House of Dark Shadows is a standalone movie that is not part of the original TV show cannon, but takes a single thread from Dark Shadows then alters it enough to fit into a film format. House of Dark Shadows takes the episodes involving the discovery of the vampire, Barnabas Collins, and his efforts to reunite with his reincarnated bride. House of Dark Shadows is a must see for old school vampire fans and Dark Shadows devotees, but people unfamiliar with the show’s mythology will wonder what all the fuss is about since the movie seems fairly standard.
House of Dark Shadows actually does a fairly effective job of reimagining the story and has more devastating and violent consequences for the family. I always thought that Barnabas’ initial obsession with Maggie then Vicki as the reincarnation of Josette was a mistake so House of Dark Shadows just focuses on Maggie and conflates her character with Vicki. House of Dark Shadows also takes no time to rehabilitate Julia from her misguided, somewhat sinister self-interested actions, which I did not have a problem with after several seasons of repeatedly saving the family, but initially did think that she was problematic since she basically violated her Hippocratic oath and was an accomplice to Barnabas’ early misdeeds. David is not as psychotically annoying as he was in the series. Prof. Stokes and Willie Loomis get better, pivotal storylines.
House of Dark Shadows also takes characters such as Todd Blake and Jeff Clark that were introduced later in the TV series, changes their relationship to the other characters in the show and makes them a part of this storyline while omitting others probably because of the actors’ availability. Apparently House of Dark Shadows was filmed concurrently with Dark Shadows. Some actors who appeared as different characters in Dark Shadows take a whole new role. For instance, the actor who played Caroline’s father plays the police chief. I was tickled to see that in the present storyline, Trask was no longer a lawyer, but back to being a minister in one brief scene. One character, Mrs. Johnson, gets completely recast.
House of Dark Shadows made Barnabas a more merciless vampire with more effective supernatural powers, which I appreciated because I thought the TV show was way too tame because of the network. House of Dark Shadows had a less sexy Hammer Production film tone and was a traditional, pleasant, nostalgic and entertaining entry in vampire film history.