Monday, April 30, 2012

Team Barnabas!

There’s a fair few things that I’ll geek out over, but you have to understand… Dark Shadows holds a very special place in my heart.

My mother and her siblings grew up watching this show on television and when syfy started to air it again decades later, they subjected me to the entire series for which I am eternally grateful. I adore Dark Shadows! I love every campy moment, every ripped off storyline, every flubbed line and silly fake sideburn and rubber bat. The cast and crew put together something truly unique under the stressful live soap opera conditions that I can’t bear to truly mock because seriously guys, that’s awesome.

 I remember watching the series with my mom as a tweenager and pausing the show briefly to say just about these words verbatim, “I just got the most brilliant idea. Ever. They need to do a remake of this. Johnny Depp could play Barnabas Collins. Tim Burton should direct.” To which my mother replied, “Oh! I want to see that!” We’re looking into my brain waves to see if I have a psychic connection to anyone else in Hollywood. I lie not. Cross my heart. But whether you believe that totally amazing anecdote or not is beside the point.

I REALLY wanted this. My expectations are far too high and as the release date approaches for my little psychic brain-child-movie, and the decay of its glorious orbit heightens by degrees, I’m getting nervous. What if it crashes, I ask you?!

A lot of fans were pissed about the ‘mood-whiplash’ trailer that was released. The first half looked pretty serious and the second half looked like it was making fun of the show I love so much. But I didn’t take it personally. I tried to be totally fair—it didn’t look exactly like Dark Shadows, but it looked like something I would immensely enjoy. We’ll see if the whole movie is super farcical or if the editors simply went a little crazy manipulating the footage in the trailer.

Neither explanation would surprise me. 

Team Barnabas, all the way.

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