Plot of Depp's Dark Shadows Movie

What do you all think is going to be the main plot of Depp's Dark Shadow's Movie?

I for one would love for them to make the Collins family very political (like the Kennedy's) with all these skeletons in the closet. Roger, a Senator from Maine's first wife mysteriously dissappeared (Laura the phoenix) His wild Brother Quentin has been linked to practices of the occult ( leads to him becoming a werewolf) and has a variety of "lady problems"  His sister Elizabeth has been a recluse ever since the mysterious Death of her Husband, (who was the former governor of the state)

And then you have David and Carolyn who have their own problems (make them roughly the same age) forcing Roger to take them out of public schools and hire a private teacher (Victoria).

All the while a disgruntled former caretaker (Willie) and a controversial Collins family historian (Professor Stokes) look to uncover the Collins' family's biggest secret................(Enter Depp as Barnabas)

What do you all think?
Your ideas?

  I like some of your ideals, Ryan. People have always said the Kennedy family has had a curse on them, so for a cursed family like the Collinses to be involved in politics isn't too far-fetched. Maybe a Trask, from the opposing political party, could be financing an investigation to bring the Collins family's dirty linen public! I can see a Trask running on a family values platform while secretly keeping a mistress on the side!

One thing I would like to see in the movie  - if they follow tradition - is what happens directly after Barnabas is released from his coffin by Willie Loomis. I want to see the expression on Barnabas' face when he realizes he no longer exists in the 18th century. I would also love to see Barnabas' first reactions to things like automobiles & television or the way modern women dress & behave.

I hope the movie doesn't turn Barnabas into a bloodthirsty villain like he was in HODS or the 1991 revival series where Ben Cross lacked any warmth in his portrayal of Barnabas. Barnabas is a much more fascinating character when he stuggles with his curse & feels remorse & guilt. I would love to see the movie completely abandon the whole searching for a modern day Josette storyline. It would be much more interesting if Barnabas feels an immediate bond with his present day cousins & help defend them against some supernatural threat.

I like the way you think, markyboo - along those lines ... how about a twist on the Josette/Barn/Angeligue triangle?

Barn as you suggest, feels an immediate kinship with his modern family.  He is taken by Vicki's resemblance to his Josette, but struggles against his desire to try to turn her into Josette.

Julia arrives investigating the pathogen found in the wounds  of some assault victims found "with throat trama." yada yada and so on "I can cure you."  Basically the Julia/Barn cure plot but the Angelique has resurrected herself or found a way to travel to the present to ensure the curse continues, puts willie under her thrall and through him doctors the serum.  vicki begins to have strange dreams and sometimes believe she is Josette.  Basically, Ang is simply trying to drive a wedge between Barn and the new found family and acceptance.  If she can cause the kind of mayhem she did in the past then he will continue to suffer.)  But, Barn turns the tables on his old love:  reveals that he did care for Joestte, but he was always in love with Ang.  However, the destruction she caused (sarah, his mother Jeremiah, and so on) have killed any passion, any love he may have felt for her.  The spell that holds her spirit to the modern time is broken and she vanishes into the past (or departs the hapless Collinsport ressie she possessed - Carolyn perhaps, or Maggie).

Meanwhile in the B Plot - Vicki, who was hired as governess to troubled David by mysterious recluse Elizabeth, has come to try to discover her past.  She is considered familiar looking by most of the family but they cannot place it until cousin Barn comments on her resemblance to Josette.  Elizabeth is troubled by how vicki (an apparent complete stranger resembles an ancestor)  Of course this is the plot fans have wanted to see for decades but while strongly hinted there is no revelation that Vicki is a Collins.

In a flashback, we learn that unbeknownst to even Ang, Josette had dallied with Barnabas and was discovered to be with child.  The whole thing was hushed up and Natalie and none the wiser Ang sent to Maine while Andre and Josette lingered just long enough to make things respectable, and bring Josette to Collinwood to marry Barn.  The child would then return with Barn and Josette after an extended honeymoon.  So there is a suggestion that Vicki could be Liz's daughter or that she is a descendant of Josette and Barn's love child.

Okay that is a little disjointed that is kind of what I would like to see:  The old classics (Julia in unrequited love, barn and and and josette, the vampire cure plot that goes wrong, Vicki/Liz), but new stuff also - the toying with the 1795 relationships, love child, the revelation that it was all for nothing because Ang had won until she destroyed his family, and earned nothing but Barn's contempt.

This would just be the first film: Characters introduce briefly here would be fleshed out later - perhaps the Roger David problems as the B plot in a future fim, Barn is actually cured, perhaps Chris and/or Quentin as as werewolf and of course ang could return.  Even Stokes could be given a more sinister bent (not evil, but perhaps much more sinister).

Of course time travel would be a natural vehicle for a film as well - something goes wrong in the present that Barn and Julia have to return to the past tor correct.

okay, I've run out of steam .......

I like both of your ideas Nelson and Markyboo

I agree that it would be a nice touch if some of the plot dealt with Vickie's past and her relationship to the Collins Family.

I also think it's essential that Barnabas feel some kinship with the family, trying to protect them. I liked your idea Markyboo of making Trask a Conservative political opponent of the Collins Family who is trying to bring them down, and Barnabas realizes the resemblance and relationship to the Trask of his Era.

I think you could easily pair Angelique's return with Trask's rise to power and have the two of them team up.....slowly revealing the history of Barnabas/Angelique through flashbacks to viewers who have no idea who she is, but a treat for the true fans who know their history......


More ideas?

i'd prefer not to see the whole josette thing on the big screen again.   start from the end of that (disregarding HODS movie ending) and move right into quentin and julia and barnabas involved in mayhem and madness and going back to 1897.     that would be good. 

and the casting should be (don't hit me  )

joaquin phoenix as barnabas
jonny depp as quentin. 

julia hoffman/magda is a hard one.

marcia gay harden as elizabeth collins stoddard
julia stiles carolyn
tim curry as roger collins
david, well, he's a hard one as well.

tim curry as roger collins

HA! I love it!

I am not familiar with today's actors, so I wouldn't know whom to select in any particular role.

I think Josette should be included in the movie, since she is the main catalyst behind Barnabas' desire to live.
I would like to see Dr. Hoffman's character, all the Collinses, Mrs. Johnson and Vicky too. So basically, we're talking a remake of HODS.

It's hard to squeeze all the years of DS into one picture. What I dislike about HODS is that they tried to do that very thing. They tried to fit every character and the vampire story into one film. I mean, you get Barnabas and Willie and Maggie and Dr. Hoffman - but they tried to squeeze too many actors into one picture. At least, that's my take on it. It's entirely too confusing. So, hopefully, the remake will take al these things into consideration, and the writers will come up with a feasable plot. Barnabas/Willie/Josette/Dr. Hoffman/Cure/Drunken Collinses/The Old House burns down - the end.

Interesting post.  I prefer to see Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins.  I believe he was/is a fan of Dark Shadows and particularly Barnabas.  His dream was to play Barnabas and I think he should.  He looks good as our vampire too.