''Dark Shadows'' is a one-hour
television pilot that was a
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
of the 1966–1971
gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
soap opera television series ''
Dark Shadows''. The pilot was commissioned by
The WB and produced in 2004, but not picked up for a series.
Plot
Victoria Winters
Victoria "Vicki" Winters is a fictional character from the television Gothic soap opera ''Dark Shadows'' and its remakes of the same name. The role was originated by Alexandra Moltke on the ABC series from 1966 to 1968. After Moltke left to ra ...
arrives by train to Collinsport, where she has been hired by the Collins family to tutor their youngest member,
David. She is welcomed by matriarch
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
The following is a list of characters from the ''Dark Shadows'' franchise. The list distinguishes characters from the original ABC daytime soap opera series, the 1970s films, the 1991 NBC remake series, the 2004 WB pilot, and the 2012 film.
196 ...
, but experiences strange and disturbing dreams during her first night in the mansion. Victoria meets David, the son of Elizabeth's brother
Roger Collins, who is constantly plagued by memories of his mother. Meanwhile,
Willie Loomis and his girlfriend Kelly Vance go to the Collinwood crypt in search of treasure, and open the locked coffin of
Barnabas Collins
Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, a featured role in the ABC daytime serial ''Dark Shadows'', which aired from 1966 to 1971. Barnabas is a 175-year-old vampire in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette. The character, original ...
. In the process, Kelly cuts her hand and some blood falls upon the desiccated corpse, reviving him. A vampire, Barnabas drains Kelly of her blood and attacks Willie. He later attacks Elizabeth's daughter
Carolyn Stoddard
Carolyn is a female given name, a variant of Caroline. Other spellings include Karolyn, Carolyne, Carolynn or Carolynne. Caroline itself is one of the feminine forms of Charles.
List of Notable People
* Carolyn Bennett (born 1950), Canadian ...
, who is walking to her car from a romantic encounter with
Joe Haskell on his boat.
Barnabas presents himself at Collinwood as a distant relative from England, as Elizabeth and a less than enthusiastic Roger note his resemblance to the historical Barnabas Collins, whose portrait hangs in the mansion. Victoria feels immediately drawn to Barnabas. He asks permission to restore the Old House, and although Roger cautions him against it, he is determined to proceed. David and Victoria visit the Old House and Barnabas shows Victoria a portrait of
Josette DuPres, which greatly resembles her. It hangs in Josette's room, which had been walled up until now. Willie, now working for Barnabas, bears fang marks and cannot say enough good things about Barnabas. At night David wakes and goes into the woods, where he removes a dagger from the ground. What might be the spirit of the witch
Angelique is now apparently free. Meanwhile, Dr.
Julia Hoffman confirms that Carolyn's wounds match those on Kelly's recently discovered corpse. Carolyn, late at night at the hospital, wakes and looks longingly out the hospital window, murmuring "Come back." When Victoria drives back to Collinwood she seemingly hits Angelique with her car. The disfigured Angelique screams, "He's mine!"
Cast
*
Alec Newman
Alec Newman (born 27 November 1974) is a Scottish actor best known for portraying Paul Atreides in the Sci Fi Channel's 2000 miniseries adaptation of Frank Herbert's ''Dune''.
Early life
Newman was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father is San ...
as
Barnabas Collins
Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, a featured role in the ABC daytime serial ''Dark Shadows'', which aired from 1966 to 1971. Barnabas is a 175-year-old vampire in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette. The character, original ...
: An undead vampire accidentally released after being locked away for 200 years. He is tormented by his curse.
*
Marley Shelton as
Victoria Winters
Victoria "Vicki" Winters is a fictional character from the television Gothic soap opera ''Dark Shadows'' and its remakes of the same name. The role was originated by Alexandra Moltke on the ABC series from 1966 to 1968. After Moltke left to ra ...
: A beautiful, twentysomething woman hired to tutor young David Collins, and an exact double of Barnabas' 1790s fiancée,
Josette DuPres.
