Customer Reviews

Dark Shadows DVD Collection 1

5 star:		(79)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

... Basically, this first DVD set is VHS Volumes 1-4; in other words, 8 actual weeks of the programme, 2 weeks on each disc. The quality is better than the VHS tapes, but not greatly, as Dark Shadows was a very low budget soap opera, and through the years some of the original prints were lost, damaged, etc., and alternative prints were utilised in their stead; but it is a definite improvement over the quality of the VHS tapes. The programmes on this DVD collection begin at the same point in the series as the VHS videos begin: a synopsis of the earlier episodes and characters followed by the introduction of Barnabas Collins the Vampyre. As far as extras, there are three interviews approximately 5 minutes long each: Jonathan Frid (Barnabas), Kathryn Leigh-Scott (Maggie, Josette), and John Karlen (Willie, Kendrick), each interviewed several years ago. What really should be noted about the DVD collection(s) that differs from the VHS tapes is that ALL THE EPISODES ARE COMPLETE AND UNEDITED. The VHS tapes are actually edited. I didn't really notice this at first, until I realised I was seeing episodes and parts of episodes that weren't shown in the VHS volumes. (A clue to this being my former statement that the DVD collection, consisiting of 8 weeks, equals that of the VHS Volumes, 1-4; and as the VHS volumes only consist of approximately one week each, the math is incorrect.) By seeing the complete episodes, the viewer will find (after having watched the VHS tapes) the story to be fleshed out more, focusing more on all the characters and situations.

If you're new to Dark Shadows and are curious about this show and want a good starter sampler, this DVD collection is perhaps the best and least expensive way to start. For to begin with less than these 40 episodes will not give one a good idea of the scope of this programme. Quite frankly, even 40 episodes isn't enough to give anyone the idea of the scope of this show as there were so many changes in events and characters throughout the series. Keep in mind this is/was a five day a week soap opera (even if it is gothic), that it was on for approximately four to five years, that, as with all soap operas, it is mainly dialogue-based and moves at a snail's pace, and that, as such, can be very boring and tedious at times! And do expect low budget effects, bouts of melodramatic acting, and loads and loads of flubs and mistakes that made it onto film (due to the fact that the show was more often than not taped live and editing wasn't an option). However despite the many drawbacks, Dark Shadows is charming, addicting, imaginative, romantic, and eerie. And no matter how much one likes or dislikes a particular episode, one simply MUST see the next episode...and the next...and the next...and so on.

In a nutshell, Dark Shadows, with all its faults (probably more than any other show that ever aired on television), is pleasing because of the suspense and intrigue, and the imagination that propells it; because of the continuing story and the characters involved (who are portrayed by some very talented actors); and because of the romantic, supernatural escapism that draws us in. Watching Dark Shadows is very much like watching a play on a stage; and if one views it that way (no pun intended) all the mistakes, flubs, etc. will simply not matter.

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Although it's commonplace for classic TV programs to appear on DVD, it's unusual for this to happen with a soap opera. But DARK SHADOWS is an unusual soap opera -- the first to revolve around supernatural horror. In fact, the soap opera format gave DS time to present its tales of the supernatural with a depth and plausibility often lacking in TV speculative fiction. Furthermore, it was played by a group of topnotch actors who took it quite seriously and played it with as much sincerity as any reality-based soap opera.

The DVD release just might make it feasible to own the entire run. I don't know how I'd have stored the original VHS edition's 300+ cassettes (Liz, is the West Wing still empty?), but the DVD edition should total just over 30 of these boxed sets, which should fit nicely on one bookshelf.

DS is best known for the 200-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins, although he entered the story only after the show had been running for about a year. This installment begins with a 15-minute summary of that pre-Barnabas year, revealing that it was primarily non-supernatural, with periodic supernatural interludes.

The complete episodes begin with #210, wherein grifter Willie Loomis gets an unpleasant surprise during an attempted grave robbery. Willie disappears, and the mysterious Barnabas Collins appears, claiming to be a cousin from England. Willie reappears, suffering from an unidentifiable illness, and Barnabas asks permission to move into the abandoned "Old House" on the Collins estate. With Willie as an unwilling but powerless accomplice, Barnabas secretly kidnaps waitress Maggie Evans, intending to transform her into an undead reincarnation of his long lost love, Josette. In a moment of lucidity, Maggie attempts to kill Barnabas, but her timing isn't so hot, and you'll have to buy set #2 to find out what fate awaits her.

