mental institution because they thought she was crazy for seeing ghosts. She was alone for years and she recently escaped from the institution because she wanted to be free and find a new life for herself. She found the ad for the governess position in a newspaper and that lead her to Collinsport. Barnabas feels sorry for Victoria and feels there is nothing wrong with her. She is moved by his words and she slowly comes in and kisses Barnabas. Barnabas has found a new love for the first time in centuries. Angelique shows up and finds Barnabas kissing Victoria. She becomes more embittered. Barnabas finds Hoffman injecting herself with his blood in order to make herself immortal like him. He kills her and he and Willie dump the body into the bay that night. Roger tries to break into the secret room after he saw Barnabas walk out. Barnabas catches him and gives him a choice to either stay be an exemplary father to David or leave the mansion with enough money to live his life alone. Roger chooses the money over his son, leaving David heartbroken. David runs and is almost killed when the disco ball falls, but Barnabas saves him using speed. The sunlight shines on Barnabas and causes him to catch on fire. His true identity is revealed to the rest of the family. Victoria runs away. Barnabas pays Angelique a visit demanding that she lift the curse. Angelique knows Barnabas feeds on blood and knows he would have to kill in order to get it. She informs him that she knows that he killed Hoffman and he admits it. But Barnabas knows it is Angelique who is to really blame for turning him into a vampire. Angelique has chains wrapped around Barnabas, traps him in a coffin again and destroys the Collins’ seafood business. Elizabeth hears the explosion from the mansion and looks at the fire through the study. Angelique has the coffin put in a mausoleum while she takes care of the rest of the Collins family. David shows up shortly after, guided by his mother’s ghost and frees Barnabas. The townspeople gather at the fire. Angelique has a recording of Barnabas confession about the people he murdered and plays it over the police microphone so the townspeople can hear. She turns the townspeople against the Collinses. An angry mob shows up at the Collins mansion. Barnabas has had enough of this and reveals to the townspeople the nature of both he and Angelique. Barnabas and Angelique fight each other. Elizabeth shoots at Angelique with a shotgun. Angelique starts a fire then Carolyn reveals herself to be a werewolf and jumps Angelique. She pulls Carolyn off and knocks her out. Angelique reveals she is responsible for everything the Collins family has been through by sending a werewolf to infect Carolyn with the werewolves curse, killing David’s mother and turning Barnabas into the creature he is today. The spirit of David’s mother finishes Angelique. Elizabeth gets Carolyn and David out. Angelique pulls out her heart and offers her heart to Barnabas, but it shatters into pieces and Angelique is no more. Barnabas then goes looking for Victoria. David informs Barnabas that she is heading towards the cliffs, the same spot Barnabas lost his first love, Josette. He catches her before throws herself off the cliff. Barnabas doesn’t want to lose her, but she knows he will because they are different from each other. As long as he remains immortal, she’ll age and die of old age. She feels the only way to settle this is death. Victoria throws herself off the cliff and Barnabas leaps after her. He knows the only way she will survive is by him bitting her. They hit the rocks at the bottom. Barnabas holds Victoria in his arms calling her name. She awakens and is now a vampire like him. She puts her hand up to his face and the two kiss on the rocky shore knowing that they’ll spend the rest of eternity together. 
Blaine: I like that Barnabas wakes up in the year 1972 instead of him waking up in a time period that is like today. The “Dark Shadows" series began in the late ‘60s, lasted five years and then ended in 1971, so that must be the reason why they had the movie take place in 1972. Johnny Depp doesn’t like the 1970s for some reason and thinks of it as the worst time in human existence so it clearly wasn’t his idea. Barnabas is more of a honorable and a caring man who has a romantic side to him more than mysterious when Jonathan Frid played him in the TV series. Frid’s Barnabas also didn’t have to learn how to adapt to the life around him after being freed from a coffin like Johnny Depp’s. The ensemble of actors along with the screenwriters gave these characters new personalities compared to what they were on the show. In the TV series there was a character named Maggie Evans who looked a lot like Barnabas Collins’ love interest, Josette du Pres, and he would hypnotize her to believe she is Josette. And Victoria Winters could see spirits. In this movie, the characters from the series, Victoria Winters and Maggie Evans, are sort of combined as one character who looks like the love interest and can see spirits. Barnabas isn’t trying to have Victoria pretend to believe she is something she is not. What Barnabas wants is to spend time and get to know her because he is madly in love with her. Victoria has never met anyone who is as kind to her as Barnabas. Her own parents thought she was crazy and weird because she is different and they sent her to a mental hospital when she was a kid and then she broke out as a woman. When Victoria first meets Barnabas, she finds him very polite because he has already grown a liking to her. I don’t think she falls him love with him that quickly, but she knows she likes how good he is to her and the more she spends time with him, the more that feeling of fondness turns into romantic feelings. Victoria knows Barnabas really likes her and she doesn’t mind because grows a liking to him too. Actress, Bella Heathcote, who plays Victoria and Josette, was in a few things before “Dark Shadows”, but I would say “Dark Shadows” gave her the big break after being a main actor in a film directed by one the most knowable directors, starring a talented character actor. I saw a set photo online of Barnabas and Victoria doing a slow dance together at the happening. It