Dark Shadows poster

Dark Shadows (2012)

Film · 1h 53m · Rated PG-13

Comedy, Fantasy

A centuries-old vampire awakens to 1970s whimsy, bringing darkly comic chaos to his eccentric descendants.

Campy, with dark satire. A late-night trip at a measured pace. Emotionally it carries some weight.

Not on a US subscription service as of Oct 25, 2026.

Dark Shadows parents guide

No surprises for a PG-13: some innuendo or implied sex and mild language.

Rated PG-13, but by what is on screen our estimate is fine from about 10.

Scare
Mildly scary
A few tense or eerie moments.
Jump scares
A couple
One or two sudden jolts.
Gore
Light gore
Some blood or injury, briefly.
Violence
Some violence
Some fighting or peril.
Sex and nudity
Mild
Mild means innuendo, or sex implied off screen, with no nudity.
Language
Mild
Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Dark Shadows scary?
Only a little. Dark Shadows has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
How gory is Dark Shadows?
Light gore and some violence.
What is Dark Shadows rated, and is it OK for kids?
Rated PG-13, and mild for one: some innuendo or implied sex and mild language.

What is Dark Shadows about?

Vampire Barnabas Collins is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate and family have fallen into ruin.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

It leaves the ending open to interpretation.

Cast and crew

Directed byTim Burton
StarringJohnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter, Chloë Grace Moretz, Bella Heathcote

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.