Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

BA_Harrison Painter Quentin Collins (David Selby) and his wife Tracy (Kate Jackson) move into ancestral home Collinwood unaware that the place is haunted by several ghosts, with the malevolent spirit of Charles Collins seeking to possess his descendant.With its running time drastically reduced from well over two hours to a mere 95 minutes thanks to studio interference, it comes as no surprise that the theatrical cut of Dan Curtis' Night of Dark Shadows lacks coherence and suffers from serious pacing issues. Painfully slow and frequently unfathomable, the film limps awkwardly from one dreary scene to the next with little evidence of Curtis's usually assured hand.No doubt a fully restored director's cut of Night of Dark Shadows would be an improvement (it could hardly be any worse), but as it stands—cut to shreds and making very little sense—the film is a huge step down from the previous Dark Shadows big-screen outing, House of Dark Shadows (1970).

virek213 Dan Curtis' "Dark Shadows" remains the most thoroughly unique "soap opera" ever put on TV, because instead of melodramatic plots, love triangles and such being set in fictional settings, he decided to go Gothic and supernatural with all of those things. The saga of the Collins family and all the weird things that happen in the Collinwood estate was so engrossing that, even with the melodramatic and occasionally hammy acting and sets that were low budget even for TV, the show lasted for five years (1966-1971) and 1,225 episodes. Curtis extracted two feature-length films from it, both of which became as much cult films as the series itself had done on the small screen. The first was 1970's HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, which was revolved around Jonathan Frid's infamous vampire Barnabas Collins. The second one was 1971's HOSUE OF DARK SHADOWS, only very loosely related to its big-screen predecessor, and having more in common with some of the plot lines of the TV show's 1969-1970 season.Series regular David Selby returns to his role of Quentin Collins, now a painter who inherits the Collinwood mansion, only to find the place haunted, and himself possibly possessed, by an ancestor of his, namely Charles Collins (Selby again). A whole host of supernatural evils, some of them a tad bit bloody (though, absent Frid's vampire, they are less explicit than what we saw in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS), ensues. As had been the case with both the TV series and HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS itself, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS does contain its share of fairly bizarre and twisted happenings; but series regulars Thayer David, Grayson Hall, John Karlen, and Lara Parker are on hand to offer some continuity, as is composer Robert Cobert, who once again provides the right amount of sonic atmosphere for this film, which, like the first film, was shot at the mansion once owned by rubber baron Jay Gould in Tarrytown, New York.Besides producing and directing, Curtis co-scripted NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS with Sam Hall, his co-creator of the TV series, which, by the time of the film's release in August 1971, had left the air, only to wind up going into syndication and reruns in the 1980s, where it found a whole new kind of audience. The film itself, while certainly a fair bit less interesting than the admittedly ghoulish HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, does have plenty of atmosphere an excellent set designs, given that its budget was only $900,000; and the cast, including a young Kate Jackson (later to star in another ABC series, "Charlie's Angels", later in the 1970s), is able to give good performances with the unquestionably melodramatic material. Most of Curtis' output after this was for the small screen, notably the 1973 adaptation of Dracula, and as producer of both THE NIGHT STALKER and THE NIGHT STRANGLER (he also directed the latter), though he would return to the big screen in 1976 for BURNT OFFERINGS.While not necessarily a spectacular horror film, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS still has enough spooky moments in it to warrant a 7/10 rating.

Morbius Fitzgerald Okay, I enjoy most things Dark Shadows, I enjoyed the version starring Ben Cross, I love the original 1966 version, I love House Of Dark Shadows, I even found it in me to like the 2012 version. Now, if I were to say it, this is probably the second weakest of the Dark Shadows titles. This isn't actually the movie's problem because MGM wanted a shorter running time so they edited around 40 minutes out of it and sloppily I might add, for their big picture. Now was there a good story behind it, lets dive in.So this was originally meant to be a direct sequel to House Of Dark Shadows, however when Frid turned down the role of Barnabus Dan Curtis decided to make a film based on an alternate reality. The only cast members I recognize are John Karlen, Nancy Barrett, David Selby and Grayson Hall.Now unlike the other one this actually had a good story behind it. The problem was that MGM edited out 40 minutes of it and, for the most part, it just doesn't make f*cking sense. There is an entire sequence where Grayson Hall talks about how what Quentin sees is a past life and she tells him the death of Angelique from her past life perspective. Now, I wouldn't mind this if they actually had some explanation as to why they can see past lives where others can't. More importantly, even though she was an okay child actress, Hall's past life looked nothing like her. Quentin's was an exact copy.I also would've liked this a bit more if they spent more time developing Angelique as a character, if they spent some more time on John Karlen and Nancy Barret's characters (I genuinely forgot they were in this film at one point). I mean yeah, she wanted Charles Collins and she was a witch but, using this film alone, do you really know anything else about her? Every single problem with this film all comes round to the 40 minutes the studio cut out. If they left it as is, I do believe that we would be left with a good film. Story wise, for what it was, it was superior to House Of Dark Shadows but thanks to the execution, House was the better film.In terms of acting, this film is actually pretty good. David Selby is okay but oddly enough the best performers are John Karlen and Grayson Hall. Karlen is one of those roles on the show where I stare and say "DO SOMETHING ELSE?!" and he was able to do something else with this role besides worry. He played a Gothic writer wanting inspiration from inside Collinwood.I also liked the costume/scenery of the flashbacks to Sarah. I mean this girl is able to act while only saying one word on screen "No!" They actually also looked like their parts. The only exception is Thayer David who looks a lot more like a mutation of Highlander and the Hulk.So overall, yes this film has its problems but write down the concept on a piece of paper, does it sound that bad? Look at the acting, is it all that bad? Look at the production design, the special effects, etc. Were they all that bad? I mean besides the editing (which was so sloppy, I think even I could do a better job!). Anyway, for true fans of the show, check it out. In spite of its flaws, I still managed to like it.

jazzything I'm an avid fan of '70's made for t.v. horror movies so it's not surprising that I have both this and Burnt Offerings recorded. It occurred to me watching the end of Night of Dark Shadows that everything about the ending is identical to Burnt Offerings. In fact, you might even think that Burnt Offerings was based on or inspired by this earlier flick. I won't get into details so be sure to check out both films and let me know what you think. Meanwhile, I must say that they simply don't make good films they way they used to. These movies of the 70's and 60's are truly, truly frightening in that they couldn't rely on many camera tricks and other technology. The fear was based on realistic situations and, in many cases, good acting. Case in point: David Selby and Kate Jackson's performances in Night...and Oliver Reed, Bettye Davis and Karen Black's performances in Burnt Offerings. The cinematography of these films is also enjoyable -- often relying on the beauty of natural landscapes, etc. to capture the mood of the films. Anyway, again, please look at these two and share your thoughts!