"House of Dark Shadows" certainly stands on its own if you have never seen the soap opera, although the effort to give everyone in the cast some screen time does get in the way from time to time. For those who remember the show, it is nice to see Louis Edmonds, Nancy Barrett, Joan Benett and the others again. The script by Sam Hall and Gordon Russell is actually quite innovative, coming up with some new twists for the love triangle while working in notions of reincarnation and scientific approaches to curing vampirism. At the heart of the film is Frid's portrayal of Barnabas Collins, which offers considerably more depth to the character than we were getting at the time from Christopher Lee's Dracula in all those Hammer films.

It is true that the film's plot is basically a retelling of the first few years of the tv show. Petty criminal Willie Loomis accidentally releases 200 year-old vampire Barnabas Collins who proceeds to reacquaint himself with the modern day Collins family, all the while pining for his lost love Josette and feeding on random victims during the night. A local doctor, Julia Hoffman, discovers that Barnabas is a vampire, and persuades him to let her try to cure him. When he discovers what he believes to be Josette's modern day incarnation in the form of Maggie Evans, a jealous Hoffman spikes his cure which leads to a lot of a mayhem, a lot of blood, and most of the cast (all playing versions of their beloved TV characters) dead.

That's where the movie breaks off from the TV show and sets up its own identity. Whereas on the television show, Barnabas was a tortured hero out of Wuthering Heights, in the film he is pure evil, an indiscriminate killer who -- by the bloody end -- has managed to wipe out almost all the remaining members of his family. For fans of the TV show, it provides quite a shock to see such familiar characters struck down. However, all of the actors give sympathetic, likeable performances. Nobody can be dismissed as just doing "television" work and even if you have no background with the show, its hard not to feel pained as they all meet their end. In the end, this helps to create one of the most truly dark horror films I have ever seen.

As said before, the acting is far better than the show's reputation might lead some to guess. By most reports, the actors were getting tired of the show by the time the film was shot and as a result, they seem to get an extra jolt of energy from the chance to kill each other off. Special mention should be made of John Karlen, whose jittery Loomis is one of the film's highlights and veteran character actor Thayer David is a strong Van Helsing-type as Prof. Stokes. As Barnabas, Jonathan Frid -- whose disdain for the TV show is well documented -- is a terrifyingly evil presence. For fans of the show, one of the film's joys is a chance to see actors who never got to do much on the television show actually sink their teeth (or fangs) into the film's juicier roles and pull them off far better than anyone could have guessed. Roger Davis -- who always seemed to be getting killed on the show -- is a strong, sympathetic hero while Elizabeth Barrett makes for a sexy vampire. (Her final battle with the film's vampire hunters is one of the film's most suspenseful -- and bloody -- moments.)

The film is well directed by Dan Curtis who makes a point of not using any of the familiar locations from the TV series but instead totally reimagines the world of Dark Shadows. Working with a low budget, he still pulls off several atmospheric scenes and, most importantly, never allows the story to drag or the action to cease. The film is far more graphic than anything ever seen on the television show and the film's ending is almost disturbingly intense. This is a film that will surprise, frighten, and delight fans and non-fans of the show alike.