Johnny Deep

Tim Burton has become the icon of our movie generation by creating dark twisted family films such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and the original Batman movies. When we experience a new Tim Burton film we are carried away into the familiarity of Burton’s twisted imagery and dark comedy.  His movies can disappoint critics but they never fail, because no one can do a dark visually stimulating comedy gothic horror like Burton. His movies can take us into an alternate universe where ghost have a twisted humor, where death is funny and corky, where the villain is all bad but always likable. In a world with bland movies he is the only mind that can think up and redo a dark comedy with stunning imagery.  Where most movies look to the future, Burton’s stick to the past, it somehow is give us a new feeling but with the same nostalgia we have treasured.

Nowadays the magic of cinema has largely been sucked out of its creative explorations by big money agendas. As a consequence genres have been stifled by what sell and what doesn’t. The genius of Tim Burton is that he has created a genre in his own right.  His creative direction is not questioned nor how much production cost his films require. This is largely because his films have become the only outlet we have for seeing and artist with no other agenda, but to unravel a dark visual world.

His newest undertaking is “Dark Shadows” a complete redo of a 70’s TV series. This comedy is about a reawakened 18^th century vampire. Burton works with his familiar cast members such as Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Elena Carter, and Michelle Pfeirffe. In this movie, you get to see Johnny Depp, an icon for our generation, for the first time as a vampire in the imagination of Tim Burton. If this movie does not excite you, then you have sadly lost your childhood curiosity.

The film plays out with Johnny Depp as the cursed vampire, Barnabas Collins and his arch nemesis and obsessed ex-lover, played by Eva Green.  Eva’s character brings the fun and dilemma into the film, by adding humorous situations between the two immortal beings.  Eva renders a spookily delightful witch, hell bent on ruining Barnabas Collin’s eternal life and as we see their relationship unfold the viewer focuses less on the uncomplicated plot but on Depp’s comical reaction to these unfortunate events in stunning gothic imagery.  Burton’s main characters are always flawed, weird, and introverted.  As in this movie even Barnabas is not your compassionate vampire, being midly apologetic as he tears his innocent victim’s throat appart. “Dark Shadows” is definitely a film to be enjoyed by all of Tim Burton’s fans, new and old.