Night of Dark Shadows

In 1975 I was a freelance writer in New York. During that year I was honored to interview stage and screen actress and one of the stars from Dark Shadows, Grayson Hall. It was during this interview that I learned why NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS was such a bad film.

The late Ms. Hall related a story which told of how MGM called her husband, "Dark Shadows writer" Sam Hall and told him that he would have to fly out to California and edit out nearly 30 min. from his latest film. After his sad task was done he returned home and shortly thereafter the film was released. It was not up to the standards the the series nor MGM's hit from just the year before "House of Dark Shadows" had. The idea was excellent. Dialog well written, stylishly photographed and wonderful performances from the cast. The problem was the fact that the feature made little sense. It plotted along for 90 min's filled with questions and vagueness.

However, the good news is that most of the edited footage has been found and is now in the process of being re-edited. Night of Dark Shadows, through the popularity of the series, is in a sense going to be re-born. Sam Hall's work shall now be seen as it was created. Perhaps then we will be able to appreciate this classic haunted house story, the way it should be, without studio butchering.

Night of Dark Shadows was Dan Curtis' follow-up to the immensely popular movie from the hit soap opera Dark Shadows. This movie reinforces many known facts about sequels. Sequels always have much to overcome. They are invariably compared to the original. If the movie is a carbon copy of the first, it's criticized for being un-original. If it takes a different road, the public laments that it's not what they wanted. Dan Curtis deserves much never received praise for taking an entirely different road to Collinwood this time and risking the public's ire. At the time of it's release, Night of Dark Shadows received undeserved criticism for being slow and disjointed. The probable reason for this was that Dan Curtis was forced to edit Night down to a double-feature friendly running time, so much of it's plot and character explanations landed - guess where - on the cutting room floor. However, if one really watches this film closely, they will be richly rewarded with a delightfully moody and atmospheric haunted house/possession/witchcraft flick that will send chills where they should go during a horror flick. David Selby is stoic and forboding as Quentin and Charles Collins, and Kate Jackson is the embodiment of purity and goodness as Tracy. Grayson Hall plays Carlotta with sheer relish. She's the kind of housekeeper that motivates one to become a better housekeeper, so that we can one day fire her. Lara Parker will make you forget to inhale or exhale as Angelique. Her beauty is indescribable, as is her ability for evil. John Karlen returns as Quentin's best friend Alex, and Nancy Barrett is approachable yet truly seductive as Alex's wife Claire. They are simply a joy to watch together. Once again, the elegant Lyndhurst mansion is the perfect home for the Collins family, this time a haunted one. If you haven't seen Night of Dark Shadows yet, give it a try. If you have and weren't impressed the first time, give it another chance. It deserves that much - and you'll be glad you did.

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. ..

I think all the fans agree on one thing about this movie: it's the deleted scenes and the horrible editing job that prevent this movie from being the great ghost story it should be. But for me, having seen it just once on television, it could also do something about the extrenuous extra characters in the movie with vague connections to the ghost. The best ghost story only really needs the people who see the ghost and the ghost itself/herself. All the extra roles, the handyman, the psycho maid, the neighbors just barely provide the Collins some breathing room from the ghosts. Lara Parker does a very good job playing etherial and ephemeral as she portrays the ghost lurking just out of your mind's eye. David Selby and Kate Jackson have a wonderful chemistry, but the hestiant romance as well as the unnecessary flashbacks also do much to impair the flow of the story. John Karlen and Nancy Barrett, two of my faves from the series (John has a wonderful voice for mimmickry and Nancy's beauty has no bounds), seem to be only present to remind the watcher that this movie is based on a television series. Grayson Hall, much like Bette Davis, does a wonderful job playing a sinister and unpredictable old bat of a housekeeper. As a whole, the film is rather fair, but what it lacks in the style of a ghost movie such as The Legend Of Hell House, it more than makes up in atmosphere.