Customer Reviews

The Best of Dark Shadows [TV Series] [VHS]

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This chilling video release does indeed feature many terrific highlights from the ever popular Gothic TV series. However, this spooky compilation is for only the most devoted fans of the show because the tape skips from one suspenseful moment to the next sans narration, leaving many viewers to ponder just what events led to these shocking developments. Those who choose to relive some of these spine-tingling events will meet an 18th-century witch, a werewolf, a Jekyll and Hyde character, and of course, reluctant vampire Barnabas Collins released from his 200-year-sleep. If you find yourself pleased with this special video presentation, there is a second installment on home video entitled: BEST OF DARK SHADOWS, VOLUME TWO.

"My name is Victoria Winters." With that introductory line, ABC launched its supernatural soap opera in 1966, and "Dark Shadows'" five-year run turned out to be a sleeper megahit that put the network's daytime schedule on the map. For those of us who sped home every day from junior high to catch the mid-afternoon show, this quirky series that never really left is a supernatural hoot of fun, its gothic backdrop and campiness notwithstanding. Who wouldn't be glad to welcome back the cast afer more than 30 years, like blood-sucking vampire but otherwise good guy Barnabas, a victim of a curse cast by a witch he killed a couple of times before giving in to more than two centuries of suppressed love; Maggie Evans, the Josette double who was kidnapped by but escaped Barnabas; the witchy Angelique, the devil's bride whose beauty belied the evil inside? And what about all those jaunts through time, so many that we nearly needed a scorecard from one day to the next to keep up with what new century we had been sent to? This particular video captures some of the bigger highlights (and there were many) in the entire series, and it's a good one as far as it goes. But a library of each and every episode is the best way to go. The show launched the careers of such performers as Kate Jackson ("Charlie's Angels," "Scarecrow and Mrs. King"), David Selby ("Falcon Crest") and Kathryn Leigh-Scott ("Maggie Evans" and "Josette," who became a frequent character actress in primetime dramas. Sadly, not many of the cast members through the years are still with us, but they're probably getting a big hoot on the other side knowing their work in this show remains as captivating as ever, camp and all.

I bought the two best of volumes for my wife, a devoted fan of the TV series in the 70s. The first tape is an incomprehensible patch work of seemingly disconnected scenes. No plot, no drama, no value to us or for others who watched. I returned the second video for a refund.

I am twelve years old and I loved this movie. My sister and I've memorized the whole movie. It is a little crudely made but it was still good.