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Dark Shadows: The Curse of the Vampire: Horror Movie Reviews
Title: Dark Shadows: The Curse of the Vampire (2009)
Format: DVD
Score:
Starring: Jonathan Frid and Grayson Hall
Director: Not available
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Runtime: 127 minutes
Hits: 50
Favorite: 
Review of Dark Shadows: The Curse of the Vampire
Decades before Twilight there was Dark Shadows, the first-ever gothic soap opera, its supernatural stories captivating audiences young and old for almost 45 years.
With its alluring tales of Gothic mystery and supernatural intrigue, Dark Shadows became one of the most popular daytime series of all time. Since first airing on ABC-TV from 1966-71, Dark Shadows has earned the reputation of being one of the most unusual and enduring TV programs in history.
Thanks to MPI Home Video, that iconic Classic returns with two special DVDs compiling episode scenes from two of its most popular story arcs, one featuring the character Barnabas Collins, the vampire, the second disc featuring Quentin Collins, the werewolf.
Each disc, sold separately, contains about three hours of content, which includes selected scenes from color episodes as well as a new interview with the actor whose character is spotlighted.
Dark Shadows: The Curse of the Vampire, is devoted to the original beloved blood sucker from the realm of the undead - Barnabas Collins.
Barnabas, the 175-year-old guilt-ridden and love-lorn vampire, was portrayed brilliantly by the classically trained actor Jonathan Frid. Frid, now, in his 80's, was interviewed for this special compilation disc.
Dark Shadows debuted in June 1966, but faced cancellation because of poor ratings within a year. Creator Dan Curtis, desperate to save the show, decided to "go" supernatural, so he launched various spook-filled stories that led to the introduction of Barnabas.
Released from his chained coffin after nearly 200 years, Barnabas arrives at the Collinwood estate claiming to be a relative from England. Although noticing Barnabas' resemblance to his "ancestor" in a foyer portrait, the Collins family did not realize he is the same Barnabas who lived at Collinwood in the 18th century. As Barnabas moves into the Old House on the property, those around him are unaware of the horrors that will soon follow.
The vampire was to be a temporary character that would be killed off following a reign of terror, but Frid's compelling characterization caused Barnabas to remain throughout the series as ratings soared. Not only was the series saved from cancellation, but it became an international phenomenon boasting more than 20 million daily viewers! Frid also became incredibly popular, a sudden idol and sex symbol among teenaged girls.
In this special disc, the origin of Barnabas is told. From the Collinwood drawing room of 1967, the family governess, Victoria Winters, portrayed by Alexandra Moltke, is transported back in time via a seance ends up in the Collinwood of 1795. In the past, the Barnabas Collins of that era, BEFORE a vicious curse had turned him into the blood-thirsty vampire.
Barnabas is about to wed the love of his life, Josette Du Pres, but a jealous servant of Josette's with whom Barnabas had brief affair, successfully plots to ruin their relationship. The servant, Angelique, portrayed with verve by Lara Parker, is actually a witch born who uses her supernatural powers to wreck havoc on everyone in Collinwood. It is Angelique who places the curse of the living dead upon Barnabas.
The core brilliance of has made Dark Shadows endure are the eternal themes it illustrated: Love, death, fear, longing, revenge, obsession, lies, secrets, loyalty and betrayal all played out against a compelling backdrop of Gothic sensibilities that included vampires, werewolves, zombies, seances, time travel, ghosts, mystery, murder, intrigue and a constant dose of the unexpected.
This "soap opera" managed to transcend its genre by bringing a taste of Gothic horror and science-fiction fantasy to the hum-drum world of the afternoon drama. There had never been anything like it before - and there never has been since!
In addition to Frid, Parker and Moltke, primary co-stars on the disc are: Joan Bennett, Grayson Hall, Louis Edmonds, Nancy Barrett, David Henesy, Kathryn Leigh Scott, David Ford, Clarice Blackburn, John Karlen, Anthony George, Thayer David, Jerry Lacy, Craig Slocum, Sharon Smyth, and Joel Crothers.
Note: The entire series is available on DVD, also produced by MPI Home Video.
With its alluring tales of Gothic mystery and supernatural intrigue, Dark Shadows became one of the most popular daytime series of all time. Since first airing on ABC-TV from 1966-71, Dark Shadows has earned the reputation of being one of the most unusual and enduring TV programs in history.
