Vampire Barnabas Collins is released from his prison and searches for a cure to his affliction, so he can marry the incarnation of his lost love.
House of Dark Shadows is a 1970 feature-length horror film directed by Dan Curtis, based on his Dark Shadows television series. Filming took place at Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, New York, with additional footage at nearby Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
House Of Dark Shadows, based on the very popular TV Gothic soap opera, follows the life of Barnabas Collins. Recently unleashed from his coffin by local drunk, Willie Loomis, the vampire (Barnabas) goes on a killing spree, while at the same time charming his present day family members. In the process he meets local girl Maggie Evans and notices that she looks exactly like his deceased fiance Josette. Barnabas assumes that she is the reincarnation of Josette, and plans to make her his unholy bride for eternity.
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| Barnabas Collins, vampire, takes a bride in a bizarre act of ultimate lust. |
Director Dan Curtis (on a very low budget) took what on television was an extremely lengthy introduction and history of the Barnabas Collins character and crammed all he could of it into a 96 minute film. For those that don't know..."Dark Shadows" was a struggling 60s daytime soap opera concerning the dulling exploits of a boorish super rich New England family....the Collin's. After a season of well worn plots about family infighting and powerstruggles the show was on verge of being canceled. That's when series creator....Curtis....came up with a radical idea. Introduce supernatural elements into the show.
The ensemble cast works very well, given that all of these people had been working together for three or four years at this point. Outstanding are Jonathan Frid's enigmatically menacing vampire Barnabas Collins--the pain and vulnerability Frid emotes with his eyes at certain sequences is really quite striking; Grayson Hall's superb portrayal of medico-on-the-verge Dr. Julia Hoffman (Barbara Steele, who reprised the role in a 1990 remake, complained that Grayson was "excruciatingly good" in the part), and excellent character actor Thayer David's surprisingly complex portrayal of Professor T. Eliot Stokes. Nancy Barrett as doomed heiress Carolyn Stoddard is a beautiful, fragile, gothic presence. Emmy winner John Karlen makes Willie Loomis one of the best roles of his career. Joan Bennett is patrician and unforgettable in what amounts to a cameo appearance as the family matriarch.
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| A story of blood relations. |
Fans of the series will probably find more to like than most but I think there's a lot here to enjoy, even for those unfamiliar with Dark Shadows. This film introduces the cult favorite vampire and his brooding family to new generations regularly, by existing outside the original daytime drama. All in all, by far the best of the 'Dark Shadows' films and the only one to be as good as the show.
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| Come see how the vampires do it. |
Trivia:
Professor T.E. (Theodore Eliot) Stokes is named after two famous writers: T.S. Eliot and vampire novelist Bram Stoker.
For the old age make-up for Barnabas Collins, special make up artist Dick Smith used the bald head appliance that he had created for Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man (1970) to save time and money.
The Collinwood scenes were filmed at the Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, New York.
During the costume party, the Quentin Collins musical theme from Dark Shadows (1966) can be heard.
This film was shot concurrently with the original Dark Shadows (1966) series. During the time of filming, the television program was in the middle of its 1970 parallel time story-arc. Major characters appearing in the film were written out of the TV series so that they would be available to shoot the movie.
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| Old Man Barnabas |
"Dark Shadows" producer Dan Curtis originally intended to edit together footage from the original TV series into a feature-length film, but this concept was quickly abandoned in favor of a new story.
Scenes that were scripted but never filmed involved a Collinsport resident named Nancy Hodiak meeting Jeff and Maggie at Jeff's cottage to pick up a painting that Jeff had painted of her. As Nancy leaves the house, she is stalked and killed by Barnabas. Many elements of Nancy's attack scene were used in the final cut in the scene of Barnabas attacking Daphne. Had these scenes been included in the film, Marie Wallace would have played Nancy.
"House of Dark Shadows" was filmed concurrently with the original Dark Shadows television series. During the time of filming, actors were written out of the TV series so that they would be available to shoot the movie. Kathryn Leigh Scott was absent from 30 episodes (986 to 1015); Jonathan Frid was absent from 28 episodes (983 to 1010); Grayson Hall was absent from 21 episodes (986 to 1006); John Karlen was absent from 21 episodes (990 to 1010); Nancy Barrett was absent from 20 episodes (991 to 1010): Louis Edmonds was absent from 17 episodes (991 to 1008); Don Briscoe was absent from 15 episodes (986 to 1000); Joan Bennett was absent from 15 episodes (991 to 1006); and David Henesy was absent from 9 episodes (993 to 1001).
First motion picture based on a daytime soap opera, in this case ABC's gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966-1971)
This movie is an adaptation and re-imagining of the major storylines that ran throughout the 1967 season of Dark Shadows (1966): Barnabas is released by Willie, he attempts to woo Maggie, Dr Hoffman arrives and develops an obsession with Barnabas.
