Dark Shadows (Blu-ray) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy / Horror	Featurette-Making Of-Focus Points PIP throughout film. Featurette-Making Of-Extended Focus Points selected from Menu (36:52). Deleted Scenes-Five short scenes quality of feature (5:38). Theatrical Trailer-Hope Springs (2:27), 2.35:1, 1080p. Theatrical Trailer-LOL (2:35), 1080p.
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	113:04
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Tim Burton
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Johnny Depp Michelle Pfeiffer Helena Bonham Carter Eva Green Jackie Earle Haley Jonny Lee Miller
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	$39.95	Music	Danny Elfman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, Titles begin almost 8 mins in.

     Created by Dan Curtis, Dark Shadows began as a gothic soap opera on American TV, running on the ABC network from 1966 to 1971 with a total of 1,245 episodes. The series spawned two theatrical features, House of Dark Shadows (1970) and Night of Dark Shadows (1971). Two decades later, in 1991, Curtis resurrected vampire Barnabas Collins, now played by Ben Cross, for Dark Shadows: The Revival Season. Also appearing were Jean Simmons, Roy Thinnes and a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt as David. Now, a further twenty years on, we have a brand new Dark Shadows from one of the most successful of present day directors, and with Barnabas played by one of the greats of today's screen actors.

     What a waste of money and talent! I admit that I have not seen the earlier Dark Shadows entries, and maybe fans of that material will find this 2012 film more satisfying that I did. The Burton film starts and ends well, with Johnny Depp beautiful and tragic. Unfortunately the one hundred minutes in between see yet another variation of Willy Wonka or The Mad Hatter from this super talented and charismatic star. What was needed here was the Johnny Depp of Edward Scissorhands, all beauty and pain drawing us into his tormented world. Instead we are given a comic book caricature, with a prissy, pursed lipped Depp seeming to be doing a Charles Boyer impersonation. This is a performance hardly worth considering, in a film that treats its subject matter as a camp joke.

     Using as its basis Dan Curtis's original black and white TV series, the story has been constructed by John August (The Nines) and Seth Graham-Smith, who also wrote the screenplay. Smith has a handful of TV credits, and has also written the novel and upcoming screenplay Abraham Lincoln : Vampire Hunter. Our story begins with a prologue set in 1752, with the Collins family, including young Barnabas, leaving Liverpool, England, to begin a fresh life in the New World. Twenty years pass, and in the town begun by his family, Collinsport, Maine, Barnabas is now a strapping young man, depicted by a stunningly CGI youthened Johnny Depp. Barnabas, the master of Collinwood Manor, is loved by his maid, Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), who also happens to be a witch. Unfortunately for Angelique, Barnabas loves Josette DuPres (Bella Heathcote of Neighbours). A peeved Angelique forces Josette to suicide, but Barnabas joins her in her leap from a cliff to the sea washed rocks beneath. Not to be outdone, Angelique turns Barnabas into a vampire and he ends up being buried alive by the local villagers. Without "spoiling" all the developments, two hundred years later, in 1972, a resurrected Barnabas returns to a now crumbling Collinwood Manor to restore his family's fortunes. In residence is the matriarch of the dysfunctional family, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer), her odd husband Roger (Johnny Lee Miller), and their children Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz) and David (Gulliver McGrath). To add to the assortment of colourful characters we have a drunken psychiatrist, Dr Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), a rustic servant, Willie Loomis (Jackie Earl Hailey) and a governess, Victoria Winters, who is a dead ringer for Josette, possibly because she is also played by Bella Heathcote. Barnabas strives to restore his family's position and prestige, but of course the evil Angelique raises her beautiful, blonde head and the result is vamping and villainy galore, all culminating in a poetic and beautiful climax - followed by the comedic, surprise - not - coda.

     The film looks beautiful, if you do not object to a excesses of CGI that result in some scenes - the opening Liverpool sequence for one - that look more like pure animation than part of a "live action" film. The interiors of Collinwood Manor are meticulously stylish and detailed, costumes are imaginatively impeccable and the photography of Bruno Delbonnel (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) is fluid and arresting. Tim Burton regular Danny Elfman provides a score that is unremarkable, but complements the action without ever stirring the heart or the imagination. And that is what is wrong with the film as a whole. It has no heart and no real imaginative spirit. In the making-of "focus points" extra, director, star and others enthuse about the creative effort put into creating a homage in the tradition of the grand old vampire movies. Sadly that is not what has ended up on the screen. Perhaps Burton thought there was a surfeit of tragic vampires already on screen - both large and small. Johnny Depp has always been a great actor, and he now is a great star as well. He and Burton could have, and should have, given us the definitive tragic vampire hero, one that could have challenged Bela Lugosi and even the superb Frank Langella in John Badham's unforgettable, and under-rated, Dracula. Instead, Depp delivers a prissily mannered comedic performance that is broad, obvious , unfunny as well as non-tragic. The women in the film come off much better than the star himself. Michelle Pfeiffer is statuesque and commanding, with just the right touch of parody, while Helena Bonham Carter almost overcomes her Madeleine Kahn wig, a continual visual reminder of the superlative comic genius who would have eaten this role. Best of all is Eva Green, gorgeous and lusciously dripping evil with every syllable of every word. How far this girl has come from her dreary appearance in 2006's Casino Royale.

