Éjsötét árnyék

A jelmezek, a smink és a képi világ ellenállhatatlan, a hetvenes évek virágos hangulata szerethető (nagyszerű nyitófeliratok). Néhány aranyos utalás vagy célzás. De Depp interakciójától (mint öreg vámpírtól) egy modern környezetben azonban többet várnánk. Az Éjsötét árnyék bolondos film, és mindennek akar tisztelegni, amit Burton szeret, de meglepően kevésbé szellemes, és a karakterek csak ikonikus bábuk egy olyan sztoriban, ami nem köt le. Stílusos bohózat, amit jó nézni, de nincs benne szív, sem érzelem. Tim kezd kiszáradni, kár! És ezt juttatta eszembe. (2012.05.07)

Tim Burton's dumbest and most boring film, and I say that as a great admirer of his. So, let's summarize. Typical Burton goofy humour? There’s none of it. Burton's famous bizarre visual styling? Non-existent. The always so distinctive music of Elfman? I didn’t catch it. Immersive plot? Plot? What plot? So what the hell, at least some minor tidbits, like Barnabas's confrontation with modern times? Criminally underused. I'll let Barnabas's fangs bite me if I'm making this up, but these were my two longest hours at the movies in years. (2012.05.13)

It's such a shame that just when most viewers ran out of patience with Tim Burton, Dark Shadows came along. I actually like the master of strangeness, and the story of Barnabas Collins seems better to me than the quickly fading Alice or even more Burton-esque Sweeney Todd. There are a lot of oddities happening at Collinwood that amaze me with the director's imagination, or I can hardly resist laughing. Johnny Depp works perfectly as an atypical protagonist without batting an eye, and the rest of the film is stolen by the pubescent princess Chloe Moretz even in a smaller space. Riding the waves of Elfman's soundtrack, I made it to 90% with a slight reservation for distance and further projection, which a few years later confirmed that the rarely appreciated spectacle got stuck on the turbulent cliffs at that time. (2012.05.30)

Congratulations to Tim Burton for once again managing to make a bad film. And this time he tried really hard. Not a bit of darkness. Under the surface, another annoying wannabe stylish crap with a heavily made-up Johnny in the main role and an elite cast that has nothing to do under Burton’s direction. Awful, the only good thing is the soundtrack. (2012.09.01)

Burton fizzled out and there was nothing left but a bunch of make up, pretty sets and once emotive themes. More than anything else, the character of Barnabas is an unintentional authorial self-reflection by a filmmaker who, since Sweeney Todd, has been copying himself and chasing the ghosts of the past. (2012.05.10)