Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

Let's face facts, if they say trailers don't work they would end up without a show. These shows are made to promote movies. It's extremely rare, if ever, that they say a trailer or movie doesn't work.

Hi borgosi, I am not sure if you're responding to my post about positive reaction to the trailer, or to something else.  But if it is to my post, let me clarify that I was not referring to a movie site that is related to a TV show or anything other entertainment industry.  And it isn't even particularly focused on trailers per se.  It is a fan site where movie buffs discuss films, awards potential, box office potential, etc.  And these are folks who can be very critical and are not shy about dissing what they don't like (and indeed, a few of the posts thought the DS trailer looked awful, but those posts were the exception rather than the rule.  Overall, the response was a lot more positive than I was expecting). For me, it's sometimes interesting to read sites like this because they offer a different perspective than DS/Depp fan sites where we naturally have a bit of a bias.

Edited to add- sorry, I re-read those few posts and realized you were probably speaking to MB.  But at any rate, I did just want to clarify my own post.

Nancy - I have "lost" three brothers, my father, and many friends. My only point is that I don't believe that I have to right to judge how anyone else reacts to something. Some fans may burn their Depp/Burton collection, son may leave fandom, so may cry. Most IMHO will get over it and in time see the movie, at least if they are "real ;-)" DS fans.

I remember when my father died and lifelong friend told me "I know how you feel". I wanted to knock the crap out of him. There was no way he could know. You see my father has Alzheimer's. It was in it's advanced stages. We were happy for him, we had watched him fight it for years. Many people didn't understand why I didn't cry. To me pain is very personal and I'll never question some else's pain or how they respond to it. For some people DS could be more than just a TV show. I know it is for me.

madscntst - I was mostly talking about MB's post.

Nancy - I have "lost" three brothers, my father, and many friends. My only point is that I don't believe that I have to right to judge how anyone else reacts to something. Some fans may burn their Depp/Burton collection, son may leave fandom, so may cry. Most IMHO will get over it and in time see the movie, at least if they are "real ;-)" DS fans.

Sure, people have a right to judge and comment on it.  How fans react to something I am interested in is something I will encounter on boards and lists.  I read it, I will comment on it.  People can simply ignore me or not read what I write if they don't like it. 

I understand disappointment over a trailer or movie.  I have been through that myself.  I don't understand crying or similar distress and it does scare me when I read someone has reacted that way because it is an inappropriate response to a trailer or movie based on fiction and fictional characters by an adult.

The creativity behind Dark Shadows has certainly illuminated the imaginations for many of us.   That doesn't mean we have to throw out sanity and emotional stability in the exchange. 

thanks nancy.

as always you're a voice of rationality in a conversation that quickly devolves into histrionics.

Picture it:  Philadelphia, 1993.  A young man goes to a movie theater and sees the trailer for a film about a 1950s-era juvenile delinquent type whose mother marries a man who, through tough love, teaches the kid to straighten himself out.  Impressed by the based-on-a-true-story script, the stellar cast, and positive message, the young man decides to see the film.  When he does, he is shocked to discover that the film is about a teenager who is abused by his stepfather.

That young man was me.

The film you probably know as...This Boy's Life.

My point is, let's all try to remember that a trailer does not necessarily reflect the actual film and that we should reserve judgment of the new DS movie until we see it in its entirety.

Thank you.  I'm not trying to be a bitch (not that I have to try that hard) but one of the reasons I have decided to avoid large DS gatherings this year where the film will be the main subject is because of the hysteria I have seen over this stupid trailer.  Can you imagine what it will be like when the movie is released if all this shirt ripping is over 20-30 seconds of random clips and sound bites taken out of context?

I think that behavior is more shocking than anything Burton or Depp could do.  "House of Dark Shadows" was a major disappointment for me but I don't cry every time it goes on the air.  It reflects badly on the series as far as I am concerned. I just don't watch it.

It makes me uncomfortable to be in any confined space with fans of the mindset I have already described. I know they are not that great in number but still . . . it's too scary.  Read some Facebook pages for a better idea of what I mean. 

I have said my piece about this aspect of fan reaction so I won't comment again on it. 

thanks nancy.

as always you're a voice of rationality in a conversation that quickly devolves into histrionics.

