Over-quirkiness, ad nauseam

“Dark Shadows” is Tim Burton’s expectedly quirky take on the supernatural soap of the same title, joined by frequent collaborator Johnny Depp as its recently awakened vampire Barnabas Collins. It’s not their best collaboration; this horror-comedy, while well-cast and visually appealing, has many undershaped and squandered characters.

The characters getting enough development are the vampire antihero and his spurned immortal ex, Angelique, a witch played by Eva Green (who already previously portrayed magic-using females; she played the ruthless Morgan in the short-lived “Camelot,” and witch queen Serafina in “The Golden Compass”).

Angelique’s vengeance involves making her former master Barnabas suffer by transforming him into a vampire, imprisoned in a coffin for nearly two centuries. He finds himself unearthed in the early 1970s, attacking random, unlucky bystanders and blaming his old tormentor for his misdeeds.

Again, it’s nicely cast. Michelle Pfeiffer, Burton’s Catwoman 20 years ago, plays the descendants’ cunning matriarch; Chloe Moretz plays her restless and rebellious teen daughter; Johnny Lee Miller, Helena Bonham-Carter and Bella Heathcote have roles that significantly add to the already bizarre mix.

You get tired of the forced weirdness, however. While it’s easy to sympathize with the vampire antihero for his suffering, his monstrous actions are just repulsive, so you don’t really get invested. And such offbeat and potentially enchanting supporting characters ultimately end up only half-realized.