Dark Shadows (1966-71)

edited 7/26/25: Apologies for the original audio, the hisses and my illness :( Our name, is the TV/Movie Rewind Podcast. As night falls on Matt & Todd, they find themselves drawn into the gothic madness of Dark Shadows. Dark Shadows is a show born from the literal dream of Dan Curtis in 1966, fleshed out by writer Art Wallace, and brought to moody life by directors Lela Swift, John Sedwick, and Henry Kaplan. Set designer Sy Thomasoff, composer Robert Cobert, and writers Sam Hall and Ron Sproat helped build what would, by 1968, become a cultural phenomenon—an unlikely soap that reshaped supernatural storytelling for generations, airing on June 27, 1966 on ABC until April 2, 1971. For horror fans today, Dark Shadows is a cornerstone. It carved a path for everything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel to True Blood and Anne Rice, maybe this. What begins as a tale of mysterious genetics and brooding intrigue spirals quickly into the story of a tortured vampire thrust into increasingly deranged predicaments. We're talking soap opera insanity: At one point remorseful vampire astral-projects through time to defeat the mute ghost of a warlock… but instead helps him (with help from another warlock…) fight a phoenix that said warlock (the future-ghost one) accidentally created… this runs afoul of the plans of the witch (who created the vampire). That’s before fancy-knifed assassins, magic severed hands, a werewolf curse, yet another even more powerful warlock show up, and 400 more episodes before the narrative ends abruptly. It’s homage. It’s theft. It’s divine melodrama. And it’s also… 1,225 episodes. Not every one is a masterpiece. Pacing? Glacial. Takes? Singular. Flubs? Frequent. Stone walls? Rattling. Bats? Unapologetically rubber. No blood, the violence is rather tame, but if you can get ‘into it’ there is so much fun to be had here. As essential to genre history as Dracula, Star Wars, or Star Trek, Dark Shadows is a wild, shadowy ride. This is best enjoyed with someone who's ready to lean into the madness. Dark Shadows stars (for the most part): Alexandra Moltke (Isles) as Victoria Winters Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins David Selby as Quentin Collins Lara Parker as Angelique Bouchard Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard Louis Edmonds as Roger Collins Nancy Barrett as Carolyn Collins-Stoddard David Henesy as David Collins Kathryn Leigh Scott as Maggie Evans John Karlen as Willy Loomis Thayer David as … we’ll go with “Stokes” Grayson Hall as Julia Hoffman Joel Crothers as poor, poor Joe Haskell Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production. Find and reach out to Matt on: Bluesky: @MovieMattSirois.bsky.social Letterboxd Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠Movie Asylum of the Weird, Bad and Wonderful. Follow who we follow: ⁠⁠⁠Once Upon a Geek⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠The Fade Out Podcast⁠