If you thought you knew the tone that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were taking with Dark Shadows, the first trailer for their latest collaboration might make you think again. On the evidence of this, it’s even wackier than we’d expected – and not in a bad way at all.
Burton and Depp are well known for their offbeat takes on characters, and Shadows’ Barnabas Collins is no different. But though the pictures have largely hinted at gothic horror drama, the trailer shows it’s more of a fish out of water comedy, with Barnabas (Depp) trying to adjust to some severe culture shock.
It can’t be that easy for him. In 1752, Collins was a wealthy playboy who broke the heart of beauiful witch Angelique Brouchard (Eva Green). Instead of spreading malicious gossip that he's hung like a cocktail sausage, she cursed him to become a vampire and buried him alive. Accidentally unearthed in 1972, he returns to his Collinwood Manor home to see what has become of his descendants. And he doesn’t like what he finds at all.
The Collins family, unhappily led by Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer), is a squabbling mess, what with the ineffectual Roger (Jonny Lee Miller) and pouting teen Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz). Things have gotten so bad that Elizabeth has called in psychiatrist Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter) to try to help.
Barnabas also has to deal with his surroundings – tiny singers in the TV, a distinct lack of horses and confusing lingo. Oh, and the small matter of Angelique still being around, plotting to destroy his family’s fortunes once and for all.
There’s a real streak of fun on display here, and somehow a sense of Depp and Burton feeling more free to play than they’ve been in recent efforts. It could all end up as a mixed bag, but gags like Depp’s haughty, period turn on a classic kiss-my-arse joke and the mad seduction scene between his pale vamp and Green's bewitching Angelique land well.
The poster for the film has also arrived for your viewing pleasure, so take a gander.
Dark Shadows is out on May 11. So what do you think of this trailer?[[Poll643]]