Customer Reviews

Dark Shadows: The Vampire Curse

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Decades before Twilight there was Dark Shadows, the first-ever gothic soap opera, its supernatural stories captivating audiences young and old for almost 45 years.

With its alluring tales of Gothic mystery and supernatural intrigue, Dark Shadows became one of the most popular daytime series of all time. Since first airing on ABC-TV from 1966-71, Dark Shadows has earned the reputation of being one of the most unusual and enduring TV programs in history.

Thanks to MPI Home Video, that iconic Classic returns with two special DVDs compiling episode scenes from two of its most popular story arcs, one featuring the character Barnabas Collins, the vampire, the second disc featuring Quentin Collins, the werewolf.

Each disc, sold separately, contains about three hours of content, which includes selected scenes from color episodes as well as a new interview with the actor whose character is spotlighted.

Dark Shadows: The Curse of the Vampire, is devoted to the original beloved blood sucker from the realm of the undead - Barnabas Collins.

Barnabas, the 175-year-old guilt-ridden and love-lorn vampire, was portrayed brilliantly by the classically trained actor Jonathan Frid. Frid, now, in his 80's, was interviewed for this special compilation disc.

Dark Shadows debuted in June 1966, but faced cancellation because of poor ratings within a year. Creator Dan Curtis, desperate to save the show, decided to "go" supernatural, so he launched various spook-filled stories that led to the introduction of Barnabas.

Released from his chained coffin after nearly 200 years, Barnabas arrives at the Collinwood estate claiming to be a relative from England. Although noticing Barnabas' resemblance to his "ancestor" in a foyer portrait, the Collins family did not realize he is the same Barnabas who lived at Collinwood in the 18th century. As Barnabas moves into the Old House on the property, those around him are unaware of the horrors that will soon follow.

The vampire was to be a temporary character that would be killed off following a reign of terror, but Frid's compelling characterization caused Barnabas to remain throughout the series as ratings soared. Not only was the series saved from cancellation, but it became an international phenomenon boasting more than 20 million daily viewers! Frid also became incredibly popular, a sudden idol and sex symbol among teenaged girls.

In this special disc, the origin of Barnabas is told. From the Collinwood drawing room of 1967, the family governess, Victoria Winters, portrayed by Alexandra Moltke, is transported back in time via a seance ends up in the Collinwood of 1795. In the past, the Barnabas Collins of that era, BEFORE a vicious curse had turned him into the blood-thirsty vampire.

Barnabas is about to wed the love of his life, Josette Du Pres, but a jealous servant of Josette's with whom Barnabas had brief affair, successfully plots to ruin their relationship. The servant, Angelique, portrayed with verve by Lara Parker, is actually a witch born who uses her supernatural powers to wreck havoc on everyone in Collinwood. It is Angelique who places the curse of the living dead upon Barnabas.

The core brilliance of has made Dark Shadows endure are the eternal themes it illustrated: Love, death, fear, longing, revenge, obsession, lies, secrets, loyalty and betrayal all played out against a compelling backdrop of Gothic sensibilities that included vampires, werewolves, zombies, seances, time travel, ghosts, mystery, murder, intrigue and a constant dose of the unexpected.

This "soap opera" managed to transcend its genre by bringing a taste of Gothic horror and science-fiction fantasy to the hum-drum world of the afternoon drama. There had never been anything like it before - and there never has been since!

In addition to Frid, Parker and Moltke, primary co-stars on the disc are: Joan Bennett, Grayson Hall, Louis Edmonds, Nancy Barrett, David Henesy, Kathryn Leigh Scott, David Ford, Clarice Blackburn, John Karlen, Anthony George, Thayer David, Jerry Lacy, Craig Slocum, Sharon Smyth, and Joel Crothers.

Note: The entire series is available on DVD, also produced by MPI Home Video.