     It's not that this movie is so bad. It is just wrong, and expectations have to be high when you hear that Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are making a vampire movie. Next we will see Johnny Depp as Tonto in The Lone Ranger, and it appears that there are another two Pirates of the Caribbean movies in preparation. The brightest hope in the near Depp future is The Grand Budapest Hotel, also starring Jude Law and Owen Wilson, with Wes Anderson directing. Fingers crossed!

Video

     This is an excellent Blu-ray disc.

     The feature is presented at the ratio of 1.85:1, the original aspect ratio.

     The image is extremely sharp and clear throughout, with wonderful detail in close-ups, interiors and "exteriors". The colour is just a mite muted, with a slight blue/grey dominance throughout. Within this palette, skin tones are excellent. Shadow detail is outstanding in the many dimly lit sequences.

     I could not see one flaw in the visual presentation of the film.

     There are subtitles available in English for the Hearing Impaired. These are very good, and are presented in white only, centred at the foot of the image.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio presentation is equal to the excellence of the image.

     This disc contains two soundtrack options : English DTS HD-MA 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 5.1.

     Dialogue is brilliantly clear without any sync problems, with a minimum of movement across the front stage. There is, however, extensive surround audio to completely immerse us in the environment of Barnabas and his dysfunctional family, with the subwoofer employed extensively in the action, as well as in Danny Elfman's score, which benefits greatly from the surround reproduction.

    There is an Audio Description for the Vision Impaired, delivered by an appropriately English accented youngish male voice.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     The extras are limited, but fairly substantial and interesting.

Menu

     The menu is presented at the base of a screen utilising a portrait of the nine principals. The photograph actually looks more like a stylized caricature, very reminiscent of an Addams Family portrait, and would not be out of place on the box of a game such as Cluedo.

Focus Points

     We are given the option of watching the entire film interrupted frequently by picture-in-picture, behind the scenes, "making of" footage, or of selecting from a list of specific "focus points". Not all of the content of the full feature "focus points" is included in the specific "points". These specific and more intensive individual "focus points" may be selected at appropriate times within the movie, or from the main menu. These specific "focus points” are :

• Becoming Barnaby (5:23) ;
• Welcome to Collinsport (4:26) ;
• The Collinses : Every Family Has Its Demons (6:49) ;
• Reliving a Decade (4:54) ;
• Angelique : A Witch Scorned (2:58) ;
• Alice Cooper Rocks Collinswood (2:25) ;
• Dark Shadowy Secrets (3:53) ;
• A Melee of Monstrous Proportions (3:59);
• Dark Shadows : The Legend Bites Back (2:05).

Deleted Scenes (5:38)

     All footage is the same quality as the feature itself. We are given the option to "Play All" or to select an individual scene.

• Scene 59 : Dr Hoffman and Elizabeth discuss Barnabas (0:59).
• Scene 61 : David and Barnabas discuss dinosaurs (1:30).
• Scene 94 : Carolyn and Victoria - "girl talk"(1:04).
• Scene 95 : Police warn Willie and Barnabas (1:02).
• Scene 108 : Dr Hoffman offers Victoria help (1:03).

Start-up Trailers (6:12)

     Hope Springs (2:27) : Presented 2.35:1 and 16x9 enhanced, LOL (2:18) : Presented 2.35:1 and 16x9 enhanced. Both are excellent quality.

     The title is due for Region 1 release early in October.

     Dark Shadows is an insubstantial piece of vampire spoofery that looks and sounds great - as you would expect - but fails to satisfy any audience that expects something more provocative or imaginative from a director and star capable of much better. The tone of this is more what we would have expected had Mel Brooks name been in the credits. I guess the kids will enjoy it - but it did not live up to expectations at the box office. There are satisfying extras, and the presentation, image and sound, is superb.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall