House of Dark Shadows is a 1970 feature-length horror film by Dan Curtis based on his Dark Shadows television series. Dark Shadows producer Dan Curtis began pitching the idea of a movie based on his Gothic soap opera hit sometime in 1968, and it was greenlighted in 1970. Curtis decided to use the original Barnabas storyline as the basis for the film, but to have it run to the conclusion originally intended for the character: that Barnabas would remain evil and be destroyed for his sins.
Unrestricted by TV's censors, the House of Dark Shadows is far more graphically violent than its television counterpart, with dripping vampire bites and bloody stakings. The film was released at the height of the TV show's popularity, to great commercial success.
Seeking a legendary fortune in jewels, the Collins family handyman Willie Loomis opens a hidden coffin in the Collins family crypt, releasing vampire Barnabas Collins from his 150-year confinement. Barnabas makes Willie his slave, then presents himself to the modern day Collins family - Roger, Elizabeth, Carolyn, and David - as a "cousin from England." Barnabas moves into the "Old House" on the Collins estate, where the "first" Barnabas had lived.
The one major difference between the movie and the original storyline from the soap opera is the absence of the governess, Victoria Winters. By the time the film was made, Victoria was no longe a character on the soap opera. Maggie Evans is now the governess to David and she lives in the great mansion of Collinwood.
Jonathan Frid .......... Barnabas Collins
Grayson Hall ........... Dr. Julia Hoffman
Kathryn Leigh Scott .... Maggie Evans
Nancy Barrett .......... Carolyn Stoddard
John Karlen ............ Willie Loomis
Thayer David ........... Professor Stokes
Louis Edmonds .......... Roger Collins
David Henesy ........... David Collins
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1 comment:
oh no!! Barnabas wasnt evil.. he was my hero :P Actually i never saw the movie version. I watched the soap opera version for years though
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