In the 1700s, a wealthy family establishes a town in Maine, and their teenage son, Barnabas, engages in an affair with the housekeeper, Angelique. When the affair ends and Barnabas tells her he doesn't love her, Angelique is revealed to be a witch, who kills his parents, drives his love to suicide, and curses Barnabas to be a vampire who will never die. In the 1970s, he's finally dug up by construction workers, and, being horribly hungry, he murders and eats them all. He returns home, only to find distant relative Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard now living in his manor. Barnabas convinces Elizabeth of who he is, and he is given permission to stay only if he keeps his identity and his vampiric state a total secret. He falls in love with Victoria, the housekeeper who is a dead ringer for his love two hundred years prior, and he sets about attempting to help the moody children with their problems. Angelique, still in town, discovers Barnabas has escaped and tries to reconcile with Barnabas, threatening to kill everyone he loves if he turns her down again. However, when Angelique sees Barnabas kissing Victoria, she goes ballistic, and when Barnabas exposes himself to sunlight rescuing David from a falling disco ball and reveals himself to be a vampire inadvertently, his world comes crumbling down around him. He must find way to defeat Angelique and keep her from killing Victoria if he ever wishes to be happy again.
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Best part of story, including ending:
It's a story with a fantasy-horror slant played from broad comedy and camp, which to me is not an appealing mixture. Tonally, it's all over the place and thus pretty repellant.
Best scene in story:
Alice Cooper plays a concert in a small cameo, and Barnabas mistakes Alice for a woman because of his name. This is the funniest joke in the film.
Opinion about the main character:
Barnabas is a stereotypically deadpan and quirky Johnny Depp role. There's nothing terribly new or original about him, and the whole thing is played so broadly that it's hard to connect to anyone at all.
