Dark Shadows 2012

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Attention must be paid to movie allure, in a star like Depp and his current harem. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: In a time when even the most accomplished genre movies have the fingerprints of focus group-happy execs all over them, the relatively unmitigated quirk of Dark Shadows is worth celebrating. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: "Dark Shadows" isn't among Mr. Burton's most richly realized works, but it's very enjoyable, visually sumptuous and, despite its lugubrious source material and a sporadic tremor of violence, surprisingly effervescent. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: "Dark Shadows" is amusing, in fits and spurts, and sure to make tons of money, but terribly familiar and fatigued. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: You keep wishing that the movie was either scarier or funnier - too often it flatlines between the two - but it's nonetheless impossible to look away. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: There's no doubt that viewers still know that they're watching a Tim Burton movie. The question now is why. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: All dressed up and no place to go. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Tim Burton has got his groove back. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Tim Burton is like a billionaire fanboy who buys Bela Lugosi's Dracula cape: he has a perfect right to it, but that doesn't mean it looks good on him. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "Dark Shadows" illustrates the fine line in a pop reboot between "relaxed" and "lazy." Read more

Joy Tipping, Dallas Morning News: The film's biggest disappointment is the utter lack of chemistry between Depp and either Green or Heathcote. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Mostly Dark Shadows is silly when we're trained to expect slightly richer fun from Burton and Depp. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: How bad is "Dark Shadows"? It makes you long for a "Twilight" movie. That's bad. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Dark Shadows, a kinky love triangle, is true, in its fashion, to the spirit of the old soap opera. Yet its real love affair is between Johnny Depp and the audience who's still hooked on seeing him get his freak on. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: Can't decide whether it's a parody, a horror comedy, an atmospheric melodrama, or a tedious bucket of crap. Eventually it chooses the last one. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: The film itself takes awhile to get going as it establishes all those characters and back stories. Once there, it seems to have nowhere to go -- out of the shadows or into the light, it doesn't really matter either way. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Dark Shadows sinks its teeth half-way into its potentially meaty material but hesitates to go all the way. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: An uncertain combination of elements that unsuccessfully tries to be half-scary, half-funny and all strange... Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: "Shadows" leaves us with the sense that this isn't the last time we'll be seeing Barnabas and company. One can only hope that next time they'll work out the kinks. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Johnny Depp and Tim Burton enable each other's laziest, most indulgent habits: They make movies to entertain themselves instead of the audience. Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic: 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. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "Dark Shadows" doesn't add anything new to the genre, but it's a surprisingly high-spirited and genuinely black-humored comedy. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: This is not so much a coherent movie as it is a long, expensive joke in search of a purpose. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Clearly, they made the movie they wanted to make. It's just not the movie this "Dark Shadows" fan hoped to see. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Handsome, vaguely true to the old soap opera, and inert. Read more

David Edelstein, NPR: The script by Seth Grahame-Smith is witless and meandering - and I wouldn't mind the witless so much if it moved, or the meandering if it were droll. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Whether it works is a matter of taste, but the fact that Burton's revisit unearths enough fun while feeling like four films in one is testament to the source's seductive bloodline. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: "Dark Shadows'' certainly has its moments, especially when Barnabas and Angelique hilariously wreck her office during a surreal, CGI-fueled, PG-rated tryst. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A nutty romp that's as much about celebrating a significant blip in the pop-cult continuum as it is a tale of bloodsucking, of grudge-holding, and the stress involved in maintaining a 200-room, two-century-old house. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Dark Shadows is a mess, and it's unclear whether its bizarre recipe of comedy, campy horror, and gothic melodrama will satisfy anyone, regardless of their familiarity with the source material. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Bipolar film that's equal parts comedy and horror show, with neither element particularly effective. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It offers wonderful things, but they aren't what's important. It's as if Burton directed at arm's length, unwilling to find juice in the story. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Burton's visuals are a sumptuous treat, as is Depp's unerring sense of mischief - but, after a fierce and funny start, Dark Shadows simply spins its wheels. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "Dark Shadows" offers potent atmosphere and delirious '70s fashions and hilarious gags and some really terrific performances, none better than Pfeiffer's triumphant return to the screen as a pitch-perfect family matriarch. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: When you consider all the pitfalls avoided, and all the laughs and pleasures it provides along the way, "Dark Shadows" is a satisfying and skillful effort. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: [Burton] and Depp, both avowed childhood fans of the original series, seem to be in their element and having a grand old time. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Dark Shadows" opens promisingly, downshifts after 30 minutes, and sputters into a meandering, momentum-free mess. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Dark Shadows" may be too light for vampire purists or fans of the original show, but fresh blood is just what the doctor ordered. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: 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. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: Dark Shadows' only meaningful relationship is between Depp and his audience. He's a persona now, no longer an actor. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: An expensive, all-star bore, albeit a bore that's been art-directed to a fare-thee-well. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Burton, as usual, is great on atmosphere and comic timing (these are his weirdest moments since Ed Wood), but less so at reining in an overcomplicated plot and dimly lit action scenes. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Stumbles blindly along with Barnabas for most of its overlong 113 minutes, leaving viewers in the dark as to its intentions. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Burton's offbeat montages are amusing, but the story's slow start and overblown conclusion make Dark Shadows half a good movie. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Burton's offbeat montages are amusing, but the story's slow start and overblown conclusion make Dark Shadows half a good movie. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Few director-star partnerships are as consistently eccentric or malleable as that of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, but even loyalists will detect an odor of mothballs clinging to their eighth bigscreen collaboration. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Less a resurrection than a clumsy desecration. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: At once a brash, strutting pop culture pastiche and gloomy exercise in self-cannibalizing nostalgia, "Dark Shadows" is depressing on myriad levels. Read more