House of Dark Shadows (DVD)

To those of you spending your days bewitched by the misadventures of Tabitha and Timmy on Passions, there are those of us who are here to remind you of Dark Shadows, the cult soap opera hit that ran from 1966-71. The Gothic soap was floundering in the ratings when the character of vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) was introduced. Producer/Director Dan Curtis provided this 1970 introduction to the wonderful world of Dark Shadows, so late comers could get up to speed. Barnabas is freed from his crypt after nearly 200 years by a thief stealing treasure and returns to the family home Collinwood pretending to be a distant English cousin who just happens to be named for the infamous ancestor. Barnabas discovers that the family governess, Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott) is the spitting image of his former love Josette, who killed herself when she learned he had become a vampire. Meanwhile, the family physician Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) learns of Barnabas true identity and develops a treatment that will reverse the curse. Able to walk in daylight again, Barnabas plans on marrying Maggie. Unfortunately, Dr. Hoffman has fallen in love with Barnabas and sabotges the treatments, which results in quite a bloodbath. House of Dark Shadows certainly stands on its own if you have never seen the soap opera, although the effort to give everyone in the cast some screen time does get in the way from time to time. For those who remember the show, it is nice to see Louis Edmonds, Nancy Barrett, Joan Benett and the others again. The script by Sam Hall and Gordon Russell is actually quite innovative, coming up with some new twists for the love triangle while working in notions of reincarnation and scientific approaches to curing vampirism. At the heart of the film is Frids portrayal of Barnabas Collins, which offers considerably more depth to the character than we were getting at the time from Christopher Lees Dracula in all those Hammer films.

Dark Shadows (1966-71) was one-of-a-kind. It was an ABC Network soap opera that early on was done LIVE. It became more gothic when they brought in Jonathan Frid for the role of Barnabas Collins, a resurrected vampire. As the soap opera changed to living color, they also included werewolves, witches, ghosts and possession. It became so much more scarier. They even tried time travel to tell the history of Collins family. This film was actually made while Dark Shadows was still on television. This theatrical motion picture is actually a remake based upon the first few months of the Barnabas Collins storyline. Some changes were made for this movie version. Most of the entire cast in this film also appeared in the original Dark Shadow tv serial (1966-1971). Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Roger Davis, Nancy Barrett, John Karlen, Thayer David, Louis Edmonds, Don Briscoe, Dennis Patrick, Lisa Blake Richards, Jerry Lacy, Paul Michael, Humbert Allen Astredo, Terrayne Crawford, Michael Stroka and Joan Bennett. George Di Cenzo has an uncredited role, whom you may remember from the 1976 tv-movie Helter Skelter or the ABC tv-series Dynasty. Psychic Chip Coffey, in his much younger days, appears as a party guest. This sticks with the gothic story without all that soap opera fluff. Willie has released Barnabas Collins from his coffin and thus is resurrected. The man has been in the coffin for 172 years. He must have blood from his victims so that he may stay young. Barnabas goes to the Collinwood Estate to get reacquainted with his immediate relatives. They believe he has just arrived in town from England. They do not know he is the killing vampire nor the original Barnabas Collins of family history. (Thats why he knows the history so well). Locations: The Collinwood set is actually The Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, New York. The Collinsport Inn is actually The Three Bears Inn in Westport, Connecticut. The abandoned Monastery set is actually the Lockwood-Mathews mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut. The old house set is actually the Schoales Estate (Beechwood) in Tarrytown, New York. Followed by

First, with that Johnny Dreck and Dep[pity Doo mockery of Dark Shadows, and now the sloppy and shoddy DVD/Bluray releases of the original films. Dan Curtis filmed the House and night of Dark Shadows films in 1:33:1 aspect ratio (full size, or 4:3 old style TV full screen ratio. Warner bros, in their infinite stupidity, letterboxed the films, cropping the top and bottom of the picture, so you are missing 1/2 the picture. Had it been properly transferred, on a regular TV, youd see the full picture, on a 16:9 HDTV, youd see bars at the left and right - but youd be seeing the films as shot by the director. Apparently, the suits decided it was better to appease the widescreeners and cut half the picture. So, no foreheads and chins in close up, and so on. Seriously, first they could do a proper restoration of missing footage thats been found for NODS, and now butchering both films like this? Cmon, Warner Brothers, if you could bankroll that Johnny Dreck piece of s***, then surely coming up with the money to put these films on DVD and bluray correctly would have been a far better investment - and a lot cheaper than Deppity Doos fiasco and mockery of the source. Disappointing, to say the least.

Again... Im a big fan of D.S.

This is shockingly poorly done. For those who know the real Dark Shadows there was too much of an attempt to replicate the story line with very bad results. Barnabus had no character development so if you are looking to supplement your Dark Shadows collection dont wast your money on this.

We love scary movies and this had a little bit of everything. Definitely a notch above the recent movie. Couldnt compare!

Fun old show

Received this quickly, enjoyed it very much.. Clear, crisp video..

love it

Dark Shadows was a phenomenon. The kind of cultural big deal that needed to be cashed in on, which is why producer and creator Dan Curtis started pitching a featuring length TV movie from 1968 on. The original idea was to simply edit together old episodes of the show, but soon the idea to tell the entire Barnabas Collins saga — complete with bloody bites and gore — took over. As the TV series was still on the air, several of the actors were written out, with Barnabas being trapped in a coffin — for 28 episodes — by a writer who was trying to use the vampire for a biographical novel. Other characters were replaced in the 1970 parallel world story arc. With a budget of $750,000 — that was probably enough for 750 episodes of the actual series — and on location shooting at the Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, New York and that town’s Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (as well as the Lockwood–Mathews Mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut), this movie looks gorgeous. And it’s a joy to see so much of the original cast come back and play modified versions of their roles. However, what takes years on the soap opera now takes moments. It’s a bit disconcerting. Much like his entry on the show, Barnabas (Johnathan Frid) is found by handyman Willie Loomis (John Karlen) and within moments, is both introducing himself as a long-lost European relative while also taking bites out of almost every single female castmember. Daphne Budd? Bitten. Carolyn Stoddard? She gets a bite. Maggie Evans? Yep, her too. Barnabas also gets transformed into a human by Dr. Julia Hoffman, but she falls for him and jealously transforms him into his true age. No worries — a few bites from his chosen bride, Maggie, brings him back to vitality. The only part that you may not enjoy is Willie turning on Barnabas and the titular vampire succumbing to a crossbow to the back. That said, his bat flies away — Curtis was doing end credit teases way before the Marvel movies — in a nod to a projected sequel that never happened, Curse of Dark Shadows. There’s also a moment where Quentin Collins’ theme is heard, but he doesn’t show up. I’m certain there were many young ladies who were crushed by this fact. If you’ve never watched the original episodes, this is a fun movie. If you have, you may just end up upset that so much is glossed over. Regardless, I saw it at the drive-in, paired with its spiritual sequel and I enjoyed the hell out of it.