makes me wish it was a scene in the film because I like the way he is holding her in his arms. It’s not even a deleted scene on the special features. My mom said that Angelique Bouchard used to scare her when she watched the TV series as a kid and I can see why because she had these really wide eyes and creepy looks on her face after seeing images of her online. Eva Green’s Angelique is more sexy because of the way she dresses most of the time and she tries to seduce Barnabas a lot. Angelique’s skin cracks up like she is a glass doll when she is angry and really depressed. I kind of feel sorry for Angelique even though she is the bad guy of the movie, but that’s because she is in love with Barnabas and it angers her that he isn’t in love like she is with him. Instead of having a black heart, Angelique’s heart is pink because in that heart is the love she feels for Barnabas and it’s more powerful than her hate and anger combined. The scene I find the most weird out of the whole movie is the sex scene between Barnabas and Angelique because they are just jumping all over the room. It’s the first sex scene ever shown in a Tim Burton film and I’ve never seen anything like it before. Barnabas welcomes guests into the mansion during the happening and they are the original cast members from the show. The late Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins), Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans), Lara Parker (Angelique Bouchard) and David Selby (Quentin Collins). They needed an icon from the 70s for the house party or as they call it a happening. Tim has had a few great musicians in his movies and Johnny loves the rock stars and so they chose Alice Cooper. And of course their is a cameo performance from the late Sir Christopher Lee as the king of the fisherman Barnabas goes to see to offer a contract. This is the fifth movie Christopher Lee has done with both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp and they are very lucky to have work with him because he is a legend and one of the things he is best known for is playing Dracula from 1958 to 1972. Johnny Depp said that he has always wanted to wear a fake nose in the movies he has worked with Tim Burton, but Tim always denied it until “Dark Shadows”, but it’s no different from his regular nose. Johnny even got to wear fake big ears and long fingers for this movie. The long fingers were Tim’s idea and Johnny didn’t know what to think of it until he wore them and Johnny got so use to them. I really like the fingers, they’re really cool to look at the way Johnny moves them when he is hypnotizing someone. Whenever they were done with shooting for the day and remove the fake fingers from Johnny’s hands, he felt like he was missing apart of himself because he got so use to wearing the fingers. It was really hard for them to find a fishing village they could use as Collinsport so they built the set in England at Pinewood Studios. The first thing they started with was building a water tank which took three weeks because it had to be approximately 100 foot by 80 foot 3 foot 6 deep. Johnny Depp was really impressed with the sets because it looked so real to him with boats in the water, cars driving and the people walking around the town. They still needed CGI effects like for the water tank they put a blue screen show the fake ocean going off shore. And the Collins mansion from the outside doesn’t have a top, they only built the bottom of it and the rest was built with CGI. When it came to the scene towards the end where Elizabeth, Carolyn, David and Willie are watching the mansion burn, they built a one-third model of the mansion and set it on fire. I like Collinsport and it’s one of those places I where I would like to live. There are a few shots in the film that focus on the waves from the ocean hitting big rocks on shore and the TV series' intro would always show the waves hitting rocks and my thoughts the first time I saw the movie is that it’s supposed to be like the intro. Jackie Earl Haley sent Tim Burton an audition tape he did himself years ago, probably for another film and Tim liked it, but whatever he was auditioning for he didn’t get the job. But Jackie was hired as Willie Loomis who is the servant of the house and a drunk. Willie, on the TV series was I guess you could say the asshole at first. Willie wanted to steal something, if I remember correctly, from Barnabas Collins’ coffin, but he ends up releasing Barnabas from his prison and after that he becomes Barnabas servant and he feared Barnabas a lot of the time he was the servant because he didn’t want to let Barnabas down or else he would get killed. I was happy to see a werewolf in the film because I love werewolves and there was a werewolf on the show even though I never saw the episodes with it, but I did see a scene on Youtube. I didn’t even know who was the werewolf, but in “Dark Shadows”, the movie, Carolyn is the werewolf. Carolyn's face is not all werewolf just basically just the eyes and teeth and it’s hard to see her ears with her hair in the way. But the rest of her like the arms and legs are all werewolf. Her forehead is a little hairy. Actress, Chloe Grace Moritz wanted to do her own stunts when she was the werewolf in the film. She has been involved in stunt work before when she did “Kick-Ass” and all she had to do was leap in to the air on wires. Carolyn is the jealous type because everyone focuses more on David and his problems, but they don’t realize she has problems too. She has a werewolf since she was a baby and no one has noticed that. She tends to hide it from them. When Elizabeth sees that her daughter, Carolyn, as a werewolf she realizes she hasn’t been a good enough mother to her, but things change between them after that. Barnabas turns Victoria into a vampire in the end and she gets the long fingers and big ears and she accepts it as long as she is with the man who accepts her for who she is, who loves her and cares very much for her. And I love seeing how they kiss in that scene and how the moon light shines on them. It’s a romantic ending. My rating on “Dark Shadows” is five out of five stars. Music by Danny Elfman “Dark Shadows” has great classic songs from the ‘70s |