Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[Joeytrom]

I saw the trailer last night prior to the "Hunger Games" and it came after the trailer for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which Tim Burton is a co-producer on, and I have to say ALVH's trailer was very much superior to DS.  It has a very serious tone to it.

The audience was basically quiet during the DS trailer except for a few chuckles.  My roommate, who isn't a DS fan but has seen some of the show, didn't like it at all as he says it betrays the original.

[Gothick]

I think it's a moot point at this stage of the game, but the one test screening "review" that I read revealed very few real spoilers, from what I recall; certainly very little beyond what the official WB synopsis that was released in advance of the actual shooting revealed.  The Elfman score track listing (particularly the title of one particular track) gives more away than that individual's review did. 

He wasn't an OS fan, and he described the movie as a horror comedy.

Still, horror, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder.  Isn't it?

cheers, G.

[Nancy]

I see now just how dead on HBC's comment was about not knowing how to market this movie if, indeed, all these different elements are present.  I anticipate dark and scary with situation and character-driven "gothic" humor. 

It boils down to a matter of preference: fans are either open to a new approach to OS or they prefer something closer to the OS with just some minor fresh touches.  Neither view is wrong, of course. 

I love the soundtrack!  I have listened to the link a few times.  I can't believe they misspelled Barnabas!!!

As for the spoilers, I've read them.  I can only say some of the choices do not thrill me but I can deal.

[madscntst]

Danny Elfman is usually hit-or-miss with me, but I love this score from what I've heard!  Granted, I've only had the chance to listen to 5 or 6 of them so far, but I love what I hear.  I'm so glad to also know that there will be a soundtrack as well as a score.  I think I will be getting both!   

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I see now just how dead on HBC's comment was about not knowing how to market this movie if, indeed, all these different elements are present.  I anticipate dark and scary with situation and character-driven "gothic" humor.

Which, trailers and TV spots aside, is what we've been being told. Almost exactly a year ago I even summed up much of what we were being told and strung it together in one sentence:

Well, IF it is a black comedy, it's a scary and bloody black comedy that's also a relationship story with touches of the poetic. 

As for character driven humor and how that factorsa into something like the panties scene, given there's no denying that Angelique's obsession with Barnabas has always been sexual in nature, it makes sense to me that she could do exactly what she does in that scene. I can so see Lysette Anthony's Angelique doing it if she gotten the chance to be physically in her own body in the present - and I can also see Lara Parker's Angelique doing it. Though, of course, it's probably doubtful that such a scene would have been staged for the original because so much of that version's sexuality is only implied and it ran during the daytime. And even with the '91 DS it's only a possibility and not a probability - even at 10 o'clock. Though there are no such restrictions with a film. And the bottom line is that it's perfectly in keeping with Angelique's character.

My only questions are how/why is Angelique again trapping Barnabas in his coffin in the present day. But that answer will come once we all see the film. 

37 days 13 hours 26 minutes 36 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm so glad to also know that there will be a soundtrack as well as a score.  I think I will be getting both!   

I think I will as well.    I do wonder, though, why only the score CD is presently being offered on Amazon? (Speaking of which, it's now down to $11.29!)

37 days 13 hours 18 minutes 14 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Patti Feinberg]

Well, I just watched my first trailer for the new DS movie.
Hmm....
Didn't realilze it was set in 1972. But, in keeping with DIS-continuity of DS, there were discrepancies (some of the fashion and music weren't correct for 1972 ). But, hey, again, this is in keeping with the ANTI-continuity, which we've all come to love.
I also didn't realize it wasn't an exact replica or re-do of our show....
But, it looks like fun.
Patti

PS...why was 'Barnabas' buried?

[jimbo]

OT a bit. Very odd I can't seem to play the DS soundtrack on my PC. I use Windows 7 IE9 and when I hit play it stays in the buffering state forever. I see something like javascript niftyplayer 1 when I hover the track number but there is no mechanism to enable that. When I right click over the buffering "looped" is checked but it doesn't work if it is checked or not. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Brandon Collins]

I was going to post about this the other day, but forgot, and Joeytrom's recent post reminded me (thanks!).