*
Jessica Chastain
Jessica Michelle Chastain (born March 24, 1977) is an American actress and producer. Known for primarily starring in films with feminist themes, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. ''Time'' ...
as
Carolyn Stoddard
Carolyn is a female given name, a variant of Caroline. Other spellings include Karolyn, Carolyne, Carolynn or Carolynne. Caroline itself is one of the feminine forms of Charles.
List of Notable People
* Carolyn Bennett (born 1950), Canadian ...
: Elizabeth's twentysomething daughter, who still lives at Collinwood.
*
Alexander Gould as
David Collins David Collins may refer to:
Persons
* David Collins (Hampshire cricketer), 18th-century cricketer
* David Collins (New Zealand cricketer) (1887–1967)
* David Collins (Scottish footballer) (1912–?)
* David Collins (Australian footballer) ( ...
: The 9-year-old, troubled son of Roger Collins.
*
Martin Donovan
Martin Donovan (born Martin Paul Smith; August 19, 1957) is an American actor. He has had a long collaboration with director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, such as ''Trust'' (1990), '' Surviving Desire'' (1991), '' Simple Men'' (199 ...
as
Roger Collins: David's father, a ruthless businessman.
*
Kelly Hu as
Dr. Julia Hoffman: The Collins family physician, and a close friend to Roger and Elizabeth.
*
Ivana Miličević as
Angelique: A beautiful, vindictive witch. She has come back from death to either reunite with Barnabas, or destroy him.
*
Matt Czuchry as
Willie Loomis: A former Collinsport high school football star who works as a handyman at Collinwood.
*
Jenna Dewan as Sophia Loomis: Willie's younger sister, a maid at Collinwood.
*
Blair Brown as
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
The following is a list of characters from the ''Dark Shadows'' franchise. The list distinguishes characters from the original ABC daytime soap opera series, the 1970s films, the 1991 NBC remake series, the 2004 WB pilot, and the 2012 film.
196 ...
: Roger's older sister. Her husband mysteriously absent, she lives a solitary life with Roger and Carolyn in Collinwood.
* Jason Shaw as
Joe Haskell, a fisherman and Carolyn's boyfriend.
*
Alexis Thorpe
Alexis Ann Thorpe (born April 19, 1980) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Rianna Miner on the soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', from 2000 to 2002, and Cassie Brady on the soap opera '' Days of Our Lives'' from 2002 ...
as Kelly Vance, Willie's greedy girlfriend.
*
Michael D. Roberts
Michael D. Roberts is an American actor.
Career
Roberts played the role of "Rooster" in the 1970s television series ''Baretta''. Roberts starred in the short-lived 1983 television series ''Manimal'', appearing in five of the eight episodes whic ...
as Sheriff Patterson
* E.J. Callahan as Old Man on Train
* Nathan Weiss as Boy in Devil Costume
*
Doug Jones as Demon on Train, Barnabas in Crypt
The pilot included new characters not previously shown in the original or the 1991 versions of the series, including Sophia Loomis and Kelly Vance. Characters
Maggie Evans
The following is a list of characters from the ''Dark Shadows'' franchise. The list distinguishes characters from the original ABC daytime soap opera series, the 1970s films, the 1991 NBC remake series, the 2004 WB pilot, and the 2012 film.
1966 ...
, Sam Evans and Sarah Collins from the prior versions were included in the script, but did not appear in the filmed pilot (although Sarah is mentioned by David).
Alec Newman went on to play a grown up David Collins in an audio series of ''Dark Shadows'' produced by the British company
Big Finish, which was created as a continuation of the first T.V. series and starred many of the original actors.
Production
''
TV Guide'' reported in November 2003 that
The WB had secured the rights to adapt the 1966–1971
gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
soap opera ''
Dark Shadows'' into a new television series. Created by
Dan Curtis
Dan Curtis (born Daniel Mayer Cherkoss; August 12, 1927 – March 27, 2006) was an American director, writer, and producer of television and film, known among fans of horror films for his afternoon TV series ''Dark Shadows'' (1966–1971) and ...
