Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are an odd couple. They keep teaming up for movies that aren’t very good. Dark Shadows is the latest in a long line of films and it’s based on a cult TV show that people mostly watched to laugh at. The show had terrible production going for it so it was unintentionally hilarious. Dark Shadows is trying to be intentionally hilarious.

Stephen Whitty of the New Jersey Star-Ledger says:

Clearly, they made the movie they wanted to make. It’s just not the movie this “Dark Shadows” fan hoped to see.

Tom Long of the Detroit News says:

Then again, nothing really catches fire. This has to be the most inert film Burton has ever made. A few fish-out-of-water jokes work, but it’s all such tepid stuff.

How bad is “Dark Shadows”? It makes you long for a “Twilight” movie. That’s bad.

Eric Snider of Film.com says:

This thing’s a wreck. The more I think about it, the more I dislike it. I should probably follow Burton’s example and just not think about it.

Mike LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle says:

But 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.

Christopher Orr of The Atlantic says:

The tone, too, is a bit scattered, with jokes about oral sex and electroshock therapy and parental abandonment awkwardly tossed about.

dark shadows, review roundup