Sombras en la obscuridad

HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970) is the movie-house version of the then popular Gothic Soap Opera. The film's plot is a re-tracing of the TV series. Willie Loomis (John Karlen), while robbing a New England crypt, accidently awakens 200 year old vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid's moment of immortality!) Barnabas comes upon his modern descendants as a "long lost relative from England" leaving out the one little detail about being 200 years old. In the meantime, he is secretly feasting on victims. He enjoys a temporary cure, via a local doctor. What makes this film unique is how this murderous vampire is worthy of sympathy, the tender but extremely haunting encounter the pre-teen Collins boy has with his dead sister, and the rather doomsday style climax. This gem came at a time when decent horror films were a rarity. (Relaxed censorship let about 90% of the horror directors depend more on gore and sex).

For anyone who enjoys Gothic melodramas, this one is for you. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, producer Dan Curtis was on a roll with his hit afternoon television series Dark Shadows. When the powers that be decided to make a feature film version, most of the original cast members of the daily soap opera were recruited to star in this production. It is worth noting that several of the performers were pulling double duty at the time, since the daily program was churning out new episodes while HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS was being filmed.

Of course, a feature film version is going to have a much larger budget than its TV counterpart. And it is also going to be made in color, not black and white. Curtis and his crew do a very effective job transferring the basic original ideas to the big screen. In fact, they do not miss a beat introducing vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) and the rest of the inhabitants of Collinwood to celluloid. From the first fade in, it's a bloody good show, and the entire affair is raised a notch or two by the presence of an old pro-- Joan Bennett, doing quite well as matriarch Elizabeth Stoddard Collins, fang you very much!

"House of Dark Shadows", the first feature based on the fondly remembered Gothic soap opera is both exciting and schlocky - sometimes concurrently. 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. Most of the television cast are here to recreate their parts, chief among them Jonathan Frid as everyone's favorite Vampire. When surly caretaker Willie Loomis (John Karlen) foolishly frees him from his coffin where he has been sleeping for almost 200 years, Barnabas heads for the Collins family mansion and introduces himself as a cousin from England. Both the matriarch of the family, Elizabeth Stoddard (Joan Bennett) and her brother Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds) welcome him and immediately install him in the "old house" which, in fact, is Barnabas' original home. Though the plot has a few twists not seen in the series, the story is still pretty familiar.Sure enough, Barnabas soon has his way with Elizabeth's daughter Carolyn (Nancy Barrett)and she becomes one of his first victims. Although such familiar characters as Professor Stokes (Thayer David) Jeff Clark (Roger Davis) young David Collins (David Henesy) and Todd Jennings (Donald Briscoe) appear, their functions are relatively brief. The two chief supporting females upon whom the plot really turns are Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott) the beautiful governess who bears a striking resemblance to Josette Du Pres, Barnabas' first love, and Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) an old family friend writing a history of the Collins family. For seemingly different reasons, both are attracted to Barnabas, and both get more than they bargained for when they become involved with him. The film is fast-paced, predictably gory, and occasionally unintentionally humorous, with loopholes big enough to drive a hearse through. Fans of the show will have a definite edge over new viewers because little is done to introduce the uninitiated to the characters (most of whom quickly go under the tooth anyway) and background of the story.It's also a shame that the still-beautiful Bennett has little to do. Still, it's sincerely acted by all, boasts a superior score by Robert Cobert (much of it recycled from the series),and some beautiful photography. "House of Dark Shadows" is one place you'll want to explore.

This is one of the best horror films of the '70's, and certainly the best vampire flick of that decade. Based on the highly successful supernatural soap opera DARK SHADOWS, this feature film version of the ever popular series recounts the resurrection of Barnabas Collins(Jonathan Frid), a 175-year-old vampire who passes himself off as a modern-day descendant of the Collins clan. While staying at the Gothic Collinwood estate, Barnabas becomes entranced by a beautiful governess(Kathryn Leigh Scott) who bears a striking resemblance to his long-lost love, Josette, and determines to make the young woman his new bride. Few films based on Tv shows work, but HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS is an exception to that rule and like the TV series on which it is based, HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS has developed into a cult classic over the years. Like its sequel, 1971's NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS, the film is currently under restoration. There are several sequences from both films missing. Hopefully, the generally unfavorable opinion of NIGHT will change once all of the missing footage has been recovered, and the film will then rank right up there along with its predecessor like it should.

Intelligently done, but bloody and violent story based on the hit TV show Dark Shadows from the late 60s. The plot revolves around vampire Barnabas Collins, who finds a cure to become human again so he can wed a beautiful girl. Genuinely creepy atmosphere, beautifully filmed and surprisingly first-rate acting by cast.