NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS (1971)
When you last left your crippled curator (I couldn't think of a worse example of alliteration), he...er, I was lamenting the fact that I wasn't terribly familiar with Dark Shadows. House of Dark Shadows was an amusing sit, but it didn't offer much to an outsider. This follow-up bears only a tenuous connection to the series. Apart from the setting, everything is brand spankin' new. I think. A couple has inherited the Collinwood Estate. The husband, a painter by trade, is plagued with turbid visions of a witch hanging from a noose. It doesn't take long for you to realize that we're grappling with a tired reincarnation plotline, and therein lies the problem. Notice anything missing? No. Effing. Vampires. Okay, that's not a hiccup per se, but it sure doesn't help Vampire Month.
I could have thrown this one out with (or without) the bathwater, but it exists as a tangential curiosity. I like tangential curiosities. Of course, I was all geared up for a vampire flick, so this was a diminutive disappointment. "But Dom," you interject. "Is it an otherwise exemplary production?" No. No, it isn't. The acting is rigid, and if you were watching these films back-to-back, you would notice that Night was furnished with less spooky ambience. You can definitely tell that it was based on a soap opera. Maybe that's your bag. Personally, I wish I would have skipped it, mainly because I still have dates with actual vampires. FACTOID: Director Dan Curtis was dragooned into shaving over thirty minutes from the final cut. It doesn't look like we'll ever see the full version, which if I'm being honest, doesn't affect me on an emotional level.
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