Dark's Shadows

John Depp stars in Tim Burton's latest gloom-comedy Dark's Shadows as the lovable but confounding character of Peter Dark, a vampire that is transported from Renaissance times to a 1970s American fun-scape through a series of amazing accidents. The Bramfield family (Hellen Bonham Carter and other actors) must adjust to sharing their home with the quirky Dark, whose proclivities toward mischief, drugs, and indiscriminate sex leads the family to examine, and eventually fall prey to, their own demons. Dark, presumably immortal (sans the vampire hunters of his times), blithely flaunts his devil-may-care attitude while unknowingly destroying the Bramfield family around him. The near suicide of the family dog, Edward Poochyhands, brings the family and Dark to their senses as they rally around the recovering mutt. All appears well until  deranged demon hunter Darek Darko (Jeff Daniels) locates Dark and attempts to infiltrate the Bramfield house to blow him up with dynamite. The pro-Dark Bramfields thwart Darko through a series of  homemade traps and he is killed and eaten by Dark (SPOLIER). As Dark eats the demon hunter at the end, the family belts "Blood is Sweeter than Water", written by Grammy nominated rapper/entertainer Pitbull. 3.5/4 stars