There's also a pre-Barnabas, non-supernatural storyline to finish up, which involves Willie's friend Jason McGuire blackmailing Collinwood's matriarch, Elizabeth Stoddard. Unlike the original VHS release of DS, this DVD edition has not been edited to de-emphasize this storyline.

Although Barnabas is pure villain at this point, he contrasts sharply with his literary inspiration, Count Dracula. Instead of reveling in his condition, Barnabas is, according to who played the role, an "angry everyman." Embittered over the fate that's been forced on him, he's determined to take what he believes is due him and had been unfairly denied him. It's a motive plenty of unhappy viewers can and did relate to relate to.

One also can't help feeling a bit sad for Barnabas because of the utter futility if what he's trying to do. Even if he's able to rob Maggie of her free will and sense of identity, the inescapable reality is that she never will really be his lost love Josette. A scene (in episode #239) I find particularly tragic in this respect has Barnabas arranging a romantic dinner with the half-dazed Maggie, and acting as if this really is Josette -- in fact insisting as much when Willie tries to tell him it's Maggie.

It also seems to me that the vampire myth is being used, to some extent, as a metaphor the various components of addiction -- the substance itself, the addict who rejects loved ones for the sake of the addiction, and the loved ones who are powerless to help, and only get abused and rejected for their trouble. This metaphor is evident in the escalating hostility between Maggie and her father Sam, boyfriend Joe, and friend Vicky as they fight to save her and she rejects them, even resorting to deception and trickery.

Oh yes -- note the dialog in episode #242, in which Dr. Hoffman is referred to as a man. The idea of a female Dr. Hoffman hadn't been thought of as yet.

Barnabas is played by Shakespearean actor Jonathan Frid, who brings class and sophistication to the role. Alas, Frid also flubs more lines than anybody else in the cast. The problem was that, being a stage actor, he was unused to the rigors of daytime television drama. He reportedly has a bad habit of anguishing over specific lines and speeches, at the expense of memorizing an entire script. There appears to be an example of this in episodes 212 and 214. At the end op #212, Frid delivers a chilling yet moving soliloquy to the portrait of Josette. Then, in #214, he completely mangles a line about the Collins family in England.

One noteworthy detail of that speech in #212 is that Barnabas doesn't use the word "vampire" in a situation where it would have been appropriate. In fact, it has been noted the DS deliberately did not use that word for quite a long time. Apparently, Dan Curtis wanted to break new ground, but to do it gingerly. Actually, I think it added to the plausibility. In later episodes, the word would get bounced around in an offhand way that came dangerously close to camp.

Another distinctive feature of these earlier episodes is the use of film sequences for exteriors. I'm struck especially by one (in episode #238) that features Carolyn and Vicky outside of the old house. This is one of the few times we get an appreciation for how BIG the Old House is.

The DVD edition features a spooky surround sound introduction to the main menu. It's cool, but I wish you could skip directly to the menu. I also wish each individual act of each episode was an individual chapter. Instead, each episode is one chapter, so there's no way to skip to the middle of one except to fast-forward to the desired point.

On the other hand, this set includes bonus interviews with Jonathan Frid, Kathryn Leigh Scott, and John Karlen. I especially enjoyed Karlen's comments on the problems of keeping the show credible.

All in all, this DVD edition is definitely what DS fans have been waiting for.

Are creaking coffins, cobweb-filled doorways and flickering candelabras your thing? How about romantic, angst-filled Gothic vampires, in endless conflict with their mortal souls and their immortal longings? Nah, it ain't that overly-slick, too-hip-for-its-own-good "Buffy" show that people talk about. We're talking about Dark Shadows, the FIRST vampire series on tv; the Granddaddy of all Gothic shows.

Premiering in 1966, it began as your basic routine, lovey-dovey serial tear-jerker with all those little coffee cups and handy hankies. But low ratings forced the mighty cancellation axe too close for comfort, so producer/creator Dan Curtis said, "Aw, the heck with it. If we're gonna go out, let's go out with a bang. Let's introduce a vampire!" And so, BARNABAS COLLINS was born. At first glance, Barnabas seemed another bastardly knock-off of ol' Drac himself...but this is daytime television. In soaps, you have time to peer beneath the surface of your favorite characters. We got to know him, this Barnabas, and rank imitator, or two-dimensional camp caricature he never was. No, this was a vampire with a soul. With a purpose. With longings far beyond the jugular of the next available neck. Ah, Barnabas. Television's first sex symbol of the undead. An instant American icon. You invited him into your home. You loved him, and you loved for him to scare the...out of you.

