Creepy shadows the vampire curse There is something unnerving about shadows. They dance upon the walls, mimicking our every movement, yet always one step behind. A certain darkness lurks within them, a hidden energy that is both fascinating and terrifying. And when those shadows take the form of a vampire, the curse becomes all the more sinister. Vampires have long been a subject of fascination in literature and folklore. They are creatures of the night, seductive yet bloodthirsty, immortal yet cursed with an insatiable hunger.
Perhaps there are modern actors who can pull of the complex vampire motif ala the tormented Barnabas Collins, but Jonathan Frid (also Barnabas in the feature House of Dark Shadows) will always be one of the essentials, right up there with Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee. The Canadian actor-trained at both RADA and Yale- captures the upper class, Shakespearean, Old World vibes of a colonial aristocrat and blends the society charm wonderfully with reckless love and utter heartache. Frid’s vamped out portrayal is over the top in the style of the time, yet his bloodlust restraint is subtle, latent, repressed. The secrets, deception, and vampy hunger are kinky, twisted, and dynamite to watch. Goodness yes, Frid is one of the most notorious cast members when it comes to flubbing up his lines or needing a not so subtle glance at the cue cards. However, his recovering stutters, cover up shifting, and sharp smile in a way help the Barnabas portrayal. This vampire is always ready to burst for love or blood, isn’t he? Despite his slick frock, fancy cape, or smooth suit, Barnabas is always ready to pursue his love incarnate or grab a working girl on the Collingsport docks.
This three-hour compilation focuses on the events leading up to how Barnabas Collins became a vampire, and it s a fine introduction for the newly crowned vampire fan. Rather than jumping around in time with séances and flashbacks from the soap opera s original 1960s establishment, The Vampire Curse opens with Dark Shadows 1795 storyline- which originally aired as a flashback departure in 1967 and 68.
They are creatures of the night, seductive yet bloodthirsty, immortal yet cursed with an insatiable hunger. It is the curse of the vampire that sets them apart from other supernatural beings. They are forever trapped in the shadows, forever cursed to walk the earth in search of their next victim.
I Think, Therefore I Review.
My husband has given me a few Dark Shadows sets as gifts. However, it was my mother, a Barnabas Collins fan herself, who gave me Dark Shadows: The Vampire Curse last Christmas. This exclusively Barnabas DVD is the perfect length for vampy fans looking for that sixties kitschy fix this October.
After an ill-fated fling with Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) in Martinique , jealous and vengeful maid Angelique Bouchard (Lara Parker) plots to ruin the wedding of Barnabas and Josette Du Pres (Kathryn Leigh Scott). Angelique, a witch and voodoo practitioner, makes Josette and Barnabas’ uncle Jeremiah (Anthony George) fall in love with each other and the spellbound couple eventually elopes. Patriarch Joshua Collins (Louis Edmunds) is powerless to stop his brother and son as they duel for Josette’s affection as Angelique blackmails Barnabas into matrimony via his little sister Sarah’s (Sharon Smyth) welfare and sets up time traveling governess Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) for a witch trial. Scorned once more by Barnabas’ continued love for Josette, the undaunted Angelique finally curses him to an eternal vampire torment.
Rather than jumping around in time with séances and flashbacks from the soap opera’s original 1960s establishment, The Vampire Curse opens with Dark Shadows’ 1795 storyline- which originally aired as a flashback departure in 1967 and 68. This three-hour compilation focuses on the events leading up to how Barnabas Collins became a vampire, and it’s a fine introduction for the newly crowned vampire fan. Some die-hard fans may not like this linear style or quick catch up approach- it is after all unusual for this series, which famously uses time travel and lengthy, historical sequences to rotate the cast and change storylines. However, instead of wading through hours and episodes worrying about all the other storylines- witchcraft, Frankenstein motifs, and that dreaded dream curse for example- The Vampire Curse offers everything you need to get your Barnabas fix.
