I don't proofread my posts before I publish them... cause I keep my thoughts au naturale.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

The New Dark Shadows- Why, God, Whyyyyy???

Okay, so I remember hearing rumblings about this a couple years ago, but I forgot.  Then today I was watching a YouTube video and the trailer for the new Dark Shadows movie came on.  My first reaction was joy... about 10 seconds in it was worry... about 30 seconds in it was sadness... then by the ends I was ready to weep.

I became in love with Dark Shadows when the 1991 version aired on NBC.  In case you've forgotten (or missed out on it):

"In 1991, a short-lived prime-time remake was produced by MGM Television and aired on NBC from January 13 to March 22. The revival was a lavish, big budget weekly serial combining gothic romance and stylistic horror. Although it was a huge hit at introduction (watched by almost 1 in 4 households according to official ratings during that time period), the onset of the Gulf War caused NBC to continually preempt or reschedule the episodes resulting in declining ratings. It was canceled after the first season.

The final episode ended with a cliffhanger: Victoria Winters (Joanna Going) learning that Barnabas Collins (Ben Cross) was a 200-year old vampire. It has been reported that the opening episode for a proposed second season would have had Victoria collapsing, after seeing Barnabas, and losing her memory of his terrible secret."

Back to the horror of this new film (which comes out May 11.)  So I saw that it starred Johnny Depp as Barnabas and I thought that would be great!  Then I started to realize he was awfully pasty looking (think Alice in Wonderland and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory) and thought, "isn't Barnabas supposed to be attractive?"... then horror set in as I started to wonder if it was a Tim Burton production... then I saw Helena Bonham Carter... then I cringed as I realized they had turned the movie into a campy comedy from Tim Burton's "reimagining."  And now I have no interest in seeing the movie.

I've caught episodes here and there of the original series (that aired from 65-71) because it used to be in syndication on some station back in the day, but like I said, I fell in love in 1991 and was so disappointed that it ended after one season.  Of course I was like 9, so I got over it quickly.

But the thought that they could have adapted it for the big screen with the classic love story and Barnabas being charming and deep... that would have been great.  But then they had to ruin it and let that dang Tim Burton get his annoying little hands on it and I can't freaking stand Helena Bonham Carter!

Anyway, here's the trailer... feel free to commiserate with me.

2 comments:

  1. Dark Shadows was one of my FAVORITE television shows. I was so sad when it disappeared =(

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