I’m an avid Dark Shadows fan as I use to watch the original soap when it aired in reruns on the former Scifi Channel, and I recently watch the DVD of the 1991 revival series. I was aware of all the mixed reviews that Tim Burton’s remake received, but I still wanted to see the film. Dark Shadows happened to playing at my small local theater last weekend and I went to see the film at the Sunday matinee.

The film starts in the year 1760, where the Collins along with their young son Barnabas leave Liverpool and travel to the United States, where they open up a fishing port in Maine. Years go by and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) grows up to be somewhat of a playboy, fooling around a servant, Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), who is actually a powerful witch. Barnabas falls in love with Josette du Pres and rejects Angelique’s affections, but the witch doesn’t like rejection. She forces Josette to jump off a cliff, and one by one the Collins die. All but Barnabas as Angelique has cursed him into a vampire. When the town people find out about the vampire, they chain Barnabas inside a coffin and bury him.

It’s now 1972 and a young woman named Maggie Evans is arriving at the Collinwood Manor. She is running away from her haunting past and uses the name Victoria Winters as she accepts the job as David Collin’s governess.

After a heavy advertising campaign, NBC aired the reboot of the 1966-1971 Dark Shadows soap opera in January 1991, but only this time it was aired in primetime instead of daytime. The series followed the basic plot of the original with Victoria Winters (played by Joanna Going) traveling on a train to Collinsport where she has taken a job as governess at the Collinwoods. She’s really there to take care of David (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who claims to see ghosts at the “old house.” While this is happening, Willie Loomis breaks into a crypt looking for jewels, but instead he releases the vampire cursed Barnabas Collins (played by Ben Cross).

    Barnabas makes Willie is servant. Then he quickly introduces himself to the Collins as a cousin from England, in which the family gives him the “old house.” When Barnabas sees Victoria, he wonders if she is the reincarnation of his lost love Josette Du Pres. This here is a major change as in the original Maggie Evans was the look-alike for Josette. Barnabas peruses a relationship with Victoria.

After reading two Dark Shadow books and watching the previous greatest episodes collection, I ordered the Fan Favorites DVD, which is much cheaper than buying the series’ DVD volumes or the upcoming complete series. I haven't seen the remake yet and sadly it's a box office flop compared to other Tim Burton/Johnny Depp films.

For the readers that don't know what Dark Shadows is about, please let me brush you up on it. Dark Shadow aired on ABC-TV from 1966-1971 in the afternoons with a blend of Gothic romance and supernatural horror plots, which was somewhat groundbreaking for a soap opera of it's time. The ghostly plot was added about six months into the series. Afraid of cancellation, the creator Dan Curtis brought in Jonathan Frid to play the vampire cursed Barnabas Collins to increase ratings. For several years the series was a success, taking in over twenty million viewers at its peak.

I stumbled upon Dark Shadows: The Best of Barnabas part of The Greatest Episodes Collection at my local Wal-Mart for under ten dollars. Dark Shadows aired from 1966 to 1971 normally in the late afternoons. At the time of it’s peek Dark Shadows had around twenty million viewers, which is an incredible number compared to the low ratings of today’s soap operas (Sadly, there are only four on the air.). And it was known for having errors, such as actors forgetting their lines; stagehands walking in the background; microphones where in the frame shot; etc, because of the tight filming schedule demanded by ABC.

There have been dozens of Dark Shadows sets released over the years. The complete series is coming out this summer but at a whopping $599.98 retail price tag. The show has become more popular due to Tim Burton’s remake starring Johnny Depp being released on Friday, resulting in MPI Home Video releasing The Best of Barnabas to DVD.

After the success of House of Dark Shadows, MGM greenlit a sequel Curse of Dark Shadows. By the time production near, the soap series was canceled by ABC and actor Jonathan Frid didn’t want to return as fear of being typecast. Therefore, the co-writer and director Dan Curtis (creator of Dark Shadows) changed the title to Night of Dark Shadows and focused the main character onto Quentin Collins (played by David Selby), whom was absent from the previous film. This time the plot didn’t involve vampires, but returned to Dark Shadows original theme of ghosts.

    Quentin Collins along with his wife Tracy (played by Kate Jackson) arrives at their newly-inherited estate, Collinwood, as most of the Collins were killed in the previous film. Actress Grayson Hall returns, but she’s playing a new role as the housekeeper Carlotta Drake. The couple is introduced to her and the caretaker Gerard Stiles. There is no mentioned of the events that happened in House of Dark Shadows.

    The couple’s novelists’ friends Alex and Claire Jenkins (Played by returning actors John Karlen and Nancy Barrett, but in different roles.) move into the small cottage that is located on the estate. Quentin soon has weird and realistic dreams about his ancestor Charles Collins, who had an affair with Angelique (Once again played by actress Lara Parker.). Upon hearing about his dreams, Carlotta tells him that she is the reincarnation of Sarah Castle, a girl who once lived at Collinwood, and that he is the reincarnation of Charles Collins. Charles had a passionate affair with his brother’s wife, Angelique. Because of their actions, Angelique was hanged and Charles was buried alive in her crypt.