Vampire Barnabas Collins is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate and family have fallen into ruin.
Clearly, they made the movie they wanted to make. It's just not the movie this "Dark Shadows" fan hoped to see.
– Stephen Whitty,
Newark Star-Ledger,
11 May 2012
rotten:
Fans of Depp's past collusions with Burton will find their rewards along the way. But there's a perfunctory vibe to the goings on, a weariness amid the weirdness.
– Christopher Orr,
The Atlantic,
11 May 2012
fresh:
Mostly Dark Shadows is silly when we're trained to expect slightly richer fun from Burton and Depp.
– Lisa Kennedy,
Denver Post,
11 May 2012
rotten:
This is not so much a coherent movie as it is a long, expensive joke in search of a purpose.
– Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
15 May 2012
rotten:
The only reason to see Dark Shadows is to discover how dire and pointless-how flat-out dreadful-a movie can be even when it has Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Helena Bonham Carter attached to its flimsy pretext.