Blast From the Past

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I was one of those youngsters (practically a baby, really) who raced home from school each afternoon to catch the last twenty minutes of Dark Shadows. From Barnabas, the Collins family vampire, to Quentin the werewolf, Angelique, the witch, and assorted ghosts and warlocks, Dark Shadows was a campy gothic horror soap opera that, at times, provided unintended comic relief when a prop malfunctioned or an actor forgot his or her lines--which happened frequently.
Dark Shadows was the catalyst for my first fledgling forays into the writing realm with stories of a ghostly (and, yes, ghastly) nature.

Dark Shadows has always held a special place in my childhood memories.I introduced my kids to Dark Shadows via Netflix. They loved the corniness of the show as much as I did. So, it was with some misgivings that I decided to go see the new film starring Johnny Depp.

Don't get me wrong. I like Johnny Depp. What's not to like, right? And even though I couldn't really see Depp as Barnabas Collins, I was determined to keep an open mind. So, I took two of my kids and one of their friends to see the film this past weekend. The family friend had never seen the original Dark Shadows so that person wouldn't be influenced by expectations based on the original series.

We went. We saw. We all disliked the movie--in varying degrees and for various reasons. We wondered who the filmmakers were trying to hook. The fans of the 70s soap, we decided, wouldn't like the fact that the story strayed so far from the original--(I won't disclose any spoilers, but suffice to say much literary license was taken) and new viewers unfamiliar with the storyline and characters of the original would find little to enchant them, either in terms of story or characterization. Me? I'm still wondering how Barnabas and Victoria managed to fall in love considering they spent hardly any time together on screen.

So. There you have it. I'm glad I saw it, but wish I'd waited for the DVD release.

Have you seen Dark Shadows yet? What did you think? Thumbs up or thumbs down or so-so? What else have you seen in the theater lately?

The previews for Snow White and The Huntsman looked fantastic--especially the special effects--so I'm planning to see that movie this weekend.

Hoping I'm not disappointed.

And this has been a week at the movies with Bullet Hole Bacus!

~Kat