Customer Reviews

Dark Shadows Collector's Vol 1 [VHS]

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You've heard the expression,"Every Legend has a Beginning"? Well, Dark Shadows is no different. Yes, Dark Shadows is always synonymous with vampire Barnabas Collins,Yet, the Collector's Series Vol.1 deals with the strange goings on with the Collins family Pre-Barnabas. If you enjoy old gothic novels dealing with ghosties, goulies, old creeky houses and things that go bump in the night, then the Dark Shadows Collector's Series is for you! The Collector's Series deals with: the arrival of the young governess Victoria Winters to the strange town of Collinsport, the revenge of Burke Devlin on the Collins Family, the mysterious death of Bill Malloy, the arrival of Roger Collins wife Laura, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard's terrifying secret in the basement room, and finally the arrival of Barnabas himself. Do yourself a favor and start Dark Shadows off from the Beginning. Hope you Enjoy!

This tape presents the first 5 episodes of the classic gothic daytime soap opera Dark Shadows, originally aired 1966-71. This first tape of an ongoing series includes the first episode (aired 6/27/66)complete with the original ABC network commercials. The remaining episodes contain the original opening production slates. The original master broadcast tapes have been restored for this collection, all in glorious black & white (the show began color broadcasts the following year). For anyone interested in seeing live-on-tape production from this television era, you won't be disappointed in this re-mastered set. Who knows, if you get hooked on the story, you'll be pleased to know that all 1225 episodes are available in subsequent volumes.

That's right, folks, there really was life in Collinwood before the resurrection of Barnabas Collins, and now, thanks to home video, you can enjoy the rarely seen episodes from this unique television classic. Volumes 1 to 4 for example center on an attractive young governess named Victoria Winters(Alexandra Moltke) who turns up at the great Collinwood estate to look after ten-year-old problem child David Collins(David Henesy), and ends up getting a lot more than she bargained for as she gradually uncovers the many mysteries that surround the Collins family. Viewers will instantly be hooked and fully understand why "Dark Shadows" has been called one of the best TV series of all time.

These collectors videos are superb!It covers what happens BEFORE Barnabas shows up.A young woman from a NYC orphanage is mysteriously contacted by the reclusive,remote,mysterious Collins family to come to their home to live and be a governess to their small boy who claims to see ghosts.And things get very mysterious and strange!

I'm 14 years old and my mom got me hooked on Dark Shadows 2 years ago.It is an intriguing story that makes you want to see more after its finished!I definately recommend this to teenagers and adults alike.It has a fabulous cast(My favorite being Lara Parker as Angelique)and an ever mysterious story line.Even now in the nineties it remains a legend!

This is an EXCELLENT volume released by MPI Home Video. This features the first five episodes, with original production slates. The first episode (#01-06/27/66) includes original ABC commercials. These episodes are about Victoria Winters (played by Alexandra Moltke) coming to Collinwood to become the tutor to David Collins. Elizabeth Collins Stoddard is the head of the Collins family, Roger Collins is her brother, and David Collins is the son of Roger. Carolyn Stoddard soon befriends Victoria. Victoria meets Burke Devlin and Maggie Evans. We also get to see the Blue Whale, where Joe Haskell gets into a fight. These episodes are of wonderful quality, which is sort of shocking since this show was taped live and considering that the later episodes never matched the 'feel' of the earlier episodes. If you love "Dark Shadows", you should DEFINATLY get this volume. The way David treats Victoria is mean, but it really conveys feelings. There are wonderful performances by Joan Bennett (Elizabeth Collins Stoddard), Louis Edmonds (Roger Collins), Nancy Barrett (Carolyn Stoddard), Mitchell Ryan (Burke Devlin), David Henesy (David Collins), Joel Crothers (Joe Haskell), Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans), and the lovely and wonderful Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters--the woman who started it all! Dan Curtis definatly did a good job on this show.

Younger viewers will not be familiar with the popular tv soap opera Dark Shadows which ran from the late 60's into the seventies. It is a Gothic drama, with all the twists and turns of any soap opera today(an example of this would be Port Charles on ABC daytime which feature a vampire and Passions on NBC which features a witch). It is the saga of the Collins family, whose lives are marked by tragedy and supernatural events. Do not stop with the first volume of the series, though it is undoubtedly some of the finest hours. Victoria Winters arrives at Collinswood mansion as the governess to an eccentric boy and is the target of much peril. We are drawn to the mystery of the Collinswoods, the love story of Barnabas and Angelique, which turns violent when he falls for Josette, and is in turn cursed to live as a vampire. The opening music is some of the creepiest tunes in tv history and the handsome 60's actors perform an incredible and convinceable drama of intrigue, murder, vampirism and doomed romance. This is the same attractive qualities readers of Gothic fiction such as Bronte's Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are drawn to. You, too, will love the stories. Collect the entire series. Whether you are a Goth or not.

The early episodes of "Dark Shadows" are among the finest gothic horror productions ever done on video.

It is interesting to compare later color episodes of this same series - segments filmed with the zoom lens and color video - that utterly lack the atmosphere and "horror-movie" ambience of these earlier episodes. The later episodes are insipid primarily because their makers abandoned two things - the use of fixed focal length lenses, which one finds only in early video, and black and white, the result of which was a constantly varying and nebulous point of view that lacked the perspective of a fixed focal length, and had a washed-out color with its obvious detriments.

These may seem like abstract concerns, but when applied to the horror film format, which the "Dark Shadows" storyline obviously capitalizes upon, they are of great significance in the impact of the overall production. It is for these reasons that this video, as well as the other early episodes, are of such intense emotional effect.

Every one of the actors is startlingly good, unusually excellent for a live teledrama, and this, as well as all the black and white episodes of the series, are essential for any horror-film connoiseuer.

Having watched Dark Shadows every day after school during my junior high school days, I started in the middle and this collection was a wonderful way to learn about the beginning. I am now able to connect people together. Thanks!

In 1990 / 1991 when I was in grade 8 I watched this show religiuosly every friday night at 9 on A.B.C. with a couple of my friends. This is one of the best memories I have of high school. I love this show. Rock On Dark Shadows!