This disc, along with the other new DS DVD, are definately a must have if you are a casual fan of the show. For those of us with the complete collection already on DVD, there is nothing really new of interest. There is a nice NEW interview of Jonathan Frid, but it only runs a few minutes and leaves you wondering what happened to the rest of the interview. Just when you are getting into the interview, it chops off and ends. I guess they will be using the rest of it for some other re-issue down the road. There is also a 20 second PBS spot by KLS. Also included a a complete episode from the show. I would have left that off and included more of the interview, at least this way there could have been more new content on the disc. For the common fan who has not purchased all 20+ box sets, this is a good disc to get, but for those of us who regularly watch the episodes, this disc will probably sit on a shelf collecting dust after the first viewing.

DARK SHADOWS:THE VAMPIRE CURSE released from MPI on Sept 15,2009.
This DVD is an edited edition of episodes from the 1795 storyline. If you have the unedited VHS or DVD's this is hardly worth the money. Bonus material is the complete episode #221 in which Maggie Evans meets Barnabas Collins at the Collinsport Inn restaurant. The program originally aired 5/2/1967 written by Ron Sproat directed by John Sedwick, a PBS promo from Kathryn Leigh Scott and an interview with Jonathan Frid. (210 minutes)

Even after 40 years you can't kill Dark Shadows and its wonder why It hold a true hold over every one of us that would run home after school and see it on ABC TV at 4PM.So popular was the show that stores could not keep there bubblegum trading cards packs in stock.Right next to Bingham School here in Runnemede there was a little store named Chris's and the store owner would hold packs for My Friend Linda Difranco and Myself and we would spend all our money and buy up every pack.I'm so glad MPI has kept this fantastic series alive with new retrospectives like these and new interviews.Because we lived in New Jersey we could not go up like kids that lived in NY and stand outside the studios during the original filming of the Dark Shadows TV Series,But in retrospect I wish Linda and I could have went up there and met the actors in the day,what classic pictures they would have been.When I see shows like True Blood on HBO I cringe as they cant hold a candle to the original Dark Shadows.The actors Jonathan Frid,Kathreen Lee Scott,Lara Parker and others they might have messed up there lines among other goofs on the show but boy are they forever in our minds and hearts,something kids today with never no about.
Scott Denny-Runnemede,New Jersey

The story of Barnabas Collins has fascinated viewers for decades. The new DVD "Curse of the Vampire" attempts to condense months of soap opera episodes into a three hour presentation. Unfortunately this DVD just doesn't get the job done. On paper, it's a great idea. Some people may not want to watch several months worth of stories to see how Barnabas became a vampire. However the execution is awful.

I LOVE "Dark Shadows". The story of Barnabas Collins and his transformation into vampire is one of the best vampire stories ever done in film or TV. "Dark Shadows" spent months telling the tragedy of Barnabas and his love Josette. It was a well written story with an intriguing subplot of one of the show's main characters being transported back to 1795 to witness how everything went wrong for Barnabas. Several other minor stories were weaved in as well. Unfortunately none of them are shown in this 3 hour program and while time constraints prevented them from being put in, their absence makes for gaping holes in the central Barnabas story.

Newcomers to "Dark Shadows" will be lost trying to piece the story together since there is so much cut out. Voiceovers would have helped tremendously in explaining things to the new viewer. Even seasoned DS fans will have trouble following the story as it skips several key moments in the storyline, leaving the audience scratching their heads.

If you're not willing to watch the original run of episodes, I still suggest you skip this DVD. Check out a DS website or wikipedia for a condensed version of the story. This DVD is useless which is a shame as it's a waste of an excellent story.

I purchased this video and was very pleased. They have condensed the entire 1700's Barnabas becomes a Vampire story line with Josette and Angelique quite well. This video is worth a look.
Quality was very good in these transfers. Too bad the second DVD in this series wasn't as good. (The Quentin Collins Ghost Story).
I look foward to future condensed story lines if they are released.

