Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[michael c]

incidentally...

[spoiler]if this spoiler about vicki turns out to be true it sort of ends up disproving what alot of us thought that the last spoiler about vicki was. if that makes sense.[/spoiler]

context is everything.

[michael c]

what's more...

[spoiler]what sort of tipped me off to this possibility is that vicki's little governess' cape looks sort of like a modified version of barnabas' inverness cape. i wondered it it was some sort of forshadowing or symbolism.[/spoiler]

[Mysterious Benefactor]

actually i've been privately speculating that that very thing happens.

It never even occurred to me that it could until I saw the featurette - and then my jaw practically fell to the floor -
 
- and I let out a huge WHOA!!

it does open up lots of doors

Indeed it does. And now I'm really hoping we'll get a sequel to explore what could happen next. If it simply gets left that way, it's going to be a terrible tease.


And speaking of teases, here's a link to the tease for the DS segment on tonight's Extra. It will have to hold everyone until tomorrow when I can find the chance to do a video of the actual segment:

Extra_2012_04_26_19_30_02-t.mp4 (5.8MB)

And actually it's not just Depp who is featured - Michelle Pfeiffer is as well - and both get to say more than they did on ET.

[Gothick]

MB and michael,  are you implying that [spoiler]Barnabas makes Vicki into a vampire?  Since Vicki wasn't even a character in house of DS, I'm confused by what you're implying, and the imagery in the trailers I have seen to date (I think you must have seen more than I have at this point) doesn't show anything like this.[/spoiler]

Just asking for clarification.  I don't really give two twitches of a rats tail about spoilers so I hope one of you will clear it up for me.  Please use the spoiler tag.  Thank you.

Best, G.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

So do we think...

[spoiler]Vicki becomes a vampire?

Does Barnabas bite her as she is falling off the cliff?

[/spoiler]

It's hard to tell, but that is definitely a different ending...  Not sure if I like that better or the previous possibility.  Both are pretty tragic. 

I liked this feature.  It wasn't the WOW thing I needed to change my mind, but I enjoyed it.  I did not like all of the spoilers and scenes it contained, though.  I'd much have seen Frid's appearance in the final film... and other things.  But it was definitely a lot better than the ads.   

[Mysterious Benefactor]

MB and michael,  are you implying that [spoiler]Barnabas makes Vicki into a vampire?[/spoiler]

Yes indeed. But the evidence for it isn't in the trailers/TV spots - it's in the featurette.

And what I was referring to about hoDS was when I said:

[spoiler]

Personally, I was always into the Barnabas/Josette relationship. I'm not sure why - maybe it's because it seemed to have a depth that many of the other romantic pairings on the show didn't. Though at the same time I have to say that that depth came mostly from Barnabas' own feelings about it. I can't say that when the relationship itself was actually seen in the 1795/76 storyline that it actually lived up to the hype, as it were, for me. However, strictly from Barnabas' perspective, I always rooted for Barnabas to get his Josette. Hell, I would have even been happy had hoDS ended with Barn making Maggie Josette. (But alas...) And I really look forward to the take the Depp/DS film is going to bring to it.

[/spoiler]

13 days 23 hours 34 minutes 38 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Both are pretty tragic.

For the reason I laid out in what I quoted in the spoiler part of my previous post, I don't see it as tragic at all. In fact, I see it as something happening that should have happened a long time ago in some official version of DS. Though, of course, how it might play out remains to be seen...

13 days 23 hours 29 minutes 36 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Gothick]

Interesting thoughts, MB.  And it was definitely explored in the original 1795 story, as we know. 

Thanks for sharing.  I had missed the previous spoiler-tagged comment.

Best,

G.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

For the reason I laid out in what I quoted in the spoiler part of my previous post, I don't see it as tragic at all. In fact, I see it as something happening that should have happened a long time ago in some official version of DS. Though, of course, how it might play out remains to be seen...

Well, I like tragic things, so it was a positive for me!   

