House of Dark Shadows *** (1970, Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Roger Davis, Nancy Barrett, Joan Bennett, John Karlen) – Classic Movie Review 10,799

‘Blood-Lust! Fangs bared, the vampire is searching for a mate!’ Dan Curtis’s stylish 1970 horror film House of Dark Shadows stars Jonathan Frid very effectively as the vampire Barnabas Collins.

‘Blood-Lust! Fangs bared, the vampire is searching for a mate!’

Director Dan Curtis’s stylish 1970 horror House of Dark Shadows stars Jonathan Frid very effectively as the vampire Barnabas Collins, who looks for a cure to his sickness from Dr Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall), while pursuing Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott), the incarnation of his lost love. It is the first movie to be based on a daytime soap opera – ABC’s Gothic soap Dark Shadows (1966-71), in which Jonathan Frid played Barnabas Collins in 596 TV episodes.

Dan Curtis’s dark horror chiller House of Dark Shadows is a crazy vampire movie, patchy and clumsy sometimes maybe, but it has many inspired, chilling, entertaining moments.

It is good to see esteemed old-time movie star Joan Bennett, aged 60, as matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, among the cast. She played the character in 391 episodes of ABC’s Gothic soap Dark Shadows (1966-71).

Also in the cast are Kathryn Leigh Scott, Roger Davis, Nancy Barrett, Joan Bennett, John Karlen, Thayer David, Louis Edmonds as patriarch Roger Collins, Don Briscoe, David Henesy, Dennis Patrick, Lisa Blake Richards [Lisa Richards], Jerry Lacy, Barbara Cason, Michael Stroka, Terrayne Crawford [Terry Crawford], Humbert Allen Astredo [Humbert Astredo], and Paul Michael.

It was shot concurrently with the original Dark Shadows TV series and characters had to be temporarily written out of the series so they could appear in the film. Kathryn Leigh Scott, Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, John Karlen, Nancy Barrett, Louis Edmonds, Don Briscoe, Joan Bennett and David Henesy were all absent from various episodes, a logistic nightmare for both the TV show and the film.

Make-up artist Dick Smith used the bald head he had created for Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man (1970) for the old-age make-up for Barnabas Collins to save time and money.

Canadian actor Jonathan Frid (December 2, 1924 – April 14, 2012) as vampire Barnabas Collins on the gothic TV soap Dark Shadows.

House of Dark Shadows is directed by Dan Curtis, runs 97 minutes, is made by Dan Curtis Productions, released by MGM, is written by Sam Hall and Gordon Russell, is shot in Metrocolor by Arthur J Ornitz, is produced by Dan Curtis, is scored by Bob Cobert and is designed by Trevor Williams.

It was shot between 23 March 1970 and 1 May 1970. The Collinwood scenes were filmed at the Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, New York. Other locations are Three Bears’ Inn, 333 Wilton Rd, Westport, Connecticut (The Collinsport Inn), Beechwood – Scarborough, Briarcliff Manor, New York (The Old House), Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Tarrytown, New York (Eagle Hill Cemetery) and Lockwood-Mathews Mansion, 295 West Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut (Abandoned Monastery).

It is followed by Night of Dark Shadows (1971) without Jonathan Frid, who refused to play the role again for fear of being typecast.

Dark Shadows was revived on TV in 1991 for a 12-episode series with Ben Cross as Barnabas Collins.

It is followed by Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows (2012) with Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green and Helena Bonham Carter.

RIP Bob Cobert, Dark Shadows and Winds of War composer, who died at 95 in February 2020.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,799

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