I have decided to avoid large DS gatherings this year where the film will be the main subject is because of the hysteria I have seen over this stupid trailer. 

It will definitely be an interesting place, one I plan to avoid like the plague!  After reading some of the stuff I have read in the past few hours in other parts of the ether....

Can you imagine what it will be like when the movie is released if all this shirt ripping is over 20-30 seconds of random clips and sound bites taken out of context?

You know how much I would love that!  That is why I am hoping for another trailer.  I have not given up on the film, but was very disappointed in the approach the trailer took.  So, I hope the final cut will be very different. 

My main concern about that particular scene is that it really invokes a different kind of Barnabas from (most of) the series.  I mean this woman killed his true love, had cursed him to become a demon, and is trying to destroy his family, and that is how he responds?  It will be interesting to see the context of the scene in the film.  Because, without context, it is a radical departure from the character we know and love (from most of the series).  Yet another question I have that I am eager to see answered.   

But I will say the funniest thing I have seen today is someone going around the web trying to convince others that Tim Burton is basing this off of HoDS, claiming that Burton "would never watch a soap opera"...  So I guess Burton is lying in all of these interviews...   

I think everyone needs to step back and take a breath.  I, too, was hoping for what "appeared" to be a loyal re-adaptation of the original and maybe this one is a more - shall we say - jocular version.  But then again, you can't always go by trailers/previews. 

But the more I watch the trailer and it's seemingly turn from the original, the more I like it.  It appears to go into things more "real," such as Barnabas' attempt at fitting in with the early 1970's.  To me, that makes much more sense than how Dan Curtis handled it in both the 60's/70's original and the '91 remake.  We all know, that for the sake of moving things along, in the original logic and consistency were thrown under the bus.  For viewers like me who grew up as kids watching it, it didn't seem very problematic (even though I, at that young age, had my many moments when I thought "hey, wait a minute...").  The '91 version, a pale imitation of the first mixed in with a remake of HoDS, was completely illogical.  I appreciated the attempt at the update and hoped for its success, but I didn't appreciate how it just mashed things along without a thought to "what if this was really happening?"  I never saw the 2004 attempted reboot, so I can't comment on that (although, from the few pics posted about it, it did seem to be more logical, such as Barnabas being a wasted-away corpse when first unearthed since he had been devoid of sustenance for 200 years).

I watched, almost consistenly when I could, the original series when it first premiered on that summer day in 1966 until it ended on that spring day in 1971.  I loved it.  I put up with its total lack of consistency which even, at that young age, I could see.  I never missed an episode of the '91 prime-time remake, which I thought was overblown and totally illogical and I wished it had continued on (d*mn that Iraq war for ruining that possibility, and the owner of NBC who had a stick up his dupa over the show) and I thought that while everyone else had been miscast, Jean Simmons was perfect and held her own against the great Joan Bennett.  I'm sure if I saw the 2004 version, I'd have my reservations (along with my acdolades). 

Let's face it, folks.  Our original DS, while a milestone in television history and unique amongst its kind (how many attempts have their been to try and duplicate what it did by other shows, both daytime, nighttime and on the silver screen?), had it's plethora of problems.  Some of the plots stank.  Some of the characters/performers did equally as well (how many Roger Davis Fan Club members are there here, as well as Donna McKechnia characters? [although I'm one among the few who thought Amanda Harris and Olivia Corey were simply fine]).  And what about all the bloopers?  One of my favorite scenes was during the 1967 seance that sent Vicki back and the stunned members of the current-day family stood there in shock, the camera panning back in what should've been a very dramatic scene that filled the whole screen showing the enormity of the drawing room and there it is, right at the top, ruining what should've been a classic moment, that microphone boom prancing about.  And don't forget Barnabas and Julia looking through the barred door leading down to the Old House cellar in another dramatic moment, and Barnabas ends up picking his nose.  Despite all that it did, with huge sets, a classic Hollywood movie star playing the lead role (Joan), the first-ever orchestrated musical score, exterior film shots, our beloved DS had lots to make fun of, including by us.  We do it all the time and still love it, so why shouldn't someone else take what was absurd in our original and come up with something different?  Why should we get upset when Barnabas, in this film, become unnerved by listening and watching the Carpenters perform on television?  Doesn't that make more sense than having a Barnabas show up at Collinwood in 1967 and apparently, after a few days from being out of the grave, being able to comprehend Don't Sleep in the Subway by Petula Clark or the Barnabas of 1991 getting all flustered over I Wanna Sex You Up by Color Me Badd?  Our much loved original DS would've been better if it had shown Barnabas going bonkers over watching a toilet flush and wondering what Angelique-inspired witchcraft had caused that.  To have him show up a matter of days at the doors of Collinwood after his release wearing his Robert Hall suit and Thom McCann shoes was utterly preposterious.  But leave it to Dan Curtis to come up with that stuff, and yet we loved it.  So maybe we'll love this as well.  Maybe we'll hate it.  I still appreciate the '91 remake, but I can't get over how shoddily it was done (palm trees while it's suppose to be in Maine and all; one would think that the millions NBC gave DC he could've spent a few bucks on graphic deletion).