Thanks to MPI Home Video, that iconic Classic returns with two special DVDs compiling episode scenes from two of its most popular story arcs, one featuring the character Barnabas Collins, the vampire, the second disc featuring Quentin Collins, the werewolf.
Each disc, sold separately, contains about three hours of content, which includes selected scenes from color episodes as well as a new interview with the actor whose character is spotlighted.
Dark Shadows: The Curse of the Vampire, is devoted to the original beloved blood sucker from the realm of the undead - Barnabas Collins.
Barnabas, the 175-year-old guilt-ridden and love-lorn vampire, was portrayed brilliantly by the classically trained actor Jonathan Frid. Frid, now, in his 80's, was interviewed for this special compilation disc.
Dark Shadows debuted in June 1966, but faced cancellation because of poor ratings within a year. Creator Dan Curtis, desperate to save the show, decided to "go" supernatural, so he launched various spook-filled stories that led to the introduction of Barnabas.
Released from his chained coffin after nearly 200 years, Barnabas arrives at the Collinwood estate claiming to be a relative from England. Although noticing Barnabas' resemblance to his "ancestor" in a foyer portrait, the Collins family did not realize he is the same Barnabas who lived at Collinwood in the 18th century. As Barnabas moves into the Old House on the property, those around him are unaware of the horrors that will soon follow.
The vampire was to be a temporary character that would be killed off following a reign of terror, but Frid's compelling characterization caused Barnabas to remain throughout the series as ratings soared. Not only was the series saved from cancellation, but it became an international phenomenon boasting more than 20 million daily viewers! Frid also became incredibly popular, a sudden idol and sex symbol among teenaged girls.
In this special disc, the origin of Barnabas is told. From the Collinwood drawing room of 1967, the family governess, Victoria Winters, portrayed by Alexandra Moltke, is transported back in time via a seance ends up in the Collinwood of 1795. In the past, the Barnabas Collins of that era, BEFORE a vicious curse had turned him into the blood-thirsty vampire.
Barnabas is about to wed the love of his life, Josette Du Pres, but a jealous servant of Josette's with whom Barnabas had brief affair, successfully plots to ruin their relationship. The servant, Angelique, portrayed with verve by Lara Parker, is actually a witch born who uses her supernatural powers to wreck havoc on everyone in Collinwood. It is Angelique who places the curse of the living dead upon Barnabas.
The core brilliance of has made Dark Shadows endure are the eternal themes it illustrated: Love, death, fear, longing, revenge, obsession, lies, secrets, loyalty and betrayal all played out against a compelling backdrop of Gothic sensibilities that included vampires, werewolves, zombies, seances, time travel, ghosts, mystery, murder, intrigue and a constant dose of the unexpected.
This "soap opera" managed to transcend its genre by bringing a taste of Gothic horror and science-fiction fantasy to the hum-drum world of the afternoon drama. There had never been anything like it before - and there never has been since!
In addition to Frid, Parker and Moltke, primary co-stars on the disc are: Joan Bennett, Grayson Hall, Louis Edmonds, Nancy Barrett, David Henesy, Kathryn Leigh Scott, David Ford, Clarice Blackburn, John Karlen, Anthony George, Thayer David, Jerry Lacy, Craig Slocum, Sharon Smyth, and Joel Crothers.
Note: The entire series is available on DVD, also produced by MPI Home Video.
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Comments for Dark Shadows: The Curse of the Vampire
- Posted on 2009-11-11
Not worth your time
The story of Barnabas Collins has fascinated viewers for decades. The new DVD "Curse of the Vampire" attempts to condense months of soap opera episodes into a three hour presentation. Unfortunately this DVD just doesn't get the job done. On paper, it's a great idea. Some people may not want to watch several months worth of stories to see how Barnabas became a vampire. However the execution is awful.
I LOVE "Dark Shadows". The story of Barnabas Collins and his transformation into vampire is one of the best vampire stories ever done in film or TV. "Dark Shadows" spent months telling the tragedy of Barnabas and his love Josette. It was a well written story with an intriguing subplot of one of the show's main characters being transported back to 1795 to witness how everything went wrong for Barnabas. Several other minor stories were weaved in as well. Unfortunately none of them are shown in this 3 hour program and while time constraints prevented them from being put in, their absence makes for gaping holes in the central Barnabas story.
