At last here’s the official trailer for Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, which stars his longtime collaborator Johnny Depp, and the long-awaited promo is very revealing.  Burton and Depp are evidently trying to create some sort of camp classic chock full of “fish-out-water-humor” with a newly resurrected 200-year-old Barnabas Collins (Depp, whose rise from the dead comes complete with a coffin “erection” shot right out of Murnau’s Nosferatu) attempting to deal with his descendants in disco-era America. Judging from the trailer, Dark Shadows will be a vampire comedy with a unique visual style, a mix of traditional Gothic horror visuals and the pop art palette of the 1970s, with everything swirling right along to a distinct disco beat.

 

The newly-released poster for the film emphasizes both the family and humorous aspects of the film as Depp, clad in classic Victorian vampire style, is surrounded by the “modern” Collins clan.  It is also abundantly clear from the trailer that the reason that Depp has been so keen on making this film is that the role of Barnabas Collins provides him with the perfect pretext for indulging in his consuming interest in bizarre makeup and elaborate costumes (see “New Photo of Depp as Barnabas Collins”).  Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows opens nationwide on May 11th.