Dark Shadows, like everything else, evolves.  So let's see what this movie does.  It can't be any worse than DC's "vision" in his remake, and that, compared to the original, was a pale and multi-budgeted step down.  And yet, we watched it, loved it, and wanted it to go on.  If I can put up with having Willie Loomis turned into a Stan Laurel buffoon and my beloved Maggie Evans turned into a gin-slinging slattern in the '91 remake, all of it a far version from the original, I can put up with other stuff.  Dan Curtis betrayed his original with the '91 remake and allowed opportunity to fly out the window.

So let's again take a deep breath and wait to see what happens.  Our original DS was not perfect.  The remake didn't improve on it.  Yet, we all crave both.  (Since the 2004 version is hidden from anyone who doesn't pay tons of money to travel to a festival, there's no point in bringing that one up - most of us ain't ever gonna see it.)  Maybe we'll crave this one as well.  Besides, I miss lava lamps as shown in the trailer.  Now that was an era of tackiness and it made life fun.  Hopefully this one will capitalize on that tackiness and we'll all have fun.

Gerard

I just want to ask a simple question -- Why a comedy?

Nancy honey, I am so sorry about your loss of that storage trailer.  I've lost a lot of things over the years too, but in a much less traumatic way; simply through the detritus of moving about, living on continents thousands of miles apart, etc. 

I figured out a solution to what I'll call the enigma of Depp Shadows--it's a parody.  Pure and simple.  Think about it.  It's actually a brilliant strategy for Burton since filming a parody plays to all his strengths as a director.  I presume that Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer also has elements of parody (how could it not, with a title like that?) which explains the choice of screenwriter.  As with the original DS, the director has his own huge input no doubt.

I feel confident that this film will be a success with teens and twentysomethings, which means WB giving the green light to the full restoration of NoDS and the release of the 1970s feature films on a regular commercial DVD as opposed to MOD.  Which was what I personally wanted all along.  So, no hysterics from this fan.

G.

The costumes received a good review and Depp finding his new Jack Sparrow. http://clothesonfilm.com/dark-shadows-trailer-campy-period-blending-costume-fun/25068/

Let's face facts, if they say trailers don't work they would end up without a show. These shows are made to promote movies. It's extremely rare, if ever, that they say a trailer or movie doesn't work.

I wasn't referring to TV shows like Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood - I was referring to places like the entertainment Web sites that have done favorable pieces on the DS trailer. And don't kid yourself into thinking that those sites don't trash trailers and films and TV shows and CDs and books when they don't like them because they certainly do. They're not mouthpieces for the studios and the networks and the record labels and the publishers. Some of the things I've read when they haven't liked things have been real hatchet jobs - enough to make studio/network/record/publishing execs run for the headache medication if not to the nearest window to contemplate jumping out. 

55 days 1 hours 45 minutes 58 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

I posted on the new trailer last nite. I watched it 4 times, and enjoyed it.As someone who still loves the original series, was one of the studio kids, and has been to many ds festivals,I feel that I have to give this film a chance. Trailers sometimes never really tell you what a film will be about. Lets give it a chance. Lots of good can come from this if this film is a success. Like the restoration of NODS, and the release of HODS on Blu Ray and dvd also.As I said, lets give this film a chance.

"I think I understand now what the new DARK SHADOWS from Tim Burton is up to. It's a celebration of everyone's inner strangeness. Daring new territory for him, so we must give it a chance."  - Tim Lucas