This post was originally published eight years ago at my old blog and has been partly rewritten and expanded here.
Following Batman Returns (1992), that film’s director, Tim Burton, and its screenwriter, Daniel Waters, were collaborating on ideas for a follow-up film that would’ve starred Michelle Pfeiffer’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman from Returns. The two disagreed over Waters’ early draft of the script though, and the film never materialized. But oh, what might’ve been! To see Michelle reprise one of her most iconic roles would’ve been so much yummier than the eventual, unrelated 2004 Catwoman movie/train wreck, starring Halle Berry.
While Burton and Pfeiffer never made that Catwoman film, they did reunite twenty years after Returns in 2012 when Burton adapted the television series Dark Shadows to the silver screen. As reclusive matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Pfeiffer presides over the Collinwood estate with an aloof elegance and steely determination. When the Collins’ immortal descendant Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) returns, she reluctantly welcomes the vampire back to his ancestral home. Elizabeth can be stern, but she loves her kin, and is as fiercely protective as any mother. She strives to ensure that the Collins family does what it’s always done: endure.
In a movie filled with memorable, scenery-chewing performances, especially from Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Julia and Eva Green as Angelique, Michelle is understated and subtle, both beautifully melancholic and deliciously droll. The patented Pfeiffer eye roll is used to glorious effect, along with her unparalleled skill at perfectly delivering lines dripping with sarcasm. In the final act, she’s also a sight to behold: Pfeiffer as the smoking hot, shotgun-toting mama bear, out to protect her cubs from the evil Angelique.
Michelle’s hair and makeup in the film are both absolutely exquisite. Her longtime makeup artist Ronnie Specter did an amazing job here, as always. Her wardrobe also slays, with Michelle looking positively resplendent in the gothic garb she wears around Collinwood Mansion.
Dark Shadows was released during an interesting, often overlooked period of Pfeiffer’s filmography, sandwiched between two separate, four-year breaks from acting. This 2007–2013 stretch is one of my favorites of her career, thanks to the varied and interesting roles she took. She delivered highly memorable performances in films like I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007, Hairspray (2007), Stardust (2007), Chéri (2009), and Personal Effects (2009).
While Dark Shadows may seem like a minor work in Pfeiffer’s filmography, it’s a good example of her strong, mostly under-the-radar work during the early years of the millennium, work that’s more than worthy of discovery, or rediscovery, if you haven’t done so already. She’s simply delightful in Dark Shadows, plus she looks absolutely fabulous in Elizabeth’s period costuming and gloriously cascading blonde locks.
Despite that exquisite, sun-kissed California beauty, Pfeiffer has always had a deliciously dark edge to her. As did Batman Returns, Burton’s Dark Shadows offers a perfect vehicle for her to express that side of her personality. Dark Shadows may be the lesser of the two roles she’s done for Burton—and, really no collaboration between the two could ever equal the scorching intensity and once-in-a-lifetime impact of Michelle’s Catwoman—but there’s still plenty to enjoy and appreciate about her subtly memorable work as Elizabeth.
The Starfire Lounge 