I was a fan of Dark Shadows before Tim Burton and Johnny Depp made an updated version of the old cult horror classic TV show.

I watched Dark Shadows in the 1970's when I was still young and impressionable. No wonder it stuck with me. I didn't get all the storyline, but I knew it was something dark and mysterious and probably too spooky for me. Dark Shadows was the only horror I watched and did not later have nightmares from. (I never did become a fan of horror).

I'm watching Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins in the 2012 movie remake of Dark Shadows. It's mainly a comedy. It misses the soap opera quality of the original series. But, I doubt it was aiming in that direction. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp do bring the dark elements in and manage to keep it from sinking into absolute horror. In that way, the Dark Shadows movie is a success. I am liking it.

But...

I still like the old TV series best. There are other versions but I have not seen them. The previews seem more slanted towards horror and looking bloody. That wasn't part of the charm of Dark Shadows. The element of the soap opera was the unique draw of the TV series. There was such a great combination of horror, fear, mystery, darkness and the unknown but, it was tempered by the soap opera atmosphere. It worked wonderfully.

Jonathan Frid (1924 - 2012) was a Canadian actor who starred as Barnabas Collins in the original TV series. Ironic that he had a cameo appearance in the Dark Shadows movie but died about one month before it was released to theatres. When I think about Dark Shadows it is always the face of Jonathan Frid I see in my mind.

Dark Shadows Wiki

Dark Shadows has been Revived (more than once)!