[ProfStokes]

I agree completely with the penultimate paragraph in this new review.  The opening of the movie (the comedy-free "first eight minutes" SGS alluded to in his video interview) was delightful and showed a promising balance of a sweeping gothic tone and some light humorous touches.  Had that blend been maintained throughout, I would have been thrilled and could have gone from being a movie skeptic to a movie convert. But [spoiler]once Barnabas is released from the coffin, the movie turns into a farce with sex, boob, and fish-out-of-water jokes that mostly feel strained and sad to me. [/spoiler]

One of my comments at the screening was that I wished the prologue had been more fully fleshed out--partly because I always enjoyed the 1700s period on the show most, partly because I thought this sequence was the best part of the movie, and largely because, as written, I felt that the sequence moved too quickly and would be too confusing to a naive viewer. [spoiler]For example, we who watched the original series understand why Angelique attacks the Collins family.  Mainly, she's trying to hurt Barnabas by hurting the people he loves, but she is also a proud and covetous woman who resents the family treating her like a servant (even though she is one).  In the film, I don't understand the motive for her grudge against the Collins family once Barnabas has been entombed.  Why does she want to be their business rival?  What does Angelique gain by trying to ruin them?  For that matter, I don't think the prologue emphasized that Barnabas treated Angelique callously or showed just why she would still be so hung up on him 196 years later.  Hence, I was hoping by the comments in the AICN review that a little more exposition would have made it into the final cut. This review makes that possibility seem unlikely.[/spoiler]

ProfStokes

[Nancy]

I was cautioned to wait until the very end of the featurette, after the credits, to see Jonathan's name there, In Memoriam.  Sad to see, of course, but nice too in light of everything.

[madscntst]

Thanks as always everyone for the screen captures and all the updates.  I'm not completely avoiding spoilers but I'm trying to tread a little lightly on them, if that makes any sense, so I am not sure I know what y'all are referring to.  But after I see the movie I look forward to reading over this thread again!

On another note, apologies if this has been mentioned but I don't think I've seen it- the WaterTower (Warner Bros) Music page now has sound snippets of the DS Soundtrack:

http://www.watertower-music.com/releases_spotlight.php?search=WTM39309

The 18 second-long Depp track of The Joker is simply him as Barnabas, reciting the lines to the Steve Miller refrain.  Kind of cute, but I actually was hoping he'd be doing some mad guitar riff on the song    Oh well.  I still don't see a preorder for a domestic release on amazon.com; it is listed as an import at over $40, which is very puzzling.  Unless the price comes down to a reasonable level, I think I will have to make do with the Elfman score (which I've already preordered) alone.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Hmmm - not having really read the paragraph in the review that ProfStokes refers to in her post, I was going to throw caution to the wind and read it. However, either the review is off limits or it's gone entirely because all that comes up now is a warning that you're not allowed to access the page. And even if you go to the Web site's main page and try to search for the review using criteria like "Dark Shadows" or "Tim Burton" or "Johnny Depp", the review still doesn't come up - yet for Burton an article mentioning The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D does. And the review isn't even listed on the latest movie reviews page in the InOut section. Odd... But then maybe it's the universe telling me I wasn't meant to ever actually read that review. 

13 days 13 hours 40 minutes 18 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[PennyDreadful]

Could someone direct me to the article where Burton goes over each character from DS?  While I'm not defending Burton, as I've made it clear I'm not a fan of his take on DS, I do believe he is a fan of the original show.  A friend of mine is arguing that Burton isn't actually a fan because of this article (taken out of context from the LA Times piece): http://blastr.com/2012/03/why-tim-burton-said-the-o.php

I am very disappointed by the whole comedy angle with Burton's movie, but I do think he's a fan.  The most convincing argument in that regard is that article where he shows he has an understanding of each character.

Thanks!

[RachelDrummand]

My group on facebook, Dark Shadows is NOT a comedy, snagged the article before it disappeared. If you want to read it, I've got it.