The movie starts out following a blissfully unaware teen, Charlie (Anton Yelchin). After a few twilight jabs and a brief conversation with his seemingly eccentric friend, Edward Lee (McLovin), Charlie becomes convinced that his neighbor is a vampire.
Without revealing spoilers, proof becomes available to Charlie that his neighbor is, in fact, a blood sucker. Vamps in this story have no reflection and very un-manicured nails, must be invited in and squeal like a baby when stabbed with a Century 21 picket, explode in the sun light and move inhumanly fast, and eat apples while watching The Real Housewives.
It is a mixture of horror and comedic satire. A long movie at nearly two hours, it wasn’t my favorite. The type of vamp was a bit gruesome for my taste but it was an interesting take on the popular genre.
On a ring she wears that’s supposedly from Robert: “Everyone wants to know. Everyone knows already — it’s ridiculous.”
On playing intense characters: “It’s one of the reasons I want to act. I love living in different worlds, because a lot of times mine is pretty nice and easy.”
Are you a fan of Tim Burton? I definitely am… As a child I was into all of that creepy cinematography that Tim is known for. Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands, to name a couple. As a kid, I thought I liked Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory… that was until Burton came out with his Charlie and the Chocolate Factory version. Something about the blue filter and haunting score mixed with Burton’s love affair with Johnny Depp equates to a certain level of twisted flair that I cannot ignore. If you’re a fan of Burton’s work, or merely intrigued by his version of storytelling, you will not be disappointed in his new work, Dark Shadows.
Depp can always be trusted with Burton’s movies to carry the lead character, in this case Barnabas. In most cases the character development was adequate. My favorite supporting character was a drunk Dr. Julia Hoffman, played by Helena Bonham Carter. Carter is fantastic in most every role she plays, but really shines here alongside Depp. A character that I feel lacked development though, was Victoria Winters played by Bella Heathcote. Heathcote is absolutely beautiful and I am convinced it was less about her acting and more about a lack of storyline support for her character. Overall, you will find yourself invested in the characters and laughing alongside them.
The humor is close to the surface and had the audience in an uproar multiple times throughout. The score was querky, which is to be expected from Burton. There was a mixture of hits from the 1970s and an ominous series of tones. The story is based off of a 1960s soap opera and a book series.
I would recommend this movie to those who appreciate Tim Burton’s manipulation of cinematography and to those who like to laugh at vampires and won’t take a “tongue-in-cheek” storyline too seriously.
Great news! The movie rights were purchased by Universal Pictures/Focus for gobs and gobs of money. Who do you think should be cast as Mr. Christian Grey? And Ana?