When I went to go see The Hunger Games, trailers for DS and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter both played. ALVH played first and received laughs in disbelief, as well as a number of comments along the lines of "they must be running out of ideas/are you kidding me" vibes. Personally, I thought it looked interesting but I don't think it's something I would see in theaters.

Meanwhile, all throughout the DS trailer it was pure silence. And at the end, I heard one person say "Didn't that used to be a show in the 70s?" Of course I wanted to turn around and completely school everyone in the theater about DS but I resisted the urge.

Anyway, I didn't quite know what to make of the audience member's reaction to DS because it was pure silence. At least with ALVH there was laughter in disbelief and snide comments. I supposed no reaction is a good reaction in terms of how people would view the movie, but since the audience didn't really seem to be engaged in it I wonder if any of the actually would want to go see it, or even remember that its coming out in May.

[borgosi]

That's the same reaction to the trailer when I saw Hunger Games. I daughter says that none of her friends care at all about seeing the DS movie. They says it looks silly.

[michael c]

what's sort of odd is that "horror" fans and "horror" magazines are lamenting the lack of "horror".

but really DS isn't and never was a true "horror". it was first and formost a soap opera with some gothic and horror elements. but it was never, ever truly "scary".

[KMR]

OMG!  The soundtrack is UNREAL!  I HEAR COBERT!

Again, the titles give away plot stuff, but it's worth it to hear the music...

I am just totally amazed at how much of Cobert's style was incorporated in Elfman's score.  I had been fearing that we'd end up with something light and fanciful, but this is dark!  I love it!     The later stuff in the score seems to sound almost like a blend of Cobert and John Williams, if you can imagine such a combination.  Hearing this music really gives me much more hope for how the finished movie will turn out.  Tim Burton had been saying all along that he wanted to get the tone of the film right.  From the trailers we saw that the production design was right, and now with the score we see that musically they really nailed it.  I think the comedy we see in the trailer will play very differently in the context of the full scenes, and with Elfman's score.  The images from the trailer, and Elfman's music, suggest to me something in between the drama of the original and 1991 series, and the horrific intensity of HODS.  It's not light and fluffy, but dark and heavy.  (That brings me to my big problem with the marketing of the movie:  unless the movie turns out to be very different from what I'm thinking it's going to be like, the poster image is just way off.  The riot of color is so at odds with the title "Dark Shadows"...)

It's interesting that we don't hear the DS main title theme in any of these clips.  But these sound like only snippets (and maybe not even all of the tracks), so who knows.  It's possible that the old theme will be used over the end credits.  Even if it isn't, I won't be disappointed, since to me it's the dramatic scoring that is "Dark Shadows" to me, not the main title theme.  However, I am disappointed that I didn't hear anything from my absolute favorite DS music, Jekyll and Hyde "Cue #2".  That was Dan Curtis' favorite piece, and something he wanted Cobert to include in all of his scores.  (It's called "A Darkness at Collinwood" on the first DS soundtrack album.  That piece, more than anything else, says "Dark Shadows" to me.)

[borgosi]

What are you using to play the score? I want to hear it but can't get it to work.

By the way, the offical web-page calls the movie a "Comedy - drama".

[KMR]

What are you using to play the score? I want to hear it but can't get it to work.

Try this link:  http://www.watertower-music.com/releases_spotlight.php?search=WTM39283

WARNING!!!  MAJOR SPOILERS IN THE TRACK TITLES!!!

On my PC, it just plays directly through the website (doesn't invoke any add-ons).

By the way, the offical web-page calls the movie a "Comedy - drama".

I think that's just part of WB's marketing approach, which Burton probably doesn't have much to do with.  My hunch is that whoever's in charge of marketing this movie just doesn't have a clue.  But we shall see...

[madscntst]

What are you using to play the score? I want to hear it but can't get it to work.

This morning, I had a little trouble as the first thing I tried to play kept buffering and buffering, and nothing happening.  I think I stopped and started again, and/or refreshed the page, then tried again, and it worked.  It seems to be working fine for me now.  Maybe it's slowing down when there's too much traffic on the site or something?  I hope if you try again it'll work for you.  For what it's worth, I'm using Firefox v. 11.0 for Mac.
And no add-ons needed for me, either.