It's not a parody either. I'd say that it's the usual Tim Burton movie (for better or worse) so it's a blend of humor & horror and has the typical Burton oddball characters who are sad and beautiful.
People certainly expected it to be the director's cut and were unhappy when it wasn't. There's a thread in the Blu-ray section where people discussed it a few weeks ago here: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/322117/whv-press-release-house-of-dark-shadows-and-night-of-dark-shadows-blu-ray
From a performance aspect, DVD isn't the best, Blu-ray is. It's perfectly fine that you aren't interested in Blu-ray but it's still an undisputable fact that Blu-ray is a better format than DVD.