“Dark Shadows” Gives Us A Vampire That Makes Edward Cullen Cool [VIDEO]

Its going to be interesting go see how well I write this after beating my head against my desk for a few minutes after watching the trailer.

When I originally heard that this movie was being made, I was a little optimistic that Tim Burton was directing. Though I haven't thought much of Tim Burton as a director lately because of his inability/unwillingness to do a movie outside of his usual style, I thought his style would be perfect for this theatrical reboot of the classic cult TV show. Originally airing in the late 60s to early 70s, the original "Dark Shadows" was a show much like "Dr. Who" and "Star Trek", bringing a fantasy world to prime time television, featuring vampires, werewolves, and other mythical monsters.

Whenever you hear Tim Burton is directing a film, you can bet the house that Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp will be in the cast (another part of Burton's inability to make a movie outside of his comfort zone), but I didn't think that would be a bad thing. Depp is a terrific actor and can take any role, no matter how strange it is, and make it worth watching. But even a great actor can only do so much with a poorly written part. From this trailer, Barnabas is a vampire that makes Edward Cullen look like Dracula. Even with a great supporting cast that includes Eva Green (Vesper from "Casino Royale"), Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl from "Kick Ass), and Jackie Earle Haley (the new Freddy Krueger), I can't get over how overly campy and strange the tone of the film is. The original series, though strange is premise, was done in a very serious tone. Taking the vampire Barnabas and shoving him into the 1970s in a typical fish-out-of-water story seems to do a disservice for the series and its fans. Its a fact that movie trailers lie, and the only hope for the film at this point is that this trailer doesn't represent how the movie will actually be.