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Eva Green cast as female lead in Dark Shadows

My Name Is Legion said:
Mr. Adventure said:
^ I'd only throw in that the revival that ran for 12 episodes was 20 years ago, not exactly franchise fatigue.
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Not exactly a franchise, in fact.

There's no way for them to make money on this movie by basing it on appealing mainly to folks who care about the old show.
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I don't think the only possible approach they could take to make money with this is to make it a comedy.
 
I was disappointed when I saw the trailer. I didn't realize it would be a full on comedy. Comedic, dark comedy elements are fine, but the 70s fashions and the farcical comedy setting put me off. It just didn't click for me. Who's going to go see this that is completely unfamiliar with the original show? I know the 20 something, non sci-fi crowd probably hasn't heard of it, but would that trailer appeal to them? It wouldn't to me.
 
Dorian Thompson said:
Who's going to go see this that is completely unfamiliar with the original show? I know the 20 something, non sci-fi crowd probably hasn't heard of it, but would that trailer appeal to them? It wouldn't to me.
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I think if any version of Dark Shadows is going to appeal to a broad audience, it'll be this one.
 
Blech. You're probably right, though. Still, I'm wistful. I wanted a reimagining a bit more on the serious side. Barnabas just looks.....dumb. My first thought was that he looked like Alfalfa turned into a vampire.
 
Professor Zoom said:
RJDiogenes said:
Greg Cox said:
1) It's not supposed to be the same as the old version. Otherwise what's the point in remaking it?
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That's always my question: What' s the point in remaking it? If you're going to do something new, then do something new; if you're going to do something old, do it right. This is just a lame parody movie, like the Starsky & Hutch parody that was out a few years ago.
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Actually, I would argue we don't know it's a PARODY of Dark Shadows. We don't know that it's making fun OF Dark Shadows. All we know it's a comedic TAKE on Dark Shadows.
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That's a fair point. Perhaps farce, as Dorian said, is a better term (and noting that farce is not necessarily a derogatory term, in the right context).

Beagleman said:
RJDiogenes said:
Greg Cox said:
1) It's not supposed to be the same as the old version. Otherwise what's the point in remaking it?
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That's always my question: What' s the point in remaking it? If you're going to do something new, then do something new; if you're going to do something old, do it right. This is just a lame parody movie, like the Starsky & Hutch parody that was out a few years ago.
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I would argue the exact opposite, why remake something if you don't bring something new to the table? If there isn't a new spin on the material there's no need for a remake, just watch the original. Often you want to keep certain elements of some original work yet do other somethings differently, that's the only artistic justification for a remake. Otherwise you get something like the Psycho remake.
BTW I now hate the word remake (after using it 25 times in 3 sentences), reinterpretation fits much better.
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Doing it right doesn't mean not bringing anything new to the table. One can expand on a concept while still maintaining its artistic integrity-- Star Trek expanded from the original into four sequel series and successfully maintained its integrity better than 90% of the time before losing it with nuTrek. The Charlie's Angels movies made the concept contemporary without losing touch with the original. The Tales From The Crypt TV show adapted the comics very nicely while still updating them. Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated completely reboots and re-imagines the original show while actually distilling and refining the original concept. It can be done if the writers are invested enough and have talent enough.

the G-man said:
Ultimately, any adaptation or remake is a balancing act. You want to keep what worked and made the story unique and jettison what no longer works or didn't work before.
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Yes, this is exactly it.

Greg Cox said:
Beagleman said:
RJDiogenes said:
That's always my question: What' s the point in remaking it? If you're going to do something new, then do something new; if you're going to do something old, do it right. This is just a lame parody movie, like the Starsky & Hutch parody that was out a few years ago.
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I would argue the exact opposite, why remake something if you don't bring something new to the table? If there isn't a new spin on the material there's no need for a remake, just watch the original. .
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Especially since, at this point, we've already seen this story done straight three times now. The original tv series, the earlier feature films, the short-lived TV revival . . . and that's not counting the unaired CW pilot or the stage version!

