Night of Dark Shadows

Perhaps few fans would agree, but I actually find this a more satisfying film than the predecessor, House of Dark Shadows. The script is more interesting--even with all the cuts (depending upon which version of the original script you consult, something like an hour of the final cut running time was excised, and MGM only gave Sam Hall and Dan Curtis one working day to make the cuts). There is still more character development in this film than in House of Dark Shadows. The cast is excellent, with a great chemistry, thanks to the fact that they had all worked together for several years on Dark Shadows as an ensemble before they made this film. Standouts include the young David Selby in the dual role as Quentin and Charles, Lara Parker as the evil Angelique, and John Karlen and Nancy Barrett in minimal roles as the young couple in the cottage. Grayson Hall is, as always, in a league of her own as Carlotta Drake, the Mrs Danvers-like housekeeper. With her elegant wardrobe and sinister glances, Grayson gives this film an alluring atmosphere of lingering evil waiting to pounce upon the bored and feckless yuppies who stumble into her web. Thayer David makes a great deal out of the small role of Reverend Strack. James Storm is pretty much wasted in the role of Gerard. Diana Millay, Clarice Blackburn, and Christopher Pennock have memorable little cameos. The score by Robert Cobert features the beautiful love theme (originally titled "Joanna" and used in the final season of Dark Shadows) which lends an air of wistful romance to the otherwise flat onscreen relationship between Selby and Kate Jackson.

Too bad the harried writer and producer didn't manage to film in the climactic seance sequence; in the theatrical trailer to the film, included on the laser disc version, you can see a couple of brief moments from this.

For whatever reasons, perhaps largely due to reported editing room butchery, this film seems like a lump of scrapings from the bottom of the barrel of Dan Curtis's Gothic horror imagination. Several fine actors are wasted in a half-baked narrative about the efforts of young, handsome Quentin Collins (David Selby) to shake off the stubborn curse of his ancestors when he returns to the family estate in "Maine" (ha! you mean the Hudson Valley) with his fresh-faced new bride (Kate Jackson). Whereas "House of Dark Shadows" the year before incorporated plot strands from its parent TV series, this spin-off tries (and fails) to come up with a new story line involving ghosts from centuries past repeatedly taking control of Quentin's mind, making him act like one of his evil ancestors which results in spousal abuse. Nancy Barrett and John Karlen play a couple who live nearby and try to help Quentin sort things out; the lack of integration of their characters is among the most glaring signs of post-production tampering with content. Grayson Hall is the oddly fashionable and immaculate caretaker who is actually a reincarnation of a 19th century family member. Thayer David appears too briefly in a couple of hallucinatory flashbacks as a priest who supervises the hanging of the witch Lara Parker, another ghost of the past who also appears too briefly.

Much of Robert Cobert's music, particularly the underscoring in establishing shots, is annoyingly inappropriate. In the TV series his compositions enhanced virtually every scene and contributed much to the otherworldly mood. Not so much here.

Many outdoor scenes are shot in crude day-for-night fashion, sometimes under bright blue skies which cause actors' faces to disappear amid the glare. A maintenance worker in the house is cast with an actor who resembles Selby so closely that you keep mixing them up. Is this intentional? Again – editing room chicanery or dumb casting? Will we ever know? Director's cut, please.

Quentin Collins (David Selby) and his wife Tracy (Kate Jackson) take over the ancestral Collinwood Mansion in Collinsport, Maine. He starts being haunted by nightmares of the persecution of his ancestor Charles Collins with his mistress Angelique. Their friends Alex and Claire move into the guest cottage. Carlotta Drake is the brooding housekeeper.

I don't know much about the Dark Shadows series other than that it exists. This is a sequel to the movie based on the TV series. As such, I don't bring along any baggage but also I don't bring along any knowledge. As a stand alone movie, it suffers from too many dream sequences. They don't connect since I don't know who the old characters are. It's too slow and too static. Mostly, I'm intrigue about Kate Jackson who started her career on the TV show. I would have liked more danger and more tension for her. The obvious move is for Quentin to go insane and start hunting Tracy like The Shining. It goes there but it does it weakly. She should be alone against everyone and it should go all the way to the end. Alex and Claire diffuses the tension by helping Tracy. For some reason, there is a car chase in this and it's not shot terribly well. This is not a good horror.

The film that was released as NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS doesn't begin to do justice to the screenplay penned by Sam Hall. The screenplay moves forward with intriguing clues scattered throughout (in the form of Quentin's daydreams and nightmares, as well as Carlotta's sometimes cryptic comments) as to the source and reasons for the haunting. As shot, the film basically followed the script--but MGM's forced butchery in the editing room, to achieve a 90-minute running time, turned the final product into a sometimes incomprehensible second-rate ghost story. I long for the day when the cut footage may be restored and a pristine new print (with Dolby Surround sound--or am I wishing for too much?) appears on DVD. ..

Well, almost... David Selby plays Quentin Collins, a talented young artist who moves his wife and himself into the woodsy estate once owned by his ancestors, who were involved in witchcraft and may still be hanging around; Grayson Hall is the caretaker of the manor, who knows all its dark secrets (she tells the handyman, "Everything's different now!"). Dan Curtis' continuation of themes he began with the television serial "Dark Shadows" has its effective moments, despite MGM forcing cuts to shorten the original running-time (the film is a second-cousin to the TV show out of necessity, not by design, after Jonathan Frid refused to return as Barnabas Collins, forcing Curtis in a new direction). Robert Cobert contributes a spooky score, although there is so much one-finger tapping on a piano that one gets the feeling everyone is walking around with their own keyboard. Cinematographer Robert Shore does excellent work on a tight budget, and nobody stages a creepy nightmare like Curtis (this one has a shuddery funeral in the rain, capped with a lonesome church bell and a woman laughing hysterically). The reincarnation plot isn't much, and Selby is too colorless an actor to be much of presence (or a threat), but the dark, damp location--with spirits around every corner--provides the perfect place for things that go bump in the night. ** from ****