DARK SHADOWS

Year: 2012
USA: Warner Bros Pictures
UK: Warner Bros Entertainment UK
Cast: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote, Chloë Grace Moretz, Gulliver McGrath, Ray Shirley, Christopher Lee, Alice Cooper, Ivan Kaye, Susanna Cappellaro, Josephine Butler, William Hope, Shane Rimmer, Michael Shannon
Director: Tim Burton
Country: USA
USA & UK: 113 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for comic horror violence, sexual content, some drug use, language and smoking
UK Certificate: 12A contains moderate violence, horror, gore, sex references and soft drug use
USA Release Date: 11 May 2012
UK Release Date: 11 May 2012

Synopsis

"Every family has its demons."

Director Tim Burton brings the cult classic series DARK SHADOWS to the big screen in a gothic comedy featuring an all-star cast, led by Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter.

In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Twenty years later, Barnabas (Johnny Depp) is the owner of Collinwood Manor in the town of Collinsport, Maine. Rich and powerful, Barnabas is an inveterate playboy, but makes the fateful mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.

Two centuries pass until Barnabas is unintentionally freed from his tomb, and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. Returning to Collinwood Manor, he discovers his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harbouring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.

Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth's ne'er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger's precocious 10 year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David's new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.

Directed by Tim Burton with a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith, story by John August and Grahame-Smith, DARK SHADOWS is based on the television series created by Dan Curtis. The score is composed by Danny Elfman.