After the hellish experience that was Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Johnny Depp decided that the next best place for him to go would be back to Tim Burton - this time with an adaptation of an obscure TV series called Dark Shadows, in which he'd be presented with the opportunity to play - you guessed it - a quirky character whose offbeat personality is derived from how much "crazy" make-up is present. Barnabas Collins, then, is what happens when Johnny Depp slums it but still has to play an excessively cartoonish character. The results, of course, are insufferable on their own terms - if you're going to give people another one of these characters, Johnny, at least give it all you've got, won't you? Most of the movie consists of Depp wandering about an old house with his mouth in a continuous "O" shape, which is about as exciting to watch as it is to read. Dark Shadows also marks the definitive point in time where even Burton and Depp decided that they'd probably be better off without each other for a while. At least this movie gave us something worthwhile: to date, it marks their last collaboration.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
