New Images from Tim Burton's

Remember Dark Shadows? The gothic soap opera that aired in the late 60's, early 70's? No, well me either, but it features a motley crew of  vampires, witches and supernatural weirdos, which may just be the perfect material for Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's eighth collaboration.

Empire was on set, and learned a little about the 1972-set film version. The story focuses on Barnabas Collins (Depp), who was transformed into a vampire by a jilted lover (Eva Green's witch Angelique) way back in the 1700s and buried. He's just been dug up, and attempts to reintegrate with his descendants, led by Michelle Pfeiffer's Elizabeth and Jonny Lee Miller's Roger - despite the fact that Angelique is still around and still not in a forgiving mood.

Said screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith, "Tim and Johnny took a long time explaining exactly why it had to be 1972. 1969 was too early and 1973 was too late. 1972 is right at the time when the hippie movement and all its peace and love is dying out and being replaced by this me-me-me generation in the '70s who are all about showing their wealth and having everything."

And maybe the best news of all is that the film will not be in 3D. Producer Richard Zanuck was adamant on the fact. "We discussed this quite a bit. We didn't want to be categorised as another 3D extravaganza, because this isn't. We have action sequences, but mostly it's interaction between characters, and that's where the humour and the story come from."

Dark Shadows is out on May 11, 2012, and you can read more about it in the new issue of Empire, out in stores this Thursday.