IMDb 6.2 2012 HD

Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows

2012
Comedy Fantasy
113 min PG-13 USA
6.097 / 10
6.2 IMDB

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…

Personnel // Cast & Crew

Director Tim Burton / Katterli Frauenfelder / Ben Dixon / Clare Glass / Joey Coughlin / Nikki Clapp / Fraser Fennell-Ball
Starring
Johnny Depp / Michelle Pfeiffer / Eva Green / Helena Bonham Carter / Chloë Grace Moretz / Bella Heathcote / Gulliver McGrath / Jackie Earle Haley

How Viewers Describe This Film

Common themes and sentiments

quirky gothic eccentric theatrical peculiar stylish campy darkly comedic atmospheric uneven visually striking entertaining

Reviews

C
Clara Davies
Apr 25, 2026
2.0 / 5
2.0

While visually arresting, 'Dark Shadows' ultimately feels like a collection of disconnected ideas rather than a cohesive film. Johnny Depp's portrayal of Barnabas Collins is an exercise in stylistic excess, his performance lacking the depth to truly carry…

A
Arthur Penhaligon
Apr 25, 2026
3.5 / 5
3.5

Tim Burton's 'Dark Shadows' offers a whimsical, if not entirely successful, return to gothic camp. Johnny Depp delivers a performance that is both committed and peculiar as Barnabas Collins, a vampire trying to reclaim his ancestral home in…

G
Genevieve Dubois
Apr 25, 2026
4.0 / 5
4.0

A wonderfully campy and stylish revival, 'Dark Shadows' is pure Tim Burtonian delight. Johnny Depp fully embraces the role of Barnabas Collins, a centuries-old vampire thrust into the bewildering world of 1972. His performance is a masterclass in…

M
Marcus Bellweather
Apr 25, 2026
2.5 / 5
2.5

This adaptation of 'Dark Shadows' feels like a missed opportunity, a collection of Burtonesque quirks that never quite coalesce into a compelling story. Johnny Depp's Barnabas is less a tragic figure and more a collection of mannerisms, his…

E
Eleanor Vance
Apr 25, 2026
3.0 / 5
3.0

Tim Burton's 'Dark Shadows' is a peculiar beast, a gothic confection that favours style and performance over narrative cohesion. Johnny Depp, as the resurrected vampire Barnabas Collins, is predictably theatrical, leaning into the character's archaic sensibilities with a…

FAQs

The 1972 setting is crucial as it represents a stark contrast to Barnabas Collins's original era. Emerging from centuries of confinement, he finds a world vastly different from his own, marked by new social norms, technology, and cultural shifts. This temporal displacement fuels much of the film's humour and dramatic tension, as Barnabas, a creature of the past, attempts to navigate and understand the vibrant, often confusing, 1970s.