Based
on the popular TV cult classic of the late 1960's and early 70’s,
the part gothic horror, part comedy-romance-melodrama film is
re-imagined by Tim Burton in this eight's remarkable cinematic
partnership with actor-producer Johnny Depp.
In
1750's colonial Maine, the aristocrat Barnabas Collins is cursed as a
vampire and into darkness. Two hundred years later, he is
accidentally freed from his tomb and into a bizarre new world, 1972.
Collins returns to his Collinwood Manor where he meets his family's
dysfunctional descendants led by family matriarch Elizabeth Collins
Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer). While trying to restore his family name
to its old glory, he raises the suspicion of live-in psychiatrist Dr.
Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter) who tries to dig-up the reason
for Barnabas' odd and anachronistic behavior.
This
cult favorite by screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith doesn't spear any
blood. Well-fitting the melodrama as well as Bruno Delbonnel's beautiful cinematography is
production designer Rick Heinrichs’ gothic mansion. However, it is
Johnny Depp's off beat and alluring portrayal that clutches fans as
well as newcomers.