Perhaps there are modern actors who can pull of the complex vampire motif ala the tormented Barnabas Collins, but Jonathan Frid (also Barnabas in the feature House of Dark Shadows) will always be one of the essentials, right up there with Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee. The Canadian actor-trained at both RADA and Yale- captures the upper class, Shakespearean, Old World vibes of a colonial aristocrat and blends the society charm wonderfully with reckless love and utter heartache. Frid’s vamped out portrayal is over the top in the style of the time, yet his bloodlust restraint is subtle, latent, repressed. The secrets, deception, and vampy hunger are kinky, twisted, and dynamite to watch. Goodness yes, Frid is one of the most notorious cast members when it comes to flubbing up his lines or needing a not so subtle glance at the cue cards. However, his recovering stutters, cover up shifting, and sharp smile in a way help the Barnabas portrayal. This vampire is always ready to burst for love or blood, isn’t he? Despite his slick frock, fancy cape, or smooth suit, Barnabas is always ready to pursue his love incarnate or grab a working girl on the Collingsport docks.
It’s called Dark Shadows: The Vampire Curse, but this story is just as much about the women in Barnabas’ life: the witchy, possessive Angelique and the innocent French lady Josette. Jonathan Frid wouldn’t have had much to go on without the young and alluring Lara Parker (Save the Tiger, Race with the Devil). Her meddling presence sets the entire twisted tale in motion. The audience can’t deny she is damn sexy, but her affection comes at very deadly price. Likewise, Katherine Leigh Scott’s ( Dallas ) Josette mirrors Angelique with innocent beauty. Both are stunning and exotic; but Scott is the naïve, upscale antithesis to Parker’s jealous servant. The love triangle is essential here and causes ripples for the entire series. We want to see Barnabas with his beloved Josette-what’s not to love about her? However, we absolutely love and love to hate Angelique. You don’t need glittery effects and outlandish tangents when you have meaty talent and emotional story like this.
I dare say this set is even kinkier on the romance and innuendo than I remembered last. It’s been several years since I’ve seen this segment of the show, and Barnabas just crosses into too many affairs with the wrong women! This colonial vampire storyline is actually both my parents’ favorite part of Dark Shadows, and the origins of the tormented Barnabas Collins catapulted the soap and the vampire himself into cult fame. All that old glory is captured here- from the wonderful score by Robert Cobert (War and Remembrance) and the moody direction from Lela Swift (Ryan’s Hope) under show runner Dan Curtis (War and Remembrance, The Winds of War) to the tragic storyline and fine performances. Though Dark Shadows regulars Thayer David as Ben Stokes and Grayson Hall as the Countess Natalie Du Pres are in great form, in this streamlined set, we don’t see them or the lovely Joan Bennett (We’re No Angels, Little Women) as much as I might have liked. Alexandra Moltke and Louis Edmunds also have reduced time here, and the disjointed appearance by some of the cast hints that something (like the rest of the show!) is missing. Several staple cast members including David Henesy and Nancy Barrett are absent entirely. Anthony George and Sharon Smyth are also fairly wooden and leave a little something to be desired. Nevertheless, it’s nice to see a stage like acting company have the freedom to hone the story at hand with only basic, even rudimentary effects.
Yes, a surviving soap opera from 1967 isn’t without its faults. There are significant camera imperfections against our trained HD eyes, bemusing appearances by microphones and sound booms, set mistakes, visible crewmen, and fumbled dialogue all here to the Dark Shadows fans’ delight. Of course, we’ve seen better-stylized and modern interpretations of 18 th century America , but the colonial look here gets the mood across just fine. There’s something so wonderfully simplistic about capes, ruffled gowns, and lots of smoke to set the atmosphere for the stage like gothic drama. Some of the sound transfer is iffy but again understandable due to the technology of the time. Again, the editing of The Vampire Curse also leaves something to be desired in a few spots. The DVD team is editing numerous episodes together and trying to pack what took months of television into a very short timeframe. Some of the pace drags on, and occasionally it’s even tough to discern why the segment one is watching is significant until more puzzle pieces are presented. We see Victoria Winters twice for goodness sake, and her time traveling to the past is how we got there in the first place! There are a few wonderful things missing when you have to cut out concurrent storylines, but the point of The Vampire Curse is to make folks check out the rest of the Dark Shadows DVDs, isn’t it? Thankfully, the crew got most of the presentation correct, and the juicy gist of Barnabas Collins is here quick and tasty.
