Matt Smitty I watched this movie all the way through and just couldn't get into it. It is one of those movies that is like a 30s or 40s black and white movie but with color. The acting/writing/direction is exactly like that of a black and white movie but it is in color. These should have some kind of name to refer to them, there are a lot of them and if you like one, you like them all. For me, i have never been able to get into these kinds of movies. Most Italian horrors and gallios are like this. Maybe one day ill get into it but I've seen a lot and still don't get it.This movie is about a vampire and a researcher that is trying to find a cure.. i don't really remember details since i couldn't get into it.

virek213 There has never been any other single daytime TV program like "Dark Shadows", the creation of producer Dan Curtis, which ran on ABC-TV from 1966 to 1971. What began as a typical soap opera instead evolved into a Gothic melodrama that would involve ghosts, zombies, and, most of all, a vampire named Barnabas Collins. It was the first time that horror had invaded daytime television, and it may have been too unique, since it hasn't been done again in any way, shape, or form on daytime television. Yes, it was a very low budget undertaking; the sets were threadbare; and the acting was what you'd expect for any other soap opera, even one literally full of cobwebs. Nevertheless, it was on for five years, with an astounding 1,225 episodes being aired in the afternoon hours for those five years. And Curtis, realizing how the show was gaining a cult audience unheard of among soap opera fans, decided to make two big-screen films from it. The first of these was HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, released in 1970.Using many of the characters and actors that regularly appeared in the TV serial itself, HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS sees the 175 year-old vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) being unwisely released from his resting place by a callow undertaker (John Karlen), and he goes to the Collinwood estate to cause all manner of vampiric mayhem on the Collins family. He introduces himself as a cousin from England, but he pretty soon proves to be much more than that, first killing off the secretary (Lisa Blake Richards) to Collinwood matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Joan Bennett). This leads off to many other ghoulish things, as anyone bitten by Frid comes back to life as a vampire as well. A nominally related sequel to the film, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS, would follow in 1971; but by that time, the series itself had come to an end, awaiting syndication revivals in the 1980s and beyond.The ironic thing is that the release of HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS in the late summer of 1970 may have partially hastened the demise of the TV series itself. Due to the very low budget of the series, and the restrictions placed on television during the late 1960s and early 1970s, much of what went on was largely implied, or given Gothic flourishes (cobwebs; fog; sometimes nourish photography). But even though the budget for HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS wasn't exactly big either, at just $750,000, Curtis, freed from TV censorship restrictions, was able to show a lot more in the way of sex and violence, especially in Frid's bloodthirsty activities. And while nothing in this film even comes remotely close to HOSTEL/SAW-type torture porn, the biting and staking scenes as such were nevertheless quite hair-raising, bloody, and horrific for their time. The series' ratings decline may have been due to the fact that parents discouraged their young kids from seeing it after the film's release, owing to the much more explicit material of the film.Curtis went on to make a number of very solid made-for-TV horror films, notably 1972's THE NIGHT STALKER, 1973's THE NIGHT STRANGLER, 1975's TRILOGY OF TERROR, and a very good 1974 adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula (with Jack Palance as the world's best-known bloodsucker), all of which were scripted by the legendary Richard Matheson. He also went on to do some miniseries work for TV ("The Winds Of War") and the 1976 feature horror film BURNT OFFERINGS. But HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, despite its low-budget flaws, nevertheless distinguishes itself as a thoroughly unique horror film, especially of the vampire genre, of the early 1970s, much as the series that spawned it remains, again with all its flaws in mind, one of the most unique TV shows ever put on the air.

poe426 HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS is quintessential fan-based filmmaking: timed to cash in on the popularity of the then still-airing-daily soap opera, it featured most of the players from the show- but with one notable omission: Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters. (Ms. Moltke would go on to fame- or infamy- as the mistress of alleged would-be murderer Claus von Bulow.) One of the many delights of DARK SHADOWS were the gaffes: someone flubbed a line at least once in every episode (which may be an exaggeration, but not by much) and there were so many on-air blunders that entire recordings of just the bloopers have been popular since the show went off the air. HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, which has that rushed feeling we'd all come to know and love on the series itself, has at least one very noticeable goof: when Elizabeth Collins (Joan Bennett) pops up for the very first time, microphones are clearly visible in the lower part of the frame. When I first saw that, it took me back to the show I'd grown up loving. You can't ask for more than that.

lost-in-limbo I usually see director Dan Curtis as economical, but in a plain sense (which sees him in a lot of made for TV features) and there's some of that evident in the traditional, but always sophisticated and eerie low-budget (it shows) tragic horror 'House of Dark Shadows'. However amongst the cramp and basic brushes, there's also a stylish guidance to some of the moody imagery (like the visually crisp finale that captures your imagination). The premise about vampirism is quite cookie-cutter involving an old aged vampire seeking his lost love and finding it in the appearance of a young lady that closely resembles his true love. However it does try to turn some conventions upside down, as for the fascinating spin involving a possible cure… but at its core the customary staples of afflicting romance and bloodlust (which is doesn't cop out on) create a certain offbeat charm. Will we ever tire of the sullen lovelorn vampire, with impulsively violent tendencies. No, not really. Sam Hall and Gordon Russell's material is interestingly penned (even with its blunt script); as it doesn't take long to break out the soapy drama and go on to let the explaining stream through as the dreamy story unfolds. This makes the opening if so feel a little creaky and muddled, but soon it shapes up for a tightly driven and crafty fable that achieves a few surprises. Although the cutaway editing falls on the abrupt side, making certain sequences lose some edge (namely those moments focusing on the violence, but still keeping intact its nasty side) and the camera-work can fall in the pattern of loosing focus with a certain blurry haze, but still managing to pull out some fluidly captured frames. Along the way are quickly placed jolts (on the editing's part), but also well drilled suspense and hysteria. The performances are mainly well-judged. Jonathan Frid bestows confidence, and a rigid quality as Barnabas Collins the century old vampire. He looks creepy under all of that heavy make-up in the latter scenes. Thayer David and Grayson Hall stand out in their roles too. The lovely Kathryn Leigh Scott brings the right sort of finesse and innocence to her part and Nancy Barrett makes great of her biting (literally that is) performance. Also Joan Bennett and Roger Davis fair up. Laid on thick is such a menacingly gloomy atmosphere made more so effective by the Gothic engraved art direction of interiors, shadowy locations of the secluded woods and not forgetting the stinging score arrangement that breathes quite heavy. No great shakes, but admirably poignant and uncanny minimum horror.