Personally, I've seen Barnabas escape from his coffin and pine for Josette four times now. Might as well do something different this time around.
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This is exactly my point (or at least part of it). As I've said before, a sequel would have been a much better idea than yet another remake.
 
If the fans of the original are so insignificant numerically, there's no need to freshen the material into a comedy. If the youngsters (who've driven most older people out of movie theaters with their manners,) don't know anything about Dark Shadows, the story could be done straight.

If the problem is that doing vampires straight is impossible because the genre has been overloaded, there's no reason to do this movie at all. Because there's one thing that is very well established is that comedic takes on popular emo is not a big seller. And in my experience, genuinely funny jokes in the movie would just make it more uncomfortable for the audience it's going to be perceived as laughing at.

I predict we will not see a sequel with Quentin, much less Count Petofi or whomever. (Yes, that was a reminder there was enough material there to go in many other directions.)

I'll only consider seeing this movie if I'm in a mood to see a comedy. Most comedies do better on a small screen for me, very likely this will wait till the DVD comes out.
 
Mmmmmm.....Quentin. :drool: Now he was my first crush when I watched reruns in the late 70s. They could have done an excellent reimagining with Quentin, whose ghost was caught in the house.
 
Funny how a show I saw a hand full of times when I was 12, can remain lodged in my brain. I was either too young or out of the country for most of the original run, only catching the odd episode of it's last four months when we returned to the US in '71. My sisters were quite taken with Barnabas Collins, possibly the most unlikely teen heartthrob since Spock.

Brutons take is interesting, especially the 1970s setting. A bit like the Brady Bunch meets the Addams Family.
 
Watching the trailer again I think it has some potential to be a decent Burton movie. I think it's a major shock to the system on first viewing when you were expecting something else though. Of course, I've only seen a half-dozen or so episodes of the original so I don't have as much stake in this as some. They might have been able to prevent some backlash had they been more upfront with the direction they were taking.
 
I agree. They should have been upfront from the beginning. That trailer was a "shock to the sytem" when you were expecting something darkly gothic.
 
^^ There looks to be a lot of Burtonesque gothic mixed in there amongst the rest.


One thing I don't get in the trailer is when Barnabas unplugs(?) the TV and it still has a picture but no sound(?). Am I missing something there. EDIT: Answering my own question, watching again he's ripped out the back and some of the guts attached with a wire, I thought he had ripped out the cord.
 
That was my take... the only "comedic" parts we saw were the "future-shock" elements of him adapting to the 1970s. The rest of the shots seemed pretty straightforward to me, at least for Burton lol... not sure this can be entered as evidence that whole thing will be done that way. Perhaps this is just a comedy-focused trailer to troll for general audiences.
 
RJDiogenes said:
Professor Zoom said:
RJDiogenes said:
That's always my question: What' s the point in remaking it? If you're going to do something new, then do something new; if you're going to do something old, do it right. This is just a lame parody movie, like the Starsky & Hutch parody that was out a few years ago.
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Actually, I would argue we don't know it's a PARODY of Dark Shadows. We don't know that it's making fun OF Dark Shadows. All we know it's a comedic TAKE on Dark Shadows.
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That's a fair point. Perhaps farce, as Dorian said, is a better term (and noting that farce is not necessarily a derogatory term, in the right context).
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I think farce is a great word, actually, and more fitting for what I saw in the trailer. Could be fun. I thought the "sex scene" was pretty hysterical, being LITERALLY thrown around the room.
 
Professor Zoom said:
RJDiogenes said:
Professor Zoom said:
Actually, I would argue we don't know it's a PARODY of Dark Shadows. We don't know that it's making fun OF Dark Shadows. All we know it's a comedic TAKE on Dark Shadows.
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That's a fair point. Perhaps farce, as Dorian said, is a better term (and noting that farce is not necessarily a derogatory term, in the right context).
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I think farce is a great word, actually, and more fitting for what I saw in the trailer. Could be fun. I thought the "sex scene" was pretty hysterical, being LITERALLY thrown around the room.
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Kind of reminds me of some samurai porn that I ran across when I was new to the Internet. :rommie:
 
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