, ''Dark Shadows'' had previously been remade as a short-lived
1991 prime time series. A
pilot was commissioned and produced in 2004.
Not wanting to have two vampire shows in competition with each other, The WB canceled the ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...
'' spinoff ''
Angel'' to make room for ''Dark Shadows'' in the 2004–2005 television season.
With a budget of $6 million, the pilot was written by
Mark Verheiden
Mark Verheiden (born March 26, 1956) is an American television, movie, and comic-book writer. He was a co-executive producer for the television series '' Falling Skies'' for DreamWorks Television and the TNT network.
Career
Comics and comic-r ...
.
It starred Alec Newman as Barnabas, Marley Shelton as Victoria, Blair Brown as Elizabeth, Martin Donovan as Roger, Kelly Hu as Dr. Hoffman, and Jessica Chastain as Carolyn.
The pilot was cast younger than previous adaptations, and was the first iteration of ''Dark Shadows'' with diverse casting for major characters.
Todd McIntosh was the lead makeup artist, with prosthetics built by Andrew Clements.
They created a series of looks for Barnabas in varying stages of decomposition as he transitions back to the appearance of a living man.
The original director,
Rob Bowman, backed out of the project at the last minute due to other commitments, and was replaced by
P. J. Hogan
Paul John "P. J." Hogan (born 30 November 1962) is an AACTA Award-winning Australian film director and writer.
Early life
Hogan was born in Brisbane, Queensland. As a teenager, he lived on the North Coast of New South Wales and attended Mt ...
.
Curtis, Hogan, and The WB reportedly all had different visions for the series.
The pilot was filmed at the
Greystone Mansion in
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...
, which also served as the
Collinwood Mansion
Collinwood Mansion is a fictional house featured in the Gothic horror soap opera ''Dark Shadows'' (1966–1971). Built in 1795 by Joshua Collins, Collinwood has been home to the Collins family and other sometimes unwelcome supernatural visitors ...
for the
previous 1991 remake.
The pilot was screened for The WB in June 2004,
but was not picked up for a series.
WB chairman
Garth Ancier said in July 2005, "We had a new director
ogancome in who was accomplished in movies but frankly didn't do a particularly good job ... The script was terrific, but creatively, the end result did not come out the way we'd all hoped for."
Jeff Thompson wrote in ''The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis'' that The WB later regretted their decision, as the 2004–2005 season saw the debut of several popular "mystical and quirky" series like ''
Lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
*Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
* Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
'', ''
Desperate Housewives
''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Marc Cherry, Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from Octobe ...
'', ''
Medium'', ''
Ghost Whisperer
''Ghost Whisperer'' is an American supernatural television series, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010.
The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon ( Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has the ability to see and communicate with ...
'', and ''
Supernatural
Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
''.
Release
The pilot never aired because The WB passed on the series.
It was screened at a 2005 ''Dark Shadows'' festival in
Los Angeles, with subsequent showings at the 2006 ''Dark Shadows'' 40th Anniversary Festival in
Brooklyn, New York, the 2008 ''Dark Shadows'' Festival in
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...
and the 2009 ''Dark Shadows'' Festival in
.
Reception
In his book ''Dark Shadows'', Harry M. Benshoff wrote, "Perhaps the most interesting thing about the pilot was its luridly lit visual design, one more reminiscent of Italian horror films by Mario Bava and/or Dario Argento than the original series."
Critic
Mark Dawidziak
Mark Dawidziak (born September 7, 1956) is an American author and critic.
Early life
Dawidziak was born in Huntington, New York, on September 7, 1956. He is a graduate of Harborfields High School, class of 1974.
Journalism career
A journ ...
commented at the 2005 ''Dark Shadows'' Festival that much of the pilot was "lighted like a French whorehouse."
Thompson praised the cast, in particular Newman and the female performers.
References
External links
*
{{Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Unaired television pilots
Television pilots not picked up as a series