But wait, there's something else here that's even scarier than Barnabas! Ya see, this was taped back in 1966. It is LIVE on tape, that is, whatever they taped was what you saw. There was very little in the way of editing. This is television at its most raw, and most compelling. Everything is left to chance, or fate. If the candles accidentally fall off their holders, that's okay! Keep rolling! It's too expensive to stop and go back! Did that legendary soap actress really flub her lines? Who cares! We gotta be out of the studio by 5:00! Keep going! Keep going!

Watching Dark Shadows is terrifying far beyond its subject matter...because you just...never...know what's going to happen next. It could be a door that won't open. It could be a fly landing on the ingenue's nose. It could be a piece of scenery crashing to the ground. All these things could happen, and all of them did! And it's right there for you to see...forever. This is not that canned, over-rehearsed and edited-to-death, spontaneity-free junk you've been watching the last 30 years. This is REAL television!

DARK SHADOWS, brother. See it!

Many remember running home from school to catch the antics of a rather strange family living high atop the perpetually stormy Widow's Hill in fictional Collinsport, Maine, when they were children. A Gothic soap opera in the middle of the afternoon? Would it fly? Of Course! Over 35 years after it's conception in the brilliantly warped mind of creator Dan Curtis, this series remains one of the most beloved and enduring Television programs of all time!Complete with the mistakes and flubs, this classic returns to spook you yet again with its raw yet talented performances, liberally stripped from the classic gothic novels such as Turn of the Screw, Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and more! I thank Dark Shadows for introducing my rather overactive imagination to the classic novels of Shelley, Stoker and James! Beginning with episode #210 and the resurrection of Barnabas Collins, this collection gives an overview of the first year and then contains 40 complete episodes as originally broadcast in eerie black and white. Later episodes begin in color but those initial black and white and kinescope episodes give them an spooky feeling of a Boris Karloff movie!Hopefully MPI will find it necessary to also produce the First Year episodes which are crucial to any serious collector! Also the beautifully produced yet ill-fated 1991 version should be put on DVD! Because of the size of the series (1225 episodes) the introduction on DVD is a wise spacesaving addition to any library. If you are a fan of the series or a fan of gothic stories, this show is for you! After all, how many families do you know have vampires, werewolves and zombies as house guests? Do yourself a favor! Buy Dark Shadows in its best, money saving format yet!! You'll love it!!

My first memory of Dark Shadows was staying up late to catch reruns on a local TV channel when I was younger.From the early B/W episodes(the creepier feeling ones) to the later color ones I couldn't stop watching .Even though most of the stories are right out of the classic horror/thriller novels that never bothered me .It was the quick pacing of the stories and tragic fate of the characters that I liked most.Yopu knew that bad thing were in store for the family but they were most of the time powerless to stop it.No storyline was endlessly drawn out to where you would lose interest in it. Now the powers that be have decided to release the series on DVD. I'm a little dissapointed that it doesn't start at the very beginning with Jossette's ghost and the Phoenix ,but when they did the VHS tapes they started with the Resurrection of Barnabas also .I hope that the DVD run of the series will go to the very end with the story of 1841 PT with the final voice-over telling the fate of the Collins family .I will look forward to each new wave of Dark Shadows DVD like I used too for each new episode late night on TV.

Well, in response to lots of online praise, I recently ponied up the cash and bought Dark Shadows Collection 1, and over the course of a couple of weeks worked my way through its 40 episodes. For what it's worth, here's what I thought:

The Good: The plotline is genuinely involving, and the characters are all interesting and very entertaining to watch. And the various storylines move along very quickly... Barnabas Collins is released from his coffin in the first episode presented here, and by the 40th has already moved into the spare guest house at Collinwood, redecorated it, secured and trained his personal servant/henchman, AND kidnapped a local beauty. Never a dull moment!

The Bad: Skipping over the first 200 or so episodes of the series just because of their reputation of being "a little dull" was silly. It would be like releasing a first volume of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" that skipped over the whole first season and a half of the show and instead started with the first "Borg" episode because they were the first great antagonist the Trek crew faced. From the awkward little re-cap of the first 200 or so shows (at least we get a re-cap of those episodes here), some genuinely interesting stuff seems to have happened, much of it in the supernatural realm. Further, even though this set starts off with the Barnabas Collins plotline, a handful of plotlines from the pre-Barnabas era are still going strong, and it takes us a while to get up to speed on them. Anyway, the lack of initial episodes isn't a deal-breaker, but it is annoying. I HAVE heard, thankfully, that Anchor Bay is finally planning to release those episodes once the current sets are complete. Maybe they'll take a page from the comic book publishers and put out one big set of the initial episodes and call it "Collection Zero", so we can put it immediately to the left of Collection 1 on our shelves.