(A crewman in the mausoleum?^)Dark Shadows: The Vampire Curse packs a lot into its 3 hour long episode, and there’s no chapter break choices or scene selection options. The first half sets up the background, and a middle point before the last vampy hour would have been a nice place to break for two super sized episodes. I’ll take an hour and half mini movie compared to the 22-minute episodes (or the 18-minute chopped up edition that used to run on the Sci Fi Channel). Only the concluding moments return the audience to the contemporary 1967 resurrection. It’s a little ironic that we spend most of The Vampire Curse with a color origin story and then end in black and white when the Barnabas character was actually introduced on the show. The black and white Episode 221 is included as a special feature as well. It’s a nice treat for those who haven’t seen what an actual episode looks like, but I’m not really sure why this particular episode was chosen before others that continue The Vampire Curse’s tale. The short interview with star Jonathan Frid is also fun. The usual promos for other Dark Shadows books and DVDs are here as well, but alas, we have no subtitles. Understandable, obviously, but it might have been fun to see those dialogue mistakes in print onscreen!
Dark Shadows: The Vampire Curse can be loved by fans of the original series and newcomers alike. Traditional fans may simply prefer the DVD sets; but for those who don’t have the time or money to invest in a 1,200 plus episode show, The Vampire Curse fits the bill for an October itch or viewing anytime of year. Younger audiences or those who might laugh at the stock production of the time should give this set a chance as well. This is as quick and cleaned up as Dark Shadows gets, and those Twilight folks can get educated on what a real vampire is meant to be like. If Johnny Depp and Tim Burton ever get their feature film adaptation going (and I hope they get it right, not weird!), modern audiences will probably eat up this classic material. Get a head start on the original gothic soap with Dark Shadows: The Vampire Curse .
But what is it about shadows that makes them so creepy? Perhaps it is the way they seem to have a life of their own, stretching and contorting with every movement. Shadows can distort reality, warping the familiar into something sinister and unknown. They can reveal the darkness within us, the secrets we wish to hide. And when those shadows take the form of a vampire, the creep factor is amplified tenfold. Vampires are often depicted as nocturnal creatures, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Their pale skin and sharp fangs only add to their eerie presence. They are the epitome of the creepy shadows that haunt our nightmares. But it is not just their physical appearance that makes vampires so creepy. It is the curse that they carry. Vampires are cursed to live forever, eternally thirsty for blood. They are condemned to roam the world, preying on the innocent, forever trapped in a cycle of violence and death. It is this curse that makes them so creepy, so unsettling. They are the embodiment of our darkest fears and desires. So the next time you catch a glimpse of a shadow dancing upon the wall, remember the creepy shadows of the vampire curse. They are a reminder of the darkness within us all, the primal instincts we try so desperately to suppress. And in the end, they serve as a chilling reminder that perhaps the scariest monsters are the ones that reside within ourselves..
Reviews for "The enduring intrigue of creepy shadows: The allure of the vampire curse"
1. Jake - 2/5 - I must admit, I was really disappointed with "Creepy Shadows the Vampire Curse". The plot was predictable and lacked originality. The characters felt one-dimensional, and I couldn't really connect with any of them. The writing style was also subpar, with awkward dialogue and excessive use of cliches. Overall, the book failed to capture my attention and left me wanting more.
2. Emily - 1/5 - I can't even begin to describe how much I disliked "Creepy Shadows the Vampire Curse". The story felt like a cheap imitation of every vampire book I've ever read, with nothing new or exciting to offer. The main character was extremely unlikable, and I found myself not caring about their fate at all. The writing was sloppy, with typos and grammatical errors throughout. I was really hoping for a thrilling and engaging vampire tale, but this book fell flat on all counts.
3. Sarah - 2/5 - I had high hopes for "Creepy Shadows the Vampire Curse" but unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. The pacing was all over the place, with long stretches of boredom followed by rushed and confusing action scenes. The romance subplot felt forced and lacked chemistry. The dialogue was stilted and unnatural, making it difficult to stay engaged with the story. Overall, I found the book to be underwhelming and unmemorable.
4. Mike - 2/5 - "Creepy Shadows the Vampire Curse" was a major letdown for me. The world-building was weak, and I struggled to understand the rules and dynamics of the vampire society. The plot was unoriginal and lacked any surprises or twists. The writing style was average at best, and I found myself skimming through passages due to the lack of compelling storytelling. I expected a thrilling vampire adventure, but all I got was a forgettable and formulaic read.