Thank heavens I'm not the only one old enough to remember Dark Shadows! And I've always had a weakness for vampires. (In fact, a contender for my favorite of the Mel Keegan novels is Nocturne, which is a vampire novel -- the "spin" on this one, making it different and fantastic, is that the vampires are gay. Haven't heard of this one? Have a taste for gay vampires?! You need to get over to MK's page, and check it out!)
Anyway -- kick me occasionally and get me back on track -- you can't fail to have noticed that anything and everything from the 1960s and 1970s is being revamped (pun intended) into major motion pictures, so, given that vampires are huge business just now --
How surprised are you likely to be if I tell you, Dark Shadows looks like coming back as (!!) a major motion picture...
Starring Johnny Depp!
And there's a rumor about Tim Burton directing it!
Now, Dark Shadows made its TV debut when I was about four, so I was utterly oblivious. But by the time I was about 16 or so, it was screening on daytime TV in Australia, and I remember it vividly, from the 1980 era...
Soap opera, right? With vampires ... and unless memory is playing tricks, I remember were wolves, voodoo, zombies, and time travelers. And they managed to do this inside of a real, genuine soapie template. In other words, it was monstrous fun. (Pun intended -- again!)
Now, add in Johnny Depp, and Tim Burton to direct this movie, and ... where do you advance book tickets?! The original soapie show taped well over 1000 episodes, so it was a huge success. A major movie --? It's a no-brainer. The only mystery is why it hasn't been done before...
And speaking of Johnny Depp, here's a very good interview, at Contact Music.
