House of Dark Shadows (1970)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Dan Curtis

Writers:

Sam Hall (writer)
Gordon Russell (writer)

Release Date:

6 March 1971 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Romance

Tagline:

Barnabas Collins, vampire, takes a bride in a bizarre act of ultimate lust.

Plot:

The story of vampire Barnabas Collins, the possible cure offered by Dr. Julia Hoffman, and his search for love amidst the horror.

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Cure | Love | Blood | Gothic

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jonathan Frid	...	Barnabas Collins
Grayson Hall	...	Dr. Julia Hoffman
Kathryn Leigh Scott	...	Maggie Evans
Roger Davis	...	Jeff Clark
Nancy Barrett	...	Carolyn Stoddard
John Karlen	...	Willie Loomis
Thayer David	...	Professor T. Eliot Stokes
Louis Edmonds	...	Roger Collins
Don Briscoe	...	Todd Blake
David Henesy	...	David Collins
Dennis Patrick	...	Sheriff George Patterson
Lisa Blake Richards	...	Daphne Budd, Elizabeth's Secretary (as Lisa Richards)
Jerry Lacy	...	Minister
Barbara Cason	...	Mrs. Johnson
Paul Michael	...	Old Man

Also Known As:

Dark Shadows (USA) (pre-release title)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:(Banned) (1971) | Norway:16 (1971) | UK:18 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion - 295 West Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Quotes:

Willie Loomis: The Madonnas reast high above, the lion's head watches the dove, and in the womb beneath the hill-a blazing light grows bright and still.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Monster Mania (1997) (TV)

Lots of teeth, lots of blood

I had been a hardcore fan of Dark Shadows for two years when this movie was released in 1968. I recall coming into the theatre and hearing somebody say to a friend, "So what did you think of it?" and receiving the reply, "Lots of teeth, lots of blood." Sadly, that pretty much sums up this picture's appeal. There is some atmospheric photography of Lyndhurst, the Gothic mansion in Tarrytown, NY that stands in for the original Collinwood (a mansion in Newport, RI, currently being used as a boys' dormitory--the first time I visited the house I was jarred by the sounds of a Metallica record blaring out of one of the windows).

As was the case with the sequel Night of Dark Shadows, the final release print of this movie was substantially cut down from Director Dan Curtis' submission to MGM. Unfortunately all the scenes sliced from the original print basically established the characters and their motivations. The bare bones (or should that be fangs) of the story survives intact. If you know nothing about the mystique or the legend of Dark Shadows, this will be an enjoyable, reasonably stylish horror film in the manner of the late Sixties, with some realism but hardly the splatter-gore factor that hit horror movies after the huge success of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the early 70s.

The ensemble cast works very well, given that all of these people had been working together for three or four years at this point. Outstanding are Jonathan Frid's enigmatically menacing vampire Barnabas Collins--the pain and vulnerability Frid emotes with his eyes at certain sequences is really quite striking; Grayson Hall's superb portrayal of medico-on-the-verge Dr. Julia Hoffman (Barbara Steele, who reprised the role in a 1990 remake, complained that Grayson was "excruciatingly good" in the part), and excellent character actor Thayer David's surprisingly complex portrayal of Professor T. Eliot Stokes. Nancy Barrett as doomed heiress Carolyn Stoddard is a beautiful, fragile, Gothic presence. Emmy winner John Karlen (who went on to appear in another cult vampire film, Daughters of Darkness, a couple months later in Belgium this year) makes Willie Loomis one of the best roles of his career. Joan Bennett is patrician and unforgettable in what amounts to a cameo appearance as the family matriarch.