New image from Tim Burton's Dark Shadows

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Depp and Pfeiffer go Gothic

A new production still has emerged from Tim Burton’s next project Dark Shadows , with Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer looking more than a little macabre.

The film tells the story of an ancient vampire (Depp) who attempts to reconnect with his descendants after spending the previous 200 years in a tomb. Michelle Pfeiffer plays one of said relatives, and from the looks of the image above, the family reunion is running less than smoothly.

And according to Burton, the prevailing theme of the film is one of weirdness. “It’s got such a strange vibe,” said the director to MTV . “And it’s not something that a lot of people necessarily know. You’re trying to do a weird soap opera… Some of the cast knew about it. Some didn’t, but they were all game for it — getting into the weird spirit of what Dark Shadows was.”

“It has a weird sense of heightened melodrama… It was hard to put into words the tone it was. It had a weird seriousness, but it was funny in a way that wasn’t really funny. We just had to feel our way through it to find the tone.”

So we can say it’s weird then. Meanwhile, Burton is also toying with the idea of returning to another Gothic classic in the form of another Beetlejuice film.

“I love that character,” enthuses Burton, “and Michael [ Keaton ] is so great in it. I always think about how great and fun that character was, so I just said to Seth [ Grahame-Smith ], ‘If you have some idea about it, go for it, and then I’ll look at it freshly.’ In the past, I tried some things, but that was way back when. He seemed really excited about it.”

Dark Shadows opens in the UK on 11 May 2012.

George Wales
George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.