1991's DARK SHADOWS episodes two and three

 

TWO and THREE (or hours two and three...I am sure that the first three episodes were shown as a two hour movie and then an hour episode; on the dvd they are presented as ...hour two and hour three so wtf?).

 

 

 

 

Not as bad as a I remembered but again, not as good as the soap opera. BUT a bit better than the HOUSE OF movie. It appears that everyone is trying really hard. Willie did not bother me as much as he had in the past...I still prefer the Willie (s) of the original show, however I do see why they went in the direction they did but he's so...mentally challenged here it's almost embarassing.

 

Much of the time of these two hours is devoted to Julia curing Barnabas and then Dr. Woodard discovering that he is the vampire AND that he takes photographs of Julia's journal as proof. Why didn't he just steal the entire diary and run straight to the police? Since the soap opera literally took months and hours of air time to show this, I do feel the relationships were deeper and more involving. I actually liked Dr Woodard in both but in the soap more. Things just seem to run too fast in this show and ironically, there's little to no action to speak of. When the writers decided these two episodes are too slow, they threw in a dream sequence fo David being attacked by vampires versions of Carolyn, Vicki, and Daphne, totally unnecessary but oh, so Dark Shadows of old. That said, they had to cut a lot of other stuff that would have been better to include.

 

 

 

 

I'd like to say the visuals are better than the old show but in truth...they're not. The houses look artiicfical in long shots and similar to each other in closer up shots. Then there's the day for night shooting that comes straight from poor Z movies (Roger Corman I'm looking at you and your fab so bad they're good movies). In old movies it's understandable...in 1991 after such great productions as the NIGHT STALKER and the following excellent and better TV show, it's unforgiveable. Daphne : much time is spent on her and her vampiric activities. Unfortunately, the actress, while very pretty, is not up to acting. Every scene with her as  a vampire is done better in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS by Nancy Barrett. I also don't really like that Carolyn gets close to Joe, basically her cousin's boyfriend (and fiance?). It doesn't exactly make her sympathetic but it is, oh, so Carolyn.

 

I have to say I love Ben Cross and Barbara Steele. They are wonderful in these two episodes and carry the whole thing. Jean Simmons is nice, too but let's face it, she's not given much to do and Liz is such a "in the dark" character that she looks almost stupid in these two episodes, not realizing Barnabas is the vampire. The fact that in this and in the HOUSE OF movie, the word and the situation of "vampire" is out of the closet so to speak, makes things...a bit too far surreal and silly to be fair. In the older show, NO ONE knew about the vampire for a long time, except maybe David and no one believed him. Also the word vampire wasn't uttered for at least a year and a half and I believe that was in the 1795 storyline.

 

The mirror scene in Collinwood is prolonged but okay. The mirror scene as Barnabas sees himself for the first time in 200 years (1791?) is nice and makes him sympathetic but it's also strange to see Willie, Barnabas, and Julia smiling so happily...ever. Cross also makes the most of every scene: when he's chasing Vicki to the cliff to heroically prevent her from having an accident...and encountering memories of Josette's death....or staving off the sunlight as George Patterson, Woodard, and Roger come to the house when the first two are ready to accuse him of being the killer...or threatening Julia...he's brilliant. He's not Frid but he's his own Barnabas..and thankfully plays it all completely straight. I also love the fact that when Julia first finds him, he gives Willie looks, who has a worried look on his face. "I'll see you later about this, Willie."

 

Intespersed with this is the David meets Sarah storyline and it feels rushed and the kids just don't seem up to par for it. They're both very cute but I prefer the tv show version of both of them and this storyline is most rushed. The Sarah in the soap show. accompanied by the excellent music, was just so otherworldly...and the David of the soap such a combination of innocence and nasty..it's hard to top that and their relationship developed over time. Here's it very rushed IMO.

 

 

 

 

No one else has very much to do really. Joe looks great with his shirt off and for once it is refreshing the man is the victim but...Vicki does very little but safe guard David at times. David tells everyone he saw Daphne (in a sequence that is much better in the HOUSE movie) and BLECH!!!! ---Roger and ...and...Maggie have sex. EWL!

 

Now, bad enough as that is (the mind thinks of Louie Edmonds and KLS doing the same and it's worse!) they are ...in an old ...what looks like an old greenhouse that Maggie uses to paint? The explanation is that Maggie likes it that way because it inspires her. Their relationship falls flat totally and the two have almost no chemistry. Roger, in fact, has no personal history as he does on the soap, which while it made him a villain a lot of the time, it also made him multi dimensional and cowardly...this Roger we barely know apart from the fact that he says with all of his traveling around the world he's seen some strange things but vampires? It all rings very hollow.

 

 

 

 

As does Maggie's cards and future telling and insight into the supernatural. Her lines are all fake sounding ("I think it is a vampire and I can tell you this, this is only the beginning,"  all sound as if they are written specifically for a promo. The acting is not bad, mind you, from these two, but their characters as written are poor.

 

 

 

 

So is there any reason to watch this series? I'm still not sure. Cross and Steele may be the only saving graces. The music is not as good as the original show but there are some classic pieces taken directly from the soap that fit in well. The entire thing just does not seem to have much substance and the entire things feels disjointed and again, the scenes that are supposed to be night....are really day time and we see vampire Barnabas walking under a blue sky AND brilliant sunlight...as well as Daphne in what looks like full sunshine in the morning...what up wiht that? Major tone UNSETTING. That is just the worst flub and it happens over and over and over again.

 

 

 

 

Another thing is the sets...the bigger the house is, the less warmth from them one feels, the less familar. As a whole the series is not impressive but it does make one curious as to watching it and/or why they ever did it THIS way in the first place.