Dark Shadows

Shown only in the 2005 Dark Shadows festival in Los Angeles, this remake of the 1960's Gothic day time series - yes, a Gothic soap and a deserved classic! - is surprisingly good. Sets of the Collinwood manor and the mausoleum where the vampire Barnabas Collins is found are wonderful and very atmospheric, so is the idea of using Halloween as the night when the story is opening. Alexis Thorpe has a striking screen presence and I would have loved to see her in a much more prominent role. She would have made lovely Victoria Winters! Cast of the young models like Asian Julia Hoffman (Kelly Hu) is never more than OK and will probably be too much to the fans of the original, but I loved the Gothic atmosphere. And I mean Gothic, not Goth, thank you! Little rough around the edges - hey, it was a rough cut! - this is a gem I would love to own in DVD.

Studios were clearly too lazy and disinterested to perfect this rough editing. I don't know which network was interested in the project, but I could see it airing on Fox or NBC even. Changes needed to be made, but not a lot either. They mostly needed to drop the cop/medical drama thing (and not use too recognizable settings), change some of the cast members like Jessica Chastain, Kelly Hu, Jenna Dewan and the guy who played the cop too. Alec Newman's look was all wrong, so he as well needed an extreme makeover. I also thought the tone was confusing and unsure of what atmosphere the show was trying to convey. And that the music needed some adjustments (the Coldplay song didn't fit the scenery)... I've seen lots of unaired pilot episodes (even from long lasting shows) and they all had the same issues this one had, only it was clear nobody had the time, money and energy to make it presentable for TV format, and give this first episode a real chance to be picked up. A shame so much has happened since, that we can no longer get it right, or have it be completely different from how it was intended to be, to fit the « new » standards. Because I would've loved to see Marley Shelton be the lead in a fantasy series like this one...

A different take on the legendary story, this time more modern and less gothic. I was prepared to not like it ahead of time, but at its roots, it's still the same great story, just presented differently. The story is streamlined quite a lot, compared to other versions. Characters and events appear or happen much sooner than in other versions. It would have been interesting to see where it all would have lead.

Alec Newman as Barnabas Collins is quite alright, but he's no Jonathan Frid or Ben Cross. He might have grown into the role over time, but we'll never know. Jessica Chastain as Carolyn Stoddard is dream casting, she was not yet famous then. Ivana Milicevic as Angelique is such a tease, we see so little of her, but this character is so vital to the story later. The cast would have all gelled in time, I'm sure.

I have seen far worse on The WB and The CW than this, not sure why it was not picked up. They totally missed the boat on this one, Twilight would start a vampire craze in a few short years after this, and the number one show on the network for years was The Vampire Diaries. At least the material was treated properly and not as goofy as the Tim Burton movie.

It's clear that Suspiria (1977) was a major reference for this remake, but since it wasn't on the plans fully embrace the campy nature of the source materials - the original show and Dario Argento's film - would had been smart let the inspiration just float in the cinematography and design, not emerge in the script. Overall it was... amusing, got the potential to - maybe - improve over the course of a whole season if had been given the opportunity, homever it was for the best that the show got cancelled.