House of Dark Shadows

PG

Released Oct 28, 1970

1h 38m

Horror

List

43%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Imprisoned in a coffin for more than a hundred years, the vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) is freed when a local drunk (John Karlen) discovers the Collins crypt and opens the coffin. Now free to roam the earth once more, Barnabas feasts on the blood of the living and obsesses over the family governess, Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott), who he believes is his lost love Josette reincarnated. This gothic drama is a theatrical retelling of the classic television show "Dark Shadows."

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Even in these troubled times, the vampire has it worse than most of us.

Rated: 2/4

Oct 23, 2004

Full Review

Brian Holcomb

Kinetofilm

The film is well mounted and stylishly produced. In what must've seemed like a luxury, Jonathan Frid had time to learn ALL his lines.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 1, 2010

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

It has the unique distinction of being the only motion picture ever based on a daytime soap opera.

Rated: C

Oct 21, 2006

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Aug 16, 2005

Full Review

Michael Szymanski

Zap2it.com

Rated: 4/5

Apr 27, 2003

Full Review

Gerry Shamray

Your Movies (cleveland.com)

Genuine chills and surprises. Blows away the TV show.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 13, 2003

Full Review

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Ken B

Rehash of the Dracula story, but still worth a look.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/01/24

Full Review

Dave S

Those who've watched the television serial Dark Shadows will slurp up what House of Dark Shadows has to offer, but the uninitiated will probably find it to be nothing more than a sub-standard vampire movie. The premise sounds all too familiar: a vampire is released from his coffin after a 100-year hiatus and goes on a killing spree, along the way falling in love with what he believes is his long-lost mate. Aside from its uninspired plot, what really hurts the movie are its production values, ranging from too many annoying POV shots to the jarring scene transitions to the distracting hand-held camerawork to the blaring music score. Some of the performances are decent and the sets are nice, but that doesn't save it from being what it is – boring and predictable.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

10/13/23

Full Review

Sabrina F

I was hoping that House of Dark Shadows would be a brand-new story set in Collinsport with some of the Dark Shadows characters. Instead, it is just a condensed retelling of Barnabus Collins' first major storyline from the Dark Shadows soap opera. The benefit of that is that the soap opera had a tendency to drag out each storyline, so the movie tells that initial storyline at a much quicker pace; however, that also means that you get little character development in the film, so unless you have already watched the Dark Shadows tv series, up until the point of the film, then events that happen to characters will have little to no impact. I do, however, love the setting, the gothic atmosphere, the score, and the fact that we get some blood and a few creepy scenes in the film. This film has a Hammer Horror film to it, and I appreciate that. I just wish that the film rather told a fresh new story or pretended that the film was meant for those who had never watched the show, so it took its time to develop its characters a little more.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/27/23

Full Review

CodyZamboni

Movie is watchable. It has a nice old school horror vibe with lots of action, but edited down so lots of it makes no sense. Seems as if tons of transitional footage was cut out. The scenes just jump, jump jump with no connection to each other. Found out later, studio reduced the running time and get to the action faster.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/06/23

Full Review

Matthew R

Campy, vampire, bloody, goodness!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/13/23

Full Review

Jesse G

I was a fan of the original series so going to see the movie was a definite for me. I found it a great compression and exploration of the Barnabas vampire story. It was a low budget movie but I thought what was on the screen looked anything but low budget.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

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Dan Curtis

Director

Jonathan Frid

Barnabas Collins

Joan Bennett

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard

Grayson Hall

Dr. Julia Hoffman

Kathryn Leigh Scott

Maggie Evans

Roger Davis

Jeff Clark

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Synopsis

Imprisoned in a coffin for more than a hundred years, the vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) is freed when a local drunk (John Karlen) discovers the Collins crypt and opens the coffin. Now free to roam the earth once more, Barnabas feasts on the blood of the living and obsesses over the family governess, Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott), who he believes is his lost love Josette reincarnated. This gothic drama is a theatrical retelling of the classic television show "Dark Shadows."

Director: Dan Curtis
Screenwriter: Gordon Russell, Sam Hall
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Rating: PG
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 28, 1970, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2008
Runtime: 1h 38m
Sound Mix: Mono

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