Night of Dark Shadows

source: Curse of Dark Shadows

Quentin Collins (David Selby) moves to live in Collinwood with his wife Tracy (Kate Jackson). While there past Collins family members who were witches try to possess Quentin and kill Tracy. Originally this ran 129 minutes and was a good film. Then MGM ordered the makers to cut them film down to 90 minutes. They did and what was left is a slow-moving boring film. It LOOKS good and most of the acting is OK but it makes little sense and isn't even remotely scary. Even more surprising was Selby. He's a handsome man and a wonderful actor but he looks terrible here and looks miserable in his role. Supposedly they found the lost footage and have "revoiced" it but it has yet to be added to the movie. Hopefully it will be added soon. As it stands this is a thoroughly forgettable horror film.

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.

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 ****

Dan Curtis' "Dark Shadows" remains the most thoroughly unique "soap opera" ever put on TV, because instead of melodramatic plots, love triangles and such being set in fictional settings, he decided to go Gothic and supernatural with all of those things. The saga of the Collins family and all the weird things that happen in the Collinwood estate was so engrossing that, even with the melodramatic and occasionally hammy acting and sets that were low budget even for TV, the show lasted for five years (1966-1971) and 1,225 episodes. Curtis extracted two feature-length films from it, both of which became as much cult films as the series itself had done on the small screen. The first was 1970's HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, which was revolved around Jonathan Frid's infamous vampire Barnabas Collins. The second one was 1971's NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS, only very loosely related to its big-screen predecessor, and having more in common with some of the plot lines of the TV show's 1969-1970 season. Series regular David Selby returns to his role of Quentin Collins, now a painter who inherits the Collinwood mansion, only to find the place haunted, and himself possibly possessed, by an ancestor of his, namely Charles Collins (Selby again). A whole host of supernatural evils, some of them a tad bit bloody (though, absent Frid's vampire, they are less explicit than what we saw in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS), ensues. As had been the case with both the TV series and HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS itself, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS does contain its share of fairly bizarre and twisted happenings; but series regulars Thayer David, Grayson Hall, John Karlen, and Lara Parker are on hand to offer some continuity, as is composer Robert Cobert, who once again provides the right amount of sonic atmosphere for this film, which, like the first film, was shot at the mansion once owned by rubber baron Jay Gould in Tarrytown, New York. Besides producing and directing, Curtis co-scripted NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS with Sam Hall, his co-creator of the TV series, which, by the time of the film's release in August 1971, had left the air, only to wind up going into syndication and reruns in the 1980s, where it found a whole new kind of audience. The film itself, while certainly a fair bit less interesting than the admittedly ghoulish HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, does have plenty of atmosphere an excellent set designs, given that its budget was only $900,000; and the cast, including a young Kate Jackson (later to star in another ABC series, "Charlie's Angels", later in the 1970s), is able to give good performances with the unquestionably melodramatic material. Most of Curtis' output after this was for the small screen, notably the 1973 adaptation of Dracula, and as producer of both THE NIGHT STALKER and THE NIGHT STRANGLER (he also directed the latter), though he would return to the big screen in 1976 for BURNT OFFERINGS. While not necessarily a spectacular horror film, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS still has enough spooky moments in it to warrant a 7/10 rating.

Painter Quentin Collins (David Selby) and his wife Tracy (Kate Jackson) move into ancestral home Collinwood unaware that the place is haunted by several ghosts, with the malevolent spirit of Charles Collins seeking to possess his descendant. With its running time drastically reduced from well over two hours to a mere 95 minutes thanks to studio interference, it comes as no surprise that the theatrical cut of Dan Curtis' Night of Dark Shadows lacks coherence and suffers from serious pacing issues. Painfully slow and frequently unfathomable, the film limps awkwardly from one dreary scene to the next with little evidence of Curtis's usually assured hand. No doubt a fully restored director's cut of Night of Dark Shadows would be an improvement (it could hardly be any worse), but as it stands—cut to shreds and making very little sense—the film is a huge step down from the previous Dark Shadows big-screen outing, House of Dark Shadows (1970).

I never much enjoyed Dark Shadows as a soap opera, so it's probably not much surprise that I find this an excruciatingly boring film. No Barnabas Collins, and not many chills. Of particular note is Bob Cobert's TV movie of the week style music, which sums up everything that's wrong with this attempt to cash-in on the series popularity.

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.

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.

. . . turns out to be crappier than the outhouse in SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. Referencing Manderley's housekeeper, "Mrs. Danvers," in its opening scene, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS inadvertently highlights the only thing it has in common with 1940's Best Picture Oscar winner: a housekeeper. While Mrs. Danvers in truly creepy, SHADOWS' "Carlotta" is merely a creep. Since every cast member here alternates between hammy overstatement and stage-frightened minimalism, the film editor employs countless virtual freeze frames (which cuts down on the many live action snafus, while Cluelessly highlighting the fact that this cast looks like what the cat dragged in). The sappy film score is sorely inappropriate, grating like an outtake reel from a daytime TV soap opera or a Hallmark Channel romance flick. After about 10 minutes, every musical note sounds like nails on a blackboard. If the proverbial thousand blind monkeys actually could type out a Shakespeare play given an infinite amount of time, SHADOWS seems like ONE sightless chimp's lunchtime doodles. It's really hard to imagine how this film could have been any worse.