"My name is Victoria Winters..."

WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD...

If those words don’t sound immediately familiar to you, odds are you’re probably not a fan of Dark Shadows, the terrifically insane cult horror soap-opera about the Collins clan and very special family member Barnabas Collins. Some of us actually remember racing home from school to catch Shadows live in its late afternoon broadcast slot. It’s one of a kind and has a rabid fan base, including Johnny Depp, who’s evidently been obsessed with playing Barnabas for years and has recruited longtime collaborator Tim Burton to mount a movie version. With the number of projects Burton gets involved in, it was questionable when they’d get around to DS. But I guess Johnny Depp is a persuasive guy, because they’re definitely gearing up to shoot, to the point that there has been a lot more movement on casting lately. Jackie Earle Haley has been rumored to be playing unwitting servant Willie Loomis, no less! “Uh, gee, Cousin Barnabas!” Can’t wait for that!

Dark Shadows was remade once before in a criminally underrated 1991 TV revival with Ben Cross as Barnabas. The late eighties hair and costume design is jaw-dropping. But a big budget full-on Tim Burton vampire saga could be phenomenal. Burton hasn’t really done one of his pure horror­ horror stories since Sleepy Hollow, so the idea of him wreaking havoc in the New England atmosphere of Collinwood is a fun prospect to consider. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Seth Grahame-Greene delivered this version of the undoubtedly cheeky script.