Newcomers to "Dark Shadows" will be lost trying to piece the story together since there is so much cut out. Voiceovers would have helped tremendously in explaining things to the new viewer. Even seasoned DS fans will have trouble following the story as it skips several key moments in the storyline, leaving the audience scratching their heads.
If you're not willing to watch the original run of episodes, I still suggest you skip this DVD. Check out a DS website or wikipedia for a condensed version of the story. This DVD is useless which is a shame as it's a waste of an excellent story.
- Posted on 2009-09-30
DARK SHADOWS LIVES ON
With the resurgence in popularity of vampire novels and films and especially the talk of Tim Burton's remake of a DARK SHADOWS film starring Johnny Depp as Barnabus and Charlize Theron as Angelique, which is set to the vampire curse storyline of the late 1700's on the show,I was interested in it and so I purchased this dvd.The video quality was pretty good,the same as you get with the other episodes on dvd,but I think they could have cleaned it up a little better,cut the noise in the video's picture quality and edit out the on camera screw ups(like the scene where Angelique is being attacked by Barnabus in the moseleum and you see a set man in the corner moseleum).The editing was doen fairly well but I would much rather had the Jerimiah's ghost haunting of Angelique on her wedding night footage added into the storyline,instead of an old 1966 b&w episode which was in the special features,but the only real special feature's other than that, is Johnathan Frid rambling for a few minutes.So if you already own the dvd's of the show I wouldnt bother with this one ,but if you want an edited storyline of the 5th volume of the series focusing on Angelique's witchery & the vampire curse,it's a pretty good buy,but overall I think it was a great idea but they could have doen alot better.
- Posted on 2009-09-24
DARK SHADOWS THE VAMPIRE CURSE by Dan Silvio
DARK SHADOWS:THE VAMPIRE CURSE released from MPI on Sept 15,2009.
This DVD is an edited edition of episodes from the 1795 storyline. If you have the unedited VHS or DVD's this is hardly worth the money. Bonus material is the complete episode #221 in which Maggie Evans meets Barnabas Collins at the Collinsport Inn restaurant. The program originally aired 5/2/1967 written by Ron Sproat directed by John Sedwick, a PBS promo from Kathryn Leigh Scott and an interview with Jonathan Frid. (210 minutes)
- Posted on 2009-09-18
A Must Have if you are a casual fan
This disc, along with the other new DS DVD, are definately a must have if you are a casual fan of the show. For those of us with the complete collection already on DVD, there is nothing really new of interest. There is a nice NEW interview of Jonathan Frid, but it only runs a few minutes and leaves you wondering what happened to the rest of the interview. Just when you are getting into the interview, it chops off and ends. I guess they will be using the rest of it for some other re-issue down the road. There is also a 20 second PBS spot by KLS. Also included a a complete episode from the show. I would have left that off and included more of the interview, at least this way there could have been more new content on the disc. For the common fan who has not purchased all 20+ box sets, this is a good disc to get, but for those of us who regularly watch the episodes, this disc will probably sit on a shelf collecting dust after the first viewing.
- Posted on 2009-08-19
Dark Shadows Just A Classic
Even after 40 years you can't kill Dark Shadows and its wonder why It hold a true hold over every one of us that would run home after school and see it on ABC TV at 4PM.So popular was the show that stores could not keep there bubblegum trading cards packs in stock.Right next to Bingham School here in Runnemede there was a little store named Chris's and the store owner would hold packs for My Friend Linda Difranco and Myself and we would spend all our money and buy up every pack.I'm so glad MPI has kept this fantastic series alive with new retrospectives like these and new interviews.Because we lived in New Jersey we could not go up like kids that lived in NY and stand outside the studios during the original filming of the Dark Shadows TV Series,But in retrospect I wish Linda and I could have went up there and met the actors in the day,what classic pictures they would have been.When I see shows like True Blood on HBO I cringe as they cant hold a candle to the original Dark Shadows.The actors Jonathan Frid,Kathreen Lee Scott,Lara Parker and others they might have messed up there lines among other goofs on the show but boy are they forever in our minds and hearts,something kids today with never no about.
Scott Denny-Runnemede,New Jersey
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