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Epilogue: Dark Shadows 2008
- Wayne State University Press
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Epilogue Dark Shadows 2008 115 Just as they had for some thirty-odd years, in July of 2008 thousands of Dark Shadows fans gathered for an annual convention held that year at the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Burbank, California. The hottest buzz of the year was the news that Johnny Depp had recently purchased the rights to Dark Shadows with the intention of adapting it for the big screen. Frequent Depp collaborator (and fellow Dark Shadows fan) Tim Burton was rumored to be in talks with Depp about directing the project, and it was announced that a screenplay was being written by another Burton alumnus, John August. Most fans were thrilled that Depp and Burton were attached to the project. Fans knew that Burton has made a career for himself by self-consciously reimagining the tone and/or content of classic horror and fantasy texts (Batman [1989], Edward Scissorhands [1990], Sleepy Hollow [1999], Charley and the Chocolate Factory [2005], Sweeney Todd [2008]), while the soft-spoken yet intense Johnny Depp was seen as the ideal casting choice for Barnabas. Fans also spent considerable time “dream casting ” other roles: Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Hoffman? Uma Thurman as Angelique? Perhaps Angelina Jolie? Fans were also told that probably the only way they would ever see a restored 116 Epilogue version of Night of Dark Shadows was if the new Depp/Burton film found commercial success, thus making its restoration and DVD rerelease economically feasible. Also on display at the 2008 convention was the rarely seen first episode of the aborted WB network version of Dark Shadows made in 2004. Following that network’s usual formula, the show was cast considerably younger than either the original series or its 1991 remake, and its regimen of sex and violence was similarly increased for more modern-day audiences. One of its more contemporary casting choices was Kelly Hu as a very young Asian American Dr. Julia Hoffman (a choice many fans disagreed with); Scottish actor Alec Newman as Barnabas was more warmly received by the fans in attendance. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the pilot was its luridly lit visual design, one more reminiscent of Italian horror films by Mario Bava and/or Dario Argento than the original series. It was apparent , however, that the producers had not found a way to create and maintain a consistent tone for the show, with some scenes played straightforwardly while others seemed deliberately over-the-top. In that respect, trying to re-create Dark Shadows as deliberate camp rather than naive camp may have doomed the project from its outset. Another batch of “new” Dark Shadows texts displayed at the convention eschews visual design all together: Dark Shadows Reborn is a series of original dramas on audio CD starring original cast members David Selby, Lara Parker, John Karlen, and Kathryn Leigh Scott. Developed by the British firm Big Finish Productions (which produces similar CDs based on other cult texts like Doctor Who [BBC, 1963–89, 2005–] and Stargate: Atlantis [Sci-Fi, 2004–9]), the audio dramas aim to recapture the feel of the original 1960s show. Judging by the number of blind or seeing-impaired convention attendees in 2008, this audio series has generated an entirely new group of fans. In many ways, Dark Shadows Reborn looks back to the show’s roots in early radio broadcasts of mystery-terror shows like Lights Out [34.203.221.104] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 10:55 GMT) 117 Dark Shadows 2008 (1934–47) and Inner Sanctum (1941–52), as well as the early days of radio soap operas. It also underlines the fact that televisual soap operas—Dark Shadows included—are highly dependent on sound and that in many cases they were designed to be heard as much as viewed by “distracted” housewives (Altman , “Television Sound”; Modleski, Loving). However, in the case of Dark Shadows—as we have seen—both aural and visual elements contribute to a sense of televisual excess that elicits highly engaged—not distracted—viewing practices (Caldwell, Televisuality). Jonathan Frid, who has only rarely appeared at fan conventions over the years, did appear in 2008, emerging from a coffin with the aid of John “Willie Loomis” Karlen, in effect re-creating Barnabas’s first appearance on the show. (Some wags noted that Lara Parker as the witch Angelique, here looking rather demur and worried (for a change); more recently Lara Parker has also written Dark Shadows novels and contributed to original Dark...