With the resurgence in popularity of vampire novels and films and especially the talk of Tim Burton's remake of a DARK SHADOWS film starring Johnny Depp as Barnabus and Charlize Theron as Angelique, which is set to the vampire curse storyline of the late 1700's on the show,I was interested in it and so I purchased this dvd.The video quality was pretty good,the same as you get with the other episodes on dvd,but I think they could have cleaned it up a little better,cut the noise in the video's picture quality and edit out the on camera screw ups(like the scene where Angelique is being attacked by Barnabus in the moseleum and you see a set man in the corner moseleum).The editing was doen fairly well but I would much rather had the Jerimiah's ghost haunting of Angelique on her wedding night footage added into the storyline,instead of an old 1966 b&w episode which was in the special features,but the only real special feature's other than that, is Johnathan Frid rambling for a few minutes.So if you already own the dvd's of the show I wouldnt bother with this one ,but if you want an edited storyline of the 5th volume of the series focusing on Angelique's witchery & the vampire curse,it's a pretty good buy,but overall I think it was a great idea but they could have doen alot better.

Really, this DVD is more something a long-time "Dark Shadows" fan might get for a friend or a relative to get them hooked on this most unique of ALL the daytime soap operas! ("First one's FREE, kid!") Casual buyers "on the fence" for this may check out any "DS" websites, plus the Amazon feedback on every "DS" DVD set available here, and see if this interests you enough to get it NOW. (If you'd prefer waiting for the price to come down, it'll be worth the wait.) I have sporadically watched "DS" over the years, but what little I've seen always caught my interest, so I got this at a Walmart for [basically] the same price as on Amazon; considering what was done to make this LONGER storyline [from the show] into the "condensed" version on this disc, the producers (and the editors) did an above-average job. No matter how this "origin of Barnabas" were edited by ANYBODY at ANY LENGTH, there's no best way to do so; ironically, the ones who are most displeased with this are those who already have the WHOLE story on DVD! As for this "Brother-Fang-come-lately", this compilation works well, despite those inevitable story gaps that had to be sacrificed, or the "abbreviated" version would be LESS so! It's a "no win" situation for MPI, asthetically speaking, but they're out to get people to INVEST (as in, "Buy ALL the DVD sets!") in "DS", so this release is the stuff of marketing. Even so, this is a dandy partial "primer" on the show. Video quality is decent, with occassional anomalies in the video masters, more in the picture than the sound. You even get a sampling of "bloopers" throughout the story, including badly-read lines, shadows from the boom mike, and best of all, what ELSE you see when Barnabas gets bitten by the bat that will turn him into a vampire! (If you don't know what "ELSE" is, well... no spoilers!) The bonus material has been covered well by the other reviewers, so what I can add is I enjoyed them all, especially the uncut b&w episode.... Overall, if you've got a little money to burn, and you wish to reacquaint yourself with "DS", or see what the big deal was about this serial in the first place, this is your BEST bet, after finding someone who'll lend you all the "DS" DVDs from THEIR collection you want to see. Good luck with the latter!... All the best, Brother Fang.

Dark Shadows was an amazing experience for millions of people in the 1960's. If you want to know what the fever was all about back then, this is the DVD to get. The creator of the series not only gives you a gothic setting in a world that entertains, but gives you characters to care about. See what started what is now considered an iconic masterpiece. The first Vampire ever seen that had a CONSCIENCE! Wrap yourself up in a time warp and join the Collins Family as they begin their journey into the depths of...DARK SHADOWS!

The idea of cutting the story of how Barnabas Collins became a vampire into a feature-length episode was a good one. However, this DVD has been poorly edited together and omits key plot moments that are sure to leave those unfamiliar with the storyline bewildered. And, in all honesty, new viewers are the only ones who this release would appeal to. Fans of "Dark Shadows" will more than likely already own the episodes, and there's simply no reason to waste money on something like this. Granted, it does feature a new (albeit brief) interview with Jonathan Frid. But that alone is not worth purchasing this DVD.