DARK
SHADOWS DVD Set #1 (1966-67)MPI Home Video
DARK
SHADOWS DVD Set #1 (1966-67)When is a soap opera not a soap opera? Whoops! Trick question: a soap opera is ALWAYS a soap opera, even if it features vampires, ghosts, werewolves, and parallel time zones. Which is why it's hard to believe that a show like DARK SHADOWS has survived for so long in syndication, on video, and has finally arrived on DVD in a long series of projected collector's sets.
This first set of the cult TV show (which ran on ABC Daytime from 1966 to 1971) wisely breezes through the first 209 episodes, all of which were typical Gothic soap opera shenanigans with a ghostly phoenix thrown in for good measure, in a well-edited featurette. The featurette, lasting 12 minutes, introduces Victoria Winters (the likable Alexandra Moltke, for my money the most interesting cast member of them all) as a newcomer to Collinsport, a seaside fishing village in Maine. The social pillars of the community are the Collins family, led by Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (40s film star Joan Bennett revitalizing her career for a new generation) and her brother Roger (Louis Edmonds). Victoria is hired to be governess for young David Collins (the atrocious David Henesy), Roger's son, on the grounds of Collinwood. Various other characters include blackmailer Jason McGuire (Dennis Patrick), his co-hort Willie Loomis (DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS' John Karlen), Elizabeth's daughter Carolyn Stoddard (the ravishing and underrated Nancy Barrett), town scandal victim Burke Devlin (soap regular Mitchell Ryan), and waitress Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott, who became the star of the show after Moltke left mid-series).
SET #1 begins with Episode 210, wherein Willie Loomis foolishly resurrects vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). While Frid has launched a career based on this character alone, his earliest appearances were unbearably wooden and amateurish and he didn't really prove himself as an actor until the the first DARK SHADOWS film. Regardless, the remaining three discs continue the saga of Barnabas Collins, who believes Maggie Evans is the reincarnation of his former love Josette duPres. Keep in mind, this is a soap opera, so multiple storylines intersect and an event that could be summarized in a half hour in real time is stretched to 2 hours in soap opera time. Why has DARK SHADOWS endured for so long as a cult television show? The answer is still a mystery to some. The show's gothic origins offer several memorable setpieces: each early show's introduction by Victoria Winters is otherworldly and ghostly, unfortunately the contents of the episode could not always follow suit. Plagued by cheap special effects, wooden acting, and almost consistent bloopers, this may account for some of the show's appeal.
MPI Home Video originally released DARK SHADOWS on a set of 200 VHS tapes beginning with the Barnabas Collins introduction (!!), then proceeded to unleash the "Collector's Series" of pre-Barnabas episodes on 52 VHS tapes (!!). Realizing what a hot property this show is, MPI has finally begun to release the show on DVD. But judging from their VHS counterparts, DARK SHADOWS will be taking up approximately 25 DVD sets of the Barnabas Collins years and an additional 33 DVD sets of the pre-Barnabas Collins episodes!!! The big question for this reviewer: where does this leave the much superior prime time television remake from the early 1990s?
Disc two contains an interview with Jonathan Frid. Frid became a teen idol, starring in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS and continuing with the series. After appearing in Oliver Stone's little-seen SEIZURE, he disappeared from the horror genre for good. In his interview, he also seems to realize that he was quite terrible during his first year on the show, and also stresses how the show ran out of material, so resorted to multiple parallel universes and actors playing up to five different characters.
Disc three contains an interview with Kathryn Leigh Scott. Scott is still lovely-looking and has remained in touch with her fans through conventions and has written multiple DARK SHADOWS companions, manuals, and memoirs. Unfortunately, for such a plucky young actress, this soap is her most noteworthy effort. She discusses the close-knit family atmosphere of the show and her relationships with various cast members, why she left the show, and her feelings on the show's cancellation.
Disc four contains an interview with John Karlen. Of the entire cast in the series, his career's success is only equaled by Kate Jackson (her episodes won't be appearing on DVD for a long while). Immediately following the series' cancellation, he starred in the Belgian vampire film DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (providing a number of nude sex scenes), did multiple guest spots on popular 70s TV shows like "Charlie's Angels" and "Vega$", and landed a regular role in "Cagney and Lacey", for which he was nominated for an Emmy award! Of all three interviewees, Karlen seems to have aged the most, but he still possesses the same boyish grin and twinkle in his eye from years earlier. He jokes about the one-dimensional character of Willie and discusses the importance of the show on his acting experience.
Each of the episodes is transferred
from videotape masters that don't improve much on the VHS. The quality is about
equal to a S-VHS tape, maybe a bit sharper in certain scenes. In the episode
summaries booklet accompanying the set, a disclaimer mentions that each episode
was mastered from the best possible sources, so there is no room for complaints
here. Fans are lucky the show survived at all. Episodes #509, 683, 797, and
813 and color masters for Episodes #801/802 and 805 were salvaged by MPI for
their VHS release; in fact, Episode #1219 no longer exists so was reconstructed
by MPI for video release from still photos, remaining audio track, and re-recorded
dialogue by actress Lara Parker! Episode #211 (the actual entrance of Barnabas
Collins) was only
available through a filmed kinescope copy, so it appears a bit blurry and dupey.
Each set comes with a collector's postcard commemorating a scene from the series, and it is assumed that once every set is released, the postcard collection will be complete. Major plus on this set: the menu design is top-notch, using Robert Cobert's spell-binding musical score and publicity images of a fang-bearing Barnabas to great effect. Presumably, each subsequent DVD set will feature different interviews from cast members and Dan Curtis himself, which has this reviewer looking forward to each subsequent set, regardless of how snoozeworthy some of the episodes are.
Fans being introduced to the series may enjoy renting a VHS tape of the show beforehand, or purchasing the DARK SHADOWS MEMORIES DVD before plunking the hefty MSRP of $59.88. But hardcore DARK SHADOWS fans should really be ashamed to be reading this review without already adorning their DVD shelf with this package! Start selling off your VHS tapes, DARK SHADOWS is hitting DVD and shows no signs of stopping. SET #2 is scheduled for August 27, 2002. Let the collecting begin!
For more information on the video history of DARK SHADOWS, visit www.mpimedia.com/darkshadows/history/hist1.html (Casy Scott)