The Curious: The main menu is beautifully animated, colorful, has great sound effects, and is generally very artfully done. But then it leads into these grainy black & white episodes with primitive sound, dialogue flubs, and a general low-budget feel. Talk about the actual gift suffering in comparison to its colorful packaging! Okay, maybe I'm overstating the episodes' shortcomings a bit, but those modest shortcomings probably wouldn't have been as apparent if they didn't follow such a lavish menu.

The Good: Make no mistake, "Dark Shadows" is NOT a camp classic. There ARE dialogue flubs, technical glitches, and the like, but darn it, these shows nevertheless consistently fire on all cylinders in their presentation of good, solid, horror-laced gothic melodrama. This is creepy, unsettling, and occasionally outright scary stuff.

The Bad: When one episode is finished, the next episode automatically starts. I found this a bit annoying, as I always had to have the remote handy to stop the DVD at the end of an episode. Myself, I prefer that when the selected episode is over, we get sent back to the main menu, and then can decide for ourselves if we want to click at that time on the next episode in line. But that's just me.

The Curious: The several interviews included here are interesting, but are undated, which is kind of disorienting. It took a perusal of other customer reviews on this website to learn that the interviews were conducted in the 1980s for inclusion with the old VHS collections of the shows. Also, the interviews are laced with spoilers about upcoming plotlines and should probably have been placed on later DVD collections. Though the spoilers are fairly general and don't discuss too many key plot points, I would have preferred not to know what types of storylines await me in future collections.

Anyway, that's it... the good, the bad, and the curious about this initial set. In the end, after all these varied opinions of mine, I have to say I'm still on board and eagerly await Collection 2 (which I just ordered from Amazon). After all, my reservations are tiny compared to my wanting to know how- or if!- cute waitress Maggie Evans will escape from the clutches of Barnabas Collins!

Someone once told me that he didn't like black and white movies because they "didn't seem real". He had decided long ago that he would rather watch a mediocre color movie than a classic (even "Casablanca") in black and white.
By contrast, I began watching "Dark Shadows" on the Sci-Fi channel, seeing the last year of the series in all its campy glory (think about the 1970s, and how popular avocado-colored refrigerators were during that period - that gives you an idea of the color scheme). I had a hard time understanding the passion people had for Jonathon Frid or how any TV show could justify the position of "governess" in a modern drama.

But then I began watching the first year of "DS", compiled here on DVD for the first time, shining in its original black and white photography. Rather than taking away from the viewing experience, the B&W adds to the gloomy charm, and frames the story in a timeless place where ghost stories can come true. The stately manor of Collinswood and Eagle Hill cemetary don't look so much like stage sets here, but like something sketched out of a dream, with dark corners and cobwebs.

One of the other reviewers here compared DS to a theater play, which gives you an idea of what troopers these actors are. For some reason, ordinary people consider soap players to be the dregs of the acting world - when in reality, playing in a soap is possibly the hardest job an actor can take. There are daily shoots and rewrites, and on DS, actors often had to rely on a teleprompter to help them with their lines. (And this is not shameful - Marilyn Monroe supposedly had to have her lines pasted inside of a drawer she was using as a prop in a Billy Wilder flick. Even the President gets help from a prompter.)

Joan Bennett, that great classic film star, stumbles a few times with her lines, but never loses her cool or her grace. Disc 2 is a real standout here, as Maggie Collins, played wonderfully (without a hint of camp) by Katheryn Leigh Scott, is slowly seduced by Barnabas Collins, vagabond vampire. As handsome as Joel Crothers is (and that's a lot of handsome), as Maggie's boyfriend Joe -- middle-aged Jonathan Frid's turn as Barnabas is all charm, with only a gleam of menace. It's not hard to see *here* why so many women viewers became obsessed with Frid, fantasizing that he'd crawl into their bedroom window.

Anne Rice's Louis - not to mention Nick Knight of "Forever Knight", "Vampire: the Masquerade" RPGers, and Joss Whedon's creation "Angel" - should be paying royalties to Frid and series creator Dan Curtis. Frid turned a two-week stint (maybe) as a supernatural baddie into five years as daytime drama's unlikeliest hero, permanently changing the face of horror. Quite honestly, even froth like "Teen Wolf" could never have been made in a world without dear, angst-ridden, grieving Barnabas and the rest of the DS clan.

