In order to fully demonstrate just how weird this story is, I am going to provide a frame of reference. Below you will find a picture of the vampire Barnabas Collins as portrayed by Jonathan Frid in the Dan Curtis horror soap opera Dark Shadows:



Keep that image in mind for the rest of this story.

Tim Burton has been in production on his adaptation of Dark Shadows since May. In that time, very little has leaked out from the set, which is surprising considering it's awesome cast, which includes Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter, Jackie Earle Haley, Chloe Moretz, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonny Lee Miller and Bella Heathcote. Now the first images from the production have arrived online and we wish they had stayed in the dark. Check a couple of images out below and see the rest over at CelebBuzz.





Here's the deal: because this is a Tim Burton project we always knew that Dark Shadows was going to have a touch of weird, but what the hell is going on here? What's up with the pointy sideburns? Why is he wearing blue sunglasses? Why is he wearing a blue hat with a bow on it? I understand that perhaps this is what he needs so that he can go out in the sun, but that is one seriously ugly costume. I was really hoping that this film would be more Beetlejuice/Sweeney Todd than Alice in Wonderland, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.