Dark Shadows

Ordinarily, I wouldn't watch a vampire movie, let alone one that looked like Dark Shadows. Unfortunately it was Johnny Depp so I just had to sneak a peek. I did not watch the original Dark Shadows tv series, so my take will be completely based on my personal observations of the film itself. The film is a fine exercise in highlighting the differences between our era, the 70's and a goodly 200 years back, with all that entails. From other reviews that compared the film to the series, it's apparent that the film did not live up to its heritage. Unfortunately, I am a horrible gauge of bad acting, so I cannot comment on just how flat a character may appear. I did like that Depp's delivery of the character was leaning rather more heavily on the deadpan rather than an emotive struggle to come to terms with one's inhuman condition and romance. Frankly, I didn't mind that performance, seeing as how it would've been how I'd have reacted regardless. That said, the overall narrative was somewhat predictable and there was little that was particularly intriguing in the characters. I'd say the movie, despite Depp (sorry, Depp) was mediocre at best and earns a nice 6.5/10. Not bad, but certainly nowhere near great.