The intro/menu screen has dramatic, creepy animation drifting through tangled trees, with each selected episode "zooming" into a bright window at Collinwood. Extras include short interviews with John Karlen, Leigh Scott and Frid, and a recap on Disc 1 bringing the series "up to date", prior to Barnabas showing up. Several hours of TV are boiled down to just 25 minutes, although it is a very well edited 25 minutes! This is the collection's main flaw.

The first hundred and fifty episodes of "DS" were unpopular, more like a tepid gothic romance - lots of mood, no major payoff. However, the show turned around with the introduction of spectre Josette Collins (a saintly ghost who plays an even bigger role later in the series), and literal phoenix Laura Collins, and none of those episodes are on this DVD set.

Yes, Barnabas Collins is the primary reason behind the success of DS, along with the later introduction of Angelique, his tormentor... and yes, the seduction of Maggie Collins is really the first great storyline. But like all great daytime and continuing drama, it's the slow build-up and day to day details that create classic moments of tension and release. We don't see how dreadful Willie Loomis is before his run-in with Barnabas - those episodes aren't here - so his subsequent turnaround, into a tongue-tied good samaritan, is less special. Without seeing more about Laura Collins, it's hard to understand how little David Collins can fudge up a car in an attempt at homicide. He just seems like a really rotten kid from the 25 minute "recap", so why should we sympathize with him about Josette Collins' missing portrait? (Hilarious fan editor Graeme Cree refers to David simply as "Devil Tot".)

Still, I wish I'd had the pleasure of seeing the show for the first time through these episodes, and this set is a terrific introduction and/or gift for a fan of gothic romance, gothic horror, and supernatural drama. The Sci-Fi channel has cancelled "Dark Shadows," meaning it will not be airing somewhere on TV for the first time in over 30 years - so this is it (unless SoapNet picks it up). This group of DVDs, 20 episodes per DVD, is much more cost-effective than buying similar VHS episodes.

Happy howling!

I watched this show after I got home from school back in the mid-late 60's and bought this collection with that nostalgia in mind...but after viewing it for the first time in over 30 years, I can see why I watched it back then: Jonathan Frid is absolutely mesmerizing as vampire Barnabas Collins! He has such a captivating screen presence that he makes even the dullest of scenes interesting. Any scene without him is inferior! Watch his eyes...his lips curl with that half-evil grin while charming the others...his face muscles twitch...his hollow cheeks add even more dark shadows to each scene. The man is truly amazing even when he doesn't speak a word. I'm 1000% glad I purchased this collection. It's creepy, gothic, cheap, cheesy, sexy, nostalgic, funny and a pure joy watching Barnabas dupe the Collins family...plus there are interviews with cast members that include Frid; still a marvel to watch after all these years. If you remember the show at all, you'll be totally content with this product and the other volumes to follow...I can't say enough good things about it!

I wasn't even thought of when this timeless show was first on T.V., but while I was growing up in the 80s, I was drawn to the screen whenever I saw Dark Shadows (usually one of the later season episodes) on. I didn't watch much T.V., but I loved the uniqueness and spookyness of Dark Shadows. Now that it is on DVD, I have been soaking up every episode, starting with collection 1 and so far I am up to the end of 3. I also like the interviews that are at the end of the DVD volumes.

I love the gothic theme, the old houses, the characters and the twisting plot. I think Barnabas is a complex character because although he is a vampire with a secret harmful nature, I still always have sympathy for him and think he is the most romantic/gentleman-like character on the show so far.

Even though the show is low budget, there are just so many things I love about it, down to every detail like the delicate jewelery box. To me, the show is dreamy/mesmorizing and packed full of drama/great live acting and I know for sure I'll be watching it until I finish all the volumes and will never forget it.

Finally..."Dark Shadows" in a durable home video format! Best of all, no commercials...no annoying cable channel logos constantly gracing the screen...and, wonder upon wonders, full screen credits at the end of each episode! Video quality is excellent, considering the age of the series, but the biggest surprise is the collection's sole kinescope--a very important one, featuring the first lines spoken by Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins, it looks remarkable, especially compared to the same episode as aired in syndication. Crisp/clean throughout, it's easy to forget at times that you're looking at a film of a videotaped program. This goes beyond DVD "looking better," someone obviously spent some time cleaning up/retransferring that particular episode.

MPI only left one thing out...the opening slates, which I had dearly hoped would be included in the DVD release. That's minor, however. If you're a fan of "Dark Shadows," don't hesitate to buy this collection!