We've been watching the movie of Dark Shadows which is recommended for over 7 years. It is directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp. It is a new collaboration between the two that began many years ago and that has given great films for the cinema many of them revisable in family. For example Eduardo Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Willy Wonka or Sleepy Hollow. Keep in mind that it is not a very familiar traditional cinema and there is no such theme of nature, with songs and simple characters.
Because in the films of Tim Burton, who must have had a most entertaining childhood reading romantic works and watching television, you can see gloomy, sad, tormented characters. There is a universe of ghosts, nightmares although there is also a lot of love, passion and wonderful women. I have not seen any Tim Burton film in which the woman does not look beautiful, beautiful, romantic, passionate and sensitive. And Dark Shadows is no exception.
What can a child expect from a movie like dark shadows? Well, a space to develop their imagination especially because in the movie there are a lot of attractive ingredients for them: a vampire who has slept two hundred years and wakes up in 1972, a Rock'n'Roll party with great live performance, a teenager completely full of hormones that sees a reality different from that of the elderly, a child who loves her mother desperately and who sees her even if she is dead, a very innocent governess although she has the ability to see ghosts, a doctor full of complexes who wants immortality, a huge house full of secrets and tunnels, a beautiful and charming town where there is a square with a cinema in which films of the time are projected. And above all of them one very bad thing that is able to achieve its purposes in the worst possible way by going above everything and everyone. Although yes, completely in love with the vampire and always showing his devotion and passion.
The film also has a spectacular setting, decorated in interiors of the 70s, gothic houses with spooky statues and a magnificent costume with a vampire, Barnabas, which imposes seriousness and elegance. Although what I loved the most was the precipice from which the protagonists are thrown in a game with comic tone and with a cliff in which the passion develops between the lovers while the waves beat.
And the story will enchant children for the comic moments that Barnabas develops and his efforts to clean the honor of the Collins family in a town that bears his name and was built on the basis of fishing.
I highlight the Tim Burton's passion and respect for veteran actors. If in Martin Wood it was Martin Landau who made an extraordinary performance, another of his favorite actors is Christopher Lee who has given great characters in Eduardo Scissorhands, such as the creator, or Willy Wonka being a dentist obsessed with teeth and mouth artifacts. Here, he performs a mini intervention, as boat captain before Barnabas in a simple tavern. He misses not seeing him in action on the ship's bridge and under a galley.
And all those stories full of overflowing imagination they will be the ones that children can enjoy in this film directed by Tim Burton and starring Jonnhy Depp.
In Cinema Blog | Dark Shadows
