I found it profoundly uninvolving.  The one scene that stuck with me was Barnabas arriving at Collinwood and talking about the beauty of the craftsmanship (a scene closely modeled on the one in the OS where Barnabas returns to the Old House for the first time and tells Miss Winters about how it was built, etc.--I think this was Frid's third episode).  It was beautifully filmed and accentuated the incredible set designs that had been created.

I don't really care enough to pillory it or defend it.  I am left, as I think Burke Devlin once said in the OS, with a series of question marks, but no real motivation to investigate.

I don't agree though that nobody has any emotional investment in it... there are some here who really loved it. No need to name names but if you go back and read the posts around the time of the premiere, it's clear that there are fans here who reacted with genuine passion & delight to this experience.

G.

I finally saw Depp Shadows tonight.  I got it via my Netflix subscription.  I'd give the movie a C+, maybe a B whenever Pfeiffer and HBC were onscreen.   It just didn't really engage me one way or the other.  The sets were more interesting to me than any of the characters.  Eva Green was a little better than I had thought she would be given how she appeared in the clips and trailers.  Colleen Atwood's fashions deserved high marks.  The cameos by our old friends and Sir Christopher Lee seemed pointless. I wondered whether Lee's had been cut down from what was originally filmed.

I could go on but there would be little point.  I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it.  I just felt... "meh."

I am glad some of you enjoyed it so much you watched it over and over again. 

Happy holidays,

G.

Helena Bonharm-Carter appeared in a November 2012 episode of the Graham Norton Show.  The episode is available for viewing here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=hzaB2Pf1SzY&NR=1

Soon after HBC comes out there is a brief discussion of DS and the two male guests (Michael Buble and some rather twee comedian named something Whitehouse) rave about how much they both loved the film.

Helena also discusses her current release--she plays Miss Havisham in a new film version of Great Expectations, the Dickens novel.  I have always thought that was one of the inspirations for the original concept of DS.  In the novel, Miss Havisham has not left her home for many years because her bridegroom ran out, leaving her alone at the altar.  She wears a decaying wedding dress, lives in a Victorian gothic palace festooned with cobwebs and decayed finery, and keeps the banqueting hall as it was when laid for the wedding feast, with rats crawling in and out of what's left of her wedding cake and the other goodies.

G.

There's a lengthy clip from this episode posted on Youtube currently, one of a series (of three, I believe) some individual has waggishly entitled, "Grayson Hall teaches method acting."  (I believe the first of the clips is from Julia's first scene in Tony Peterson's office and includes the legendary "Oh Ro-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-HA-jer" moment.) 

Years ago I loaned the MPI videotape including this episode to a friend.  He screened it as a "selected short feature" at his Oscar party that year.  He claimed that Grayson's histrionics pretty much shredded interest in the Oscars--major intervention was required to settle the room down for proper attention to the rather insipid action in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

When the phone rings and it's "Dave" from beyond the grave, does anyone think it sounds like Jonathan Frid imitating the actor who played "Dave"?  I had never thought this until the last time I ran this show, and I had a flashback to when Lara Parker did a one woman show at a DS Festival in the 1990s in which she performed a short version of "Sorry, wrong number" and Frid did the phone bit in that.

DAAAAAAAAAAVE!  DAAAAAAAVE!  Is it YOUUUUUU, DAAAAVE? NO-HO-HO-HO-HOOOO.... NO!

G.

That's very cool to hear, Uncle Roger.  I've always been curious to hear more about SOAP and its work.  I only know about one vigil which was profiled in a media source--you've probably seen the photo.  Grayson looked very chic protesting for peace.  At the time, Lara and David Henesy were also both involved in SOAP. This was the autumn of 1969 (November).

Best, Gothick

Thanks, Uncle Roger.  That does sound very DS.  I'll have to see if there are any clips on Youtube of Lea as Professor Del Phina in 1968.  What a hoot!  I wonder if they gave her a look reminiscent of our own dear Thayer as Professor Stokes...

Thanks for the info!

G.

Some kind of videogame (?) comes up for the movie title, so it's much easier if you just click on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXMmaDPPK0o&feature=plcp

The "sneak peek" runs around 11 minutes so I will have to watch later, but previewing the link, I was able to glimpse  a hilariously spot-on portrayal by Daryl channeling Grayson as Magda, worth the price of admission alone.

G.