Diagonaldi Very well executed

WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Coventry I always wanted to see the "Dark Shadows" TV-series, but never had the courage to actually start… Six or seven years ago, I was thrilled to have found the first 35 episodes on DVD, but then I discovered there's a total of nearly 600 episodes, so what's the point? I tracked down the two spin-off films instead, hoping hoping that it wouldn't require extended knowledge of the TV-series. Luckily it doesn't, so all of you who're interested in this cult franchise as well, rest assured that the movies stand on their own as solid and creepily entertaining Gothic horror classics. Produced and directed by the multi-talented Dan Curtis, "House of Dark Shadows" delivers plenty of macabre atmosphere, sinister decors and filming locations, intriguing characters and a surprisingly big amount of typically late 60's/early 70's graphic gore. You know the type of gore I'm referring to, don't you? The thick and flashy red blood that spurts out of peoples' chests when they're impaled by wooden stakes! The plot of "House of Dark Shadows" is simple, efficient and actually very reminiscent to Bram Stoker's legendary tale of "Dracula" only with different character names and a contemporary New England setting. 19th Century vampire patriarch Barnabas Collins is resurrected from his tomb and mingles with his present day descendants by pretending he's a distant relative from another continent. The beautiful Maggie Evans immediately catches Barnabas' attention, since she looks exactly like his long lost lover Josette. But poor (?) Barnabas is too popular with the ladies, as also young cousin Carolyn and the acclaimed female Doctor Julia Hoffman fall in love with him. Carolyn gets turned into a vampire and terrorizes the area, while Dr. Hoffman intends to cure Barnabas' vampirism through a series of medical injections. The latter sub plot is definitely the freshest and most inventive part of the film because, as said, the rest is fairly similar to "Dracula". Maggie Evans is more or less Mina, her fiancée Jeff is Harker, Carolyn is Lucy and Professor Eliot Stokes is a bleaker version of Prof. Van Helsing. This is merely an observation, not so much a point of criticism since I was very much amused by "House of Dark Shadows" from start to finish. Jonathan Frid's performance as Barnabas Collins is inarguably one of the film's major strongpoints. He depicts the vampire character as a crossover between a despicable monster and a troubled romanticist; which is a style that became often copied in later vampire movies. It's a fun flick, with creepy music and settings as well as a devoted cast and crew! Very much recommended to horror lovers young and old (but preferably a tad bit older, since this doesn't resemble nowadays rubbish such as "Twilight" at all!)

Pumpkin_Man I re-watched this last night. For the past year, I've been watching the classic Dark Shadows series, and I thought this movie was done pretty well. I love how they actually play the theme (unlike Tim Burton's version) They tried so hard to re-film scenes from episodes 211- 300ish and cram it all into a 90 minute movie. Their cut scenes felt like they cut it too short and went on to something else. In the beginning of the show, Barnabas was very much a monster and killed people, but as the series progressed, he sorta became a good guy and helped people. This film shows Barnabas as he was in the beginning; a vampire that killed people and forced Willie Loomis to be his servant. After attacking Carolyn, Barnabas becomes attracted to Maggie Evans, who be believes is his lost love, Josette DuPres re-incarnated.If you didn't watch the show, you'd probably have no idea what's going on. The film starts so suddenly it feels like it's in the middle of one of the episodes. No story as to who the Collins family are. No mention of Victoria Winters. No backstory as to how Barnabas became a vampire, and not mentioned how or why Dr. Hoffman, Jeff Clark, or Professor Stokes are there (but in the series, it's all explained. This film doesn't run con-current with the series, so it's not meant to be a sequel to the show) It has its faults, but it's a pretty worthy film based on the series. If you love the series, you may enjoy HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS!!!

mike48128 David Collins (the young boy) and a lot of the original characters have almost nothing-to-do in the 1970 movie. Does David's tutor even have a role here? The story involves mainly two themes and is a clumsy reprise of the ABC series: Dr. Hoffman tries to "cure" Barnabas Collins, and Barnabas' reincarnated bride ("Angelique"). It moves too fast. It seems like the first part of the movie was "chopped-off" as it seems to open in the middle, not the beginning. Maybe MGM made director Dan Curtis shorten it, like they did with his sequel "Night of Dark Shadows." Willie Loomis, the demented houseboy,is played "smarter" than in the other versions. Everyone must be in a real fog not to see that Barnabas is the cause of the mysterious deaths. Plot twist: Silver bullets do not usually kill vampires, but they do in this re-telling. Barnabas was always a "reluctant" vampire, but not here. He is far meaner and he strangles as many people as he turns into vampires. This "change of personality" might have hastened the untimely demise of the afternoon series in 1971. Guest monsters like a werewolf or even Frankenstein (both were in the final season, weren't they?) would have helped. It is not "campy" enough. Far too serious in nature, and far more bloody than the series. At the finish, almost everyone is either dead or living-dead. (Did anyone see the fake-looking bat that flies away at the film's end?) However, it does have good production values: a real mansion and real woods instead of a cheap indoor set with outdoor filmed scenes. Look for Nancy Barrett, who becomes a gorgeous long-haired blond vampire. (She looks a lot like Majel Barrett from "Star Trek".) For die-hard fans only. Both House and Night of Dark Shadows are now on DVD. See my separate review of the 1991 revival series.

GL84 When a mysterious stranger arrives at a family castle in a secluded countryside acting as a boardinghouse for girls, the owners come to suspect something might be behind the man's appearance and race to stop his nefarious plans.A Gothic soap opera that's actually pretty decent, if not entirely flawed to some extent. The setting and situations play right into the grandiose Hammer stylings, with basements, crypts, coffins and such, allowing for some pretty chilling situations and scenes that come off rather well, from his attack on the headmaster and the little boy's encounter in the crypt, leaving this one with some rather fun times when it wants to be a horror film. The flaws come about when it's not being a horror film, namely the scenes with the family or their growing distrust of each other, the scenes of him mingling with the family during the dinner or the costume ball and his relationship with his turned servant-girl that make the human drama feel exactly like that, a drama that comes off far too much like a Soap Opera which are just boring and don't really go anywhere. There's also the fact that that the lead vampire is supposed to be sexually desirable but is anything but, and looks quite silly when as a vampire really stretches the film's credibility. Otherwise, this was a pretty good time.Today's Rating-Unrated/PG-13: Violence and Language.