Let me start off by saying that I was never a fan of the 1960’s cult gothic soap opera. I really only knew about it through friends and the 5 mins or so I tried to watch before I turned the channel (remember how we used to ‘turn’ the channel before how we now ‘change’ the channel?). It's the story of the 18th century vampire Barnabas Collins who awakens in the 1970’s to the drama of the modern Collins family empire. It was just one of those things I never connected with even though I recognized the faithful devotion of its’ fan base.
This is another Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration and while I have immense respect for both, I am starting to grow weary of Burton’s Goth obsession. When Edward Scissorhands came out (forgive me for overlooking Beetlejuice), Burton’s style was a new and unique artistic expression. Now after more than twenty years of the same style and creepy format it has become ponderous. HIs Goth cartoon style does not lend itself to the suspension of disbelief in character interaction and his gloomy atmospheres and characters that reek of adolescent angst are tired. That being said, there are some positives I can say about the film.
The foremost thing that stood out to me is that Burton did a more than admirable job capturing the spirit of the 1970’s. Everything from the groovy soundtrack to a seaside Maine town that was authentically recreated with signs and storefronts of the time. Also, judging from the trailers, I expected a much more campy movie, but I thought the film captured an effective level of dark creepiness and suspense befitting a gothic horror story. Don’t get me wrong, this has Burton’s trademark outlandishness all over it, but it was tempered with some genuine eerie story telling. Like all his stories, there are always creepy and misunderstood children at the story’s center (obsession from his childhood perhaps).
The premise of the story is that the wealthy 18th century fishing Baron Barnabus Collins spurns the love of the servant girl Angelique (Eva Green). This turns out to be a bad move as Angelique is also a practitioner of witchcraft. In her spurned rage, she places a spell on Barnabus’s true love Victoria (played to delicate perfection by Bella Heathcote) that causes her to leap to her death. Barnubus attempts to follow her into death by plunging off a cliff only to find that Angelique has cursed him to be a vampire. Angelique leads a mob of villagers and imprison’s Barnubus in chains and buries him to be cursed forever in darkness. Standard vampire story, right?
The year is now 1972 and a construction crew stumbles across the buried coffin and releases Barnubus from his centuries of slumber. Barnabus rises in a world he no longer understands except that Angelique is still alive and trying to destroy what remains of the Collins family. Family being everything to Barnabus, he reveals himself to the current Collins matriarch Elizabeth (played by the still stunning Michelle Pfeiffer) and pledges to restore the family to it’s former greatness. His one distraction is that the new governess, Victoria bears an exact resemblance to his lost love centuries ago. Gothic soap opera stuff, right?
The film goes for the predictable laughs and scenarios of a fish out of water character adapting to the modern world. Some scenes work while others seem forced and as if he’s channeling Captain Jack Sparrow. The scene where he attacks the TV during a Karen Carpenter song exclaiming “Reveal yourself tiny songstress” was good for a smile, but it grew old quickly. Also, the product placements like McDonalds and Shell were authentic, but were painfully obvious product placement.
The best thing I can say about this film is that I enjoyed it more than I expected given that I wasn’t a fan of the show, otherwise I have grown fatigued with Tim Burton. It was paint by the numbers Burton, but somehow kept my interest with it’s Gothic plot. A film that I won’t long remember, but I don’t feel like I wasted my time either.
I rate this film ** stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment