Dark
Shadows Collection 16 Steamrolls Forward
by
Kristin Battestella
The
macabre soap opera Dark
Shadows continues
its DVD Collection 16
deep
into the 1897 storyline
with another forty episodes of cliffhangers, time travel,
possessions, prophecies, and vendettas.
Time
traveling vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) is re-entombed in
his coffin by the warlock Count Petofi (Thayer David), who is intent
on escaping Madga Rakosi's (Grayson Hall) gypsy vengeance in 1897 by
traveling to the future with werewolf Quentin Collins (David Selby) –
the concerned uncle of young Jamison (David Henesy), who is possessed
by 1969's David Collins. Unfortunately, the witch Angelique (Lara
Parker) has other marital plans for Quentin, leaving the possessed
Charity Trask (Nancy Barrett), jealous maid Beth Chavez (Terry
Crawford), and painter Charles Delaware Tate's (Roger Davis) perfect
women come to life Amanda Harris (Donna McKechnie) with
broken-hearted, violent, and trigger happy threats to the Collins
Family future.
Disc
1 begins where Collection 15
left off with disruptions to the time traveling answers and Collins
children past and present at risk. Numerous players know what's
happening – the vampires, paradoxes, and possessions are no longer
secret – raising the battle of wills with all manner of
supernatural then and now. Who in Collinsport doesn't
have a paranormal problem? Visions part truth and part deceptions
create an entertaining yet eerie mix of who is who, past or present,
and living or dead blending together. Characters learning of their
own suicides from their future ghosts is wild stuff, but the
fantastic is handled with sincerity, earnest, and sophistication. A
lot is happening at once, but vampires can't help from the coffin and
the werewolf can't be called upon for heroics during the full moon.
Vicious murders push the daytime television envelope while hooded
executioners provide well done suspense. Most of the cast is involved
in multiple stories, and the supernatural tangents intersect with new
connections and surprises. Is it convoluted at times? Yes.
Preposterous? Absolutely! However, Dark
Shadows sticks with its own
mechanics, allowing for unreliable I Ching attempts and garbled
future messages while the
mystical paintings, gypsy angst, and possession puzzles maintain an
impressive complexity.
Action scenes and paranormal visuals balance the traditional two shot
soap opera conversations, and mini
cliffhangers keep the extensive 1897 tales moving. Dark
Shadows doesn't
toil over one event – something critical happens every half hour
thanks to interesting
tricks, unique spells, and a spooky variety not seen elsewhere. It's
tough to summarize all the fake talismans, man created women, and
ghostly abductions, but references to the 1969 present recall the
time travel goals and lay the 1897 exit groundwork. The cast has a
good time with some of the crazy dialogue – even as they try not to
laugh at the infamous flubs and teleprompter glances. It's dynamite
when characters who haven't met do so, and emotional anchors swell as
the fantastics go for broke. The alternating plots are interwoven
well, and the opening narrations provide the essentials when the
heavy finales don't repeat the more outrageous turmoil, poisons, or
you know, sword wielding suspense.
Dark
Shadows puts
its own paranormal spin
on the usual soap opera greed, and cutaway kisses or cameras framed
by the brass bed suggest more saucy. Everyone is at each other's
throats, and the tense atmosphere builds as coming and going
characters go over the cliff – literally. Gunpoint confrontations
and murder confessions escalate as witches counter warlocks, and the
vampire's tricks don't always work, either. More gypsy vendettas and
skeletons from the future add to the rolling paranormal problems –
possessions are solved but there's a real time full moon amid
prophetic harbingers and death dates. Enemies sit together and have a
brandy, waiting for who will blink first, and the villainous malice
or dangers to the timeline are felt with magical gifts given and
taken away. The audience isn't always sure how The Collins Family is
going to get out of the latest enemy's enemy is my friend
ruthlessness, creating great viewer immersion. Watch one episode of
Dark Shadows and
you're hooked by the countdowns
and deadly engagements. The self-aware characters wonder what kind of
newspapers headlines they would make, and the bright red blood
remains soap opera shocking alongside a witch hypnotizing a man to
write a suicide note and put the pistol to his temple. Twisted!
Astral projections go awry, and one wouldn't think there is anywhere
left to go so deep into these 1897 plots. However, letters written in
1897 are read in 1969 just in the nick of time, and Dark
Shadows spends
several episodes in its present, bringing the ominous facts full
circle with ghosts, bloody flashbacks, and jealous women. Certainly,
there are inconsistencies with dates and alternate or negated
timelines – after all, the fly by night production never expected
to be seen again much less with today's finite detail. Fortunately,
the interference, rejections, redemption, and big supernatural
toppers on Collection 16
make it easy to overlook any trivialities. The fatal prophecies come
together as new players knock on Collinwood's door on Disc 3, and
intense zooms accent the suspense, dark romanticism, and dying for
love morose. I get so caught up in it all, at times I forget to take
review notes!
Deadlines
approach, and the old grandfather clock sounds the hour as the guns
are fired, creating great television timing on top of the scorned
women angst. Mystical bargains and curses bought or sold with Oscar
Wilde flair trap the afflicted and layer the intense deliveries as we
are preternaturally parallel and watching both 1969 times and 1897
stories at once. Episode 839 would seem to resolve the ghosts and
fatal pasts with all is well second chances and onscreen questions
asked and satisfactorily answered. However, more werewolf troubles
and bodily possessions then and now remain. On Dark
Shadows, most people accept
rather than balk at the supernatural, so nobody ever goes to the
authorities over some cyanide or disembodied bodies. Train tickets
and packed suitcases don't mean anyone can escape out of Dodge,
either. Stolen portraits, late messages, and all aboard whistles add
suspense in Episode 850 alongside Dark
Shadows' hallmark
dream sequences. Series
star Jonathan Frid is absent on Disc 2 before being withheld again on
Disc 4 of Collection 16, and
there are also several episodes with no pre-Barnabas cast members –
proving Dark Shadows
has
enough ensemble merit and storytelling integrity without relying on
its established laurels. This is a huge
cast, and it's not uncommon for even significant players to be
excused with legitimate if zany reasons. The assorted threats behind
each door of the I Ching gone wrong may seem repetitive like the
earlier Dream Curse refrains, but these deadly Rube Goldbergs and
bloody surprises aren't boring or laughable frights. The
Kitty Soames reincarnation identity crisis, however, is redundant. If
she isn't helping or hindering the Petofi plot, then she is an
unnecessary disservice to the I Ching exit potential. 1897 didn't
have to take this upcoming 1796 detour on Collection
17, and
Dark Shadows should
have returned directly to the 1969 werewolf story to begin the
dreaded Leviathan tale on a better foot. Though slightly
obvious, the switcharoos over the final three episodes on Collection
16 use
magic rings and a
diabolical touch for a wild finish. The 1897 tangent isn't over yet,
as unknown prices must be paid.
Too
many people know his vampire secrets, and Jonathan Frid's poor
Barnabas Collins is trying to keep the present family alive by
jeopardizing those in his current past. He bluffs at gunpoint, but
Barnabas can't argue with the sunrise. He's trapped in his coffin and
stripped of his powers, lamenting how his condition impedes him,
however the good guy vampire also misuses his talents when necessary.
Fortunately, Barnabas is chuffed when future communiques assure all
is well, and more daytime cures from Julia can help him finish his
mission while romancing Kitty Soames. Of course, Lara Parker's
“perennial bad penny” Angelique will have none of that, although
she is unflustered to hear her 1968 Cassandra Collins nom de plum –
admitting she was there, or rather, will be. Some of her fiery
prayers and amulets repeat the Laura Collins Phoenix feelings,
however her voodoo effigies remain campy fun. Angelique uses her
powers to aide the family, but wants to marry Quentin for some good
Collins standing. While he detests her and she only likes him,
Angelique suggests he learn to love her as his jailer. She enjoys
telling Beth about the impending nuptials, and Julia is reluctant to
accept her help. Although Angelique is right that loving Barnabas
leads to nothing but misery – not like that's her fault or
anything! Early on Collection 16, Grayson Hall's Madga Rakosi
is left out to pasture by Count Petofi with undead gypsies and big
soap opera slaps. An entire episode dedicated to her running around
in circles and hiding in the fake woods is bemusingly over the top,
but Madga's outspoken sassy can't work if she's bewitched into being
unable to say Petofi's name. It's a pity to retire Madga, but Hall's
beloved 1969 Doctor Julia Hoffman returns to Dark Shadows half
way through Collection 16. She
makes big decisions when Barnabas is in trouble and risks
returning to the haunted Collinwood for answers before tripping into
1897 herself. No, those sixties fashions won't stand out, not at all!
Despite wishing to return to the future with Barnabas, Julia gets the
period substitutes for his transfusions. Unfortunately, Petofi
coerces and tests her apparently impervious abilities before
threatening Kathryn Leigh Scott's Kitty Soames. Unlike Scott's
earlier 1897 do-gooder Rachel Drummond – who was also said to
resemble Josette yet there's no mention of Kitty resembling Rachel –
Kitty is a gold digger with upscale Victorian mourning style and her
sights set on Edward Collins' money. Until she meets Barnabas, that
is.
His
own ghost comes back to haunt David Selby's Quentin Collins, and it's
excellent to see a character originally so terrifying to children
become the tormented anti hero we're rooting for against Petofi's
dire criss cross. Quentin cares for Beth, but pushes her away as he
drowns his sorrows with brandy and gramophone music, writing a
goodbye note rather than enduring another werewolf night.
Fortunately, his mysterious portrait proves helpful against the
lycanthrope curse in Episode 832, leaving him free for Petofi to use
his loyalty to Barnabas against him. He refuses to believe
predictions on his falling out with Jamison and doesn't always trust
Julia's plans. Quentin may act like he doesn't care about his family,
but he wants to do good and grows conflicted when playing both sides
or setting up Barnabas. However, it is hysterical when he must
wrangle the knife wielding Charity without spilling his drink! The
Quentin we met at the start of 1897 would have enjoyed marrying
Angelique – or at the very least, wouldn't mind conquering her. But
now, he merely agrees to keep their arrangement reluctantly pleasant.
Selby of course, spends some time delivering Petofi's clipped cruelty
late on Collection 16, leaving
him not as careful over his portrait as he should be – plots that
will certainly affect Dark Shadows in the future. It's great
fun to see Quentin and Amanda meet as well. One miracle night without
stunt werewolf Alex Stevens and Quentin is back to being a wolf on
the make. It must be the real sideburns! Thankfully, he's aware he
deserves no time with girls who would be dead if they met his other,
more hairy, fangful face. Quentin makes plans to run away with
Amanda, telling her he now needs happy lyrics for Shadows in the
Night to remind him of her. Oh smooth, Quentin, smooth.
The
Hand of Count Petofi is back in place on Thayer David's villain as
the chess player blackmails and possesses. The bug glasses and harsh
up close shots make viewers want to withdraw from his shady presence,
but David keeps Petofi wonderfully camp and manipulative. He holds
everyone's secrets and gives people a taste of his gifts, ever so
suave as he tells them what they want to hear. Petofi uses that
killer hand and gives frightful, mystical visions while sitting in
his rocking chair. His social calls are an excuse to recount his list
of evil deeds – he has one god and his name is Petofi – but
there are limits to his skills and his magic isn't always as he
intended. Petofi has his own powerful enemies – he's on borrowed
time and resolute in escaping to the future. He spills drinks and
puffs smoke when frazzled by his fear and hatred of gypsies but
remains proud to have no ill dreams over the hundreds he's killed.
Petofi wants everyone to act out their scene as he has planned,
telling people when their part to play in the drama is over or to
change as he chooses. He enjoys putting the triumph of his subjects
just within reach as they threaten to kill him in their idle
foolishness. Of course, Thayer David also appears the ghost of Sandor
Rakosi in two episodes alongside double duty as that 1969 realist so
in the dark about the Collins' secrets Professor Stokes. The
multi-talented David juggles these personas wonderfully before
finally, desperately trying to prove he is Quentin Collins in Count
Petofi's body – but more on that in Collection 17.
Nancy
Barrett's Charity Trask sees Quentin for what he is – she's scared
and admits it, growing bold, gaining confidence, and speaking her
mind until Petofi literally takes away her voice. It's a shocking
scene when Dark Shadows essentially
kills off Charity to permanently replace her with Pansy Faye's
personality. It's a terrible, bleak violation making her song
bittersweet with sad psychic manipulations and discussions on madness
versus possession. However, Pansy remains blissfully ignorant
in some ways, providing a lighthearted sassy and can can fun – now
that is a hot pink boa! As Pansy, she stands up to Trask, hitting
home the crazy, mad Alice style and performance within a performance
by Barrett. The jealous, violent Pansy is easily triggered and her
superimposed visions and voiceover prophecies are chilling. She moves
out and gets a job at The Blue Whale, but Terry Crawford as former
maid Beth Chavez is still hanging on at Collinwood. She wants to
runaway – even packs her lovely green dresses – but can she
escape her predestined ghostly fate? Beth fears death but she's tired
of suicide talk, betrayals, and living in other people's lives with
their wills held over her. Unfortunately, Beth says her own life is
worth little and makes her anguish over Quentin worse by allying with
Petofi. She snaps, too, going gun crazy with predicted revelations.
Despite some differences from the original haunting storyline, it's
wild to see history repeating itself, for the first time, again –
something that only makes sense on Dark Shadows. Newcomer
Donna McKechnie's Amanda Harris begins in cahoots with Tim Shaw's
entrapment games, but the two years young perfect woman inadvertently
created by Charles Delaware Tate's painting is soon disgusted by
Trask and Shaw's abuses. Amanda's reveals come early on Collection
16, making room for her
involvement in almost every plot. She wants money, safety,
and man stability, but Amanda remains trapped by Shaw, a messenger to
Petofi, pursued by Trask, and owned by Tate. Each wants her to belong
to him, molding her for himself, and Amanda is indeed not quite her
own person – until she falls in love with Quentin Collins perhaps.
She wants to be somebody, a real person who's really loved not just
an unnatural figment of someone else's imagination. It's an honest,
relatable circumstance despite the fantastics, and Amanda's final
fate later on Collection 18 is one of the things I always
remember from first watching Dark Shadows reruns as a kid.
With
some magical artistry courtesy of Count Petofi, Roger Davis' Charles
Delaware Tate paints Quentin's Dorian Gray portrait.
Tate's conflicted about his gifts – worrying over the how and why
rather than being grateful – but I am still not a fan of Davis'
cranky, sarcastic delivery and over the top manhandling with his
props. The stalling, Shatner-esque flubs may match the reluctant
artist attitude, but his touchy feely lack of chemistry with Amanda
is unlikable and his selfish need to tell her everything about her
existence is plain cruel. Tate holds her past over her, entering
Collinwood or people's private rooms demanding ownership of
his creation, and he's eager to marry Amanda just to test if she
knows how to love. Gross! Disc 3
sags when his plot is at the forefront, and I don't miss his
fifth wheel when the character is absent. Fortunately, Tate learns
his lesson, taking several seats thanks to Petofi and a set trashing
row with Quentin, breakaway glass and all. Likewise, Don Briscoe's
greedy and power hungry Tim Shaw uses Amanda as revenge on Trask with
verbal insults and more implied. Shaw intends to use Tate's abilities
for himself, shoehorning his way into plots we've already seen after
having served his purpose. His reach is long, but that magically
indestructible confession is rightfully coming back to haunt Jerry
Lacy's ruthless Reverend Trask. He is more than ready to sit in the
courting chair with his hand on Amanda's shoulder while discussing
the firmness of his faith, and the camera zooms in on his glee as he
waxes on resisting one's weaknesses. He claims the paranormal is
merely demons and uses his godly prayers to justify his personal
nasty. Despite his insistence that the devil is everywhere in his
house, Trask worries about everyone's brandy habits before facing the
vampires and werewolves under his nose – and he doesn't have much
time to help his possessed daughter Charity. Ironically, Trask proves
weak willed and easily hypnotized by Angelique, but he gains the
upper hand after walking in on the chained up Quentin: “I won't ask
why...you've manacled yourself...”
Not
only is Humbert Allen Astredo's black magic lawyer Evan Handley
unseen on Collection 16,
but Dark Shadows matriarch
Joan Bennett is also absent as the committed Judith Collins
Trask. Although Paul Michael's King Johnny Romano is brief, his
vengeful presence, imposing interrogations, underhanded taunts, and
wicked knife play haunt Count Petofi throughout Collection
16 – unlike Michael
Stroka as Petofi's “dear boy” Aristede. He says he's not afraid
but Aristede shouts for “His Excellency” and views Beth as the
competition. He grows upset at Julia suggesting Petofi isn't as great
as he thinks he is and gets slapped around for failing the Count.
Fortunately, Aristede enjoys roughing up Petofi when theit situation
is reversed late on Collection 16, and
he comes in handy for stabbing gypsies in the back. Petofi
says Aristede has no love of culture but he keeps him on for his
torturous, violent revelry. Hmm.... Young Denise Nickerson only
appears briefly on Collection 16 as both Amy Jennings –
critical in discovering a secret letter in 1969 – and Nora Collins
– a messenger from Quentin caught by Trask. However, David Henesy's
Jamison is used as a channel to his 1969 counterpart David Collins.
He recalls how Quentin's ghost tormented David and returns to normal
in Episode 836 with terrible snippets of his Petofi possessions. All
the paranormal on Dark Shadows, yet
it is the simple innocence and betrayal of a child that anchors the
first half of Collection 16. Louis Edmunds appears
quickly as Roger Collins before resuming his 1897 mantle as the
bewitched into being a butler Edward Collins. Once cured of his
subservient mentality, Edward immediately returns to his angry
pursuit of Barnabas in an unlikely alliance with Petofi. He argues
with Trask over the family bills and remains a non-believer even when
all the spectacular on Dark Shadows is
spelled out for him. Edward interferes with crucial I Ching
trances, calling such hocus pocus the reason for the family's
suffering, but ultimately he admits that in his zeal to stop their
pains, he hasn't really been the best at being his brothers' keeper.
Now that's an understatement!
Despite
fake greenery and AstroTurf underfoot, phantom winds, storms, smoke,
and real fire keep the atmosphere well in hand – forgiving the
primitive designs with tense, lights out spooky. The stone mill
facades are wobbly yet remain tricked out with fine settees, four
poster beds, blue candles, and gas or early electric lamps. While
there are gowns with fine period silhouettes and colorful if
stereotypical Romani designs, other costumes are garish pink and
green with tacky embellishments and the 1969 orange striped ties are
terrible. The Hand of Count Petofi also remains crusty even when
reattached, however that gruesome matches the sickly green
spotlights, ghoulish faces, and bloody red fangs. While the
superimposed ghosts and disembodied effects are blue screen obvious
literally rough around the edges, such shocks are doubly effective as
both an audience surprise and a character fright. Creaking coffins,
slamming doors, banging windows, wolf howls, and ominous voiceovers
are on point with Bob Cobert's music – even if the sounds miss
their cue. It's simply hysterical when angry men try to break a
brandy glass in their bare hand but can't – and the crackling sound
effect happens anyway! It wouldn't be Dark Shadows without
innate tape hiccups, bloopers, onscreen crew members,
equipment gaffes, or bulky cameras unable to get out of the frame
fast enough. The teleporting afghan guest stars along with that
intrusive Collinsport Fly while chained coffins are easily locked or
speedily broken as needed. It takes one scene cutaway to dig a grave,
drop the body, and refill the fake dirt just by removing one's
jacket, and speedy Beth can run the miles from Petofi's Mill to
Collinwood by seamlessly exiting one door and entering the next.
Although Pansy's song can be tiring, the anachronistic dressings amid
quick 1969 and 1897 furniture turnarounds are bemusing. Despite its
production flaws, Dark Shadows also
has well done artistic shots with intercut filming, mirror asides,
strategic zooms, and psychedelic spins accenting that
quintessential time travel trippy.
After
re-watching through other Dark Shadows sets,
it was surprisingly easy to return for a Collection 16
marathon. I started with two episodes at a time before devouring
a disc a night! Though opening at a good introductory moment, the
multiple stories here so comparatively close to the timeline's end
make Collection 16
not exactly the best place to jump into 1897. Delightful
supernatural twists with paranormal hindrances spearhead each
episode, and a crazy cliffhanger leads directly to next set. Like one
potato chip, there's just no stopping after Dark Shadows DVD Collection 16.
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