Dark Shadows Discussion Thread

[Chris B]

I personally found Night to be the better of the two movies. I found it was scarier and built a better atmosphere than House which I feel rammed too much in and didn't quite work for me. I wish we could see the original cut of Night which had so much footage cut right before the release. I know hey found the film but no audio unfortunately. 

[Vee]

I actually prefer Night. It's incoherent in many ways but raw and brutal in that great, gritty '70s way Dan Curtis seemed to embrace, but which was initially shocking and very upsetting as a young DS fan as a kid. (I was especially traumatized seeing HODS for the first time and watching them violently kill almost everyone.) The ending of Night is also absolutely terrifying.

True to his pattern as his own rip-off artist, Dan literally remade all of Night/NODS as the cult horror classic Burnt Offerings with Karen Black, Bette Davis and Oliver Reed, which is even more incoherent story-wise but probably more scary, right down to an even more horrific version of the finale.

 

I had no idea any footage like this was around. Based on my still semi-encyclopediac knowledge of DS and many of its ludicrous fashions, on sight this appears to be from the Angelique/Alexis saga in 1970 Parallel Time, when Alexis bites it.

 

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Yep - I'm right.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Vee

[DRW50]

I haven't seen Night in a long time (House as well, although a bit more recently), but my main feeling was that the movie was so jumbled it was difficult to react. I do think that David Selby was a great lead (Kate Jackson, not so much...). I keep hoping they will do something with all that deleted footage while most of the cast is still alive. 

 

I know all of you here already read about this but I wish they'd filmed that pre-credits shot of Bruno/Michael Stroka breaking into and enjoying himself in an empty Collinwood before he's horribly killed. That sounded fantastic. 

 

House is a genuinely terrifying film, but for me Dark Shadows at its best was more emotional/romantic/melodramatic than horrifying, so I always struggle a bit with that concept being put onto those characters. 

 

It shows you how Dan Curtis really was always trying new effects - it's not so bad for 1970. 

 

That is my least favorite Angelique as she's just too one-dimensional, as is Alexis, but it was good to see Lara Parker getting leading lady status at this time. I always figured this was one of the reasons she got a larger role in the last year, and got to play a heroine in 1841 PT. I thought she was pretty good as a heroine (Catherine), and never made her too weak. 

 

I really should go back and watch some of that again. 1970 PT has some real misfires yet has some of my all time favorite Dark Shadows moments (Liz dreaming of Sabrina's corpse on the table in the lab - genuinely terrifying; Liz locking the doors to keep John Yaeger out; the Pinter-esque bitterness of Carolyn and Will; Carolyn's drunken downward spiral and her "and Collinwood's got a lotta closets!!!" speech).

[amybrickwallace]

I wish Virginia Vestoff had been able to reprise Samantha in NODS as originally planned (she had to back out due to a scheduling conflict). I think she could have helped put that movie to another level - she had wonderful screen presence.

[danfling]

I agree about Virginia Vestoff. She was wonderful on the show, in my opinion!

[amybrickwallace]

 

I'm glad she found a soap role worthy of her. She was woefully miscast and misused on The Doctors.

[NothinButAttitude]

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[GSGfan2017]

This review of House of Dark Shadows claims that the original Dark Shadows series was not a ratings success, though it does acknowledge the soap's teenage following. 

[Vee]

No one cares about your links.

[Mitch]

Growing up as a little kid and LOVING DS..( I was jealous of David who to live at Collinwood with vamps and witches and ghosts and secret rooms) I was excited to find the two movies and then found them a little depressing..they lacked...believe it or not, the warmth of DS soap. I know they were made to be "horror movies" but they were cold and distant...Collinwood always seemed.."homey" lol.

 

Its kind of like the Twin Peaks return...it lacked the hominess that made the original so interesting and odd...a warm town with odd ball characters but where all these horrible weird things are still happening.

[amybrickwallace]

How long did each DS movie last in theatres? Were there ever any plans to make more?

 

 

Edited November 28, 2017 by amybrickwallace

[DRW50]

Kathryn Leigh Scott is the cover gal for the new issue of Arthritis Today. She talks about a new film she's in. 

[Vee]

 

There was a rumor about a third film - Death of Dark Shadows - that would've focused on the werewolves and supposedly involved Denise Nickerson (Amy), who at that time was about to do Willy Wonka and would later be in the running for The Exorcist. But I don't know how far that got.

Edited December 15, 2017 by Vee

[amybrickwallace]

Thank you, @Vee! 😊

[katie_9918]

I’m watching the episode where Quentin threw the rule book completely out the window and leveled with Roger (episode 958 during the Leviathan storyline) and I’m completely spellbound. 

 

No matter how Roger was watered down after Barnabas showed up, I can’t help thinking that he was a huge reason why the show survived long enough to go completely nuts and I can’t help wondering what might have been if Roger had been recruited into Barnabas and Julia’s occult detectives league.