House of Dark Shadows (1970) on Netflix
PG19701h 37mDramaHorrorRomance
Freed from his coffin by the family handyman, vampire Barnabas Collins poses as a cousin from England and seeks a cure so he can marry Maggie Evans, who resembles his lost love.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.3/103,836 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes43%
Trailer
Plot summary
Barnabas Collins is unleashed from his long captivity by greedy Willie Loomis who had hoped to find the missing Collins family jewels, but instead found the family's darkest secret. Soon, women are being attacked and suffering blood loss. Meanwhile, the Collins family welcomes their newly discovered "cousin from England", not suspecting his terrible secret--he's a vampire. Dr. Julia Hoffman, a blood specialist, learns the truth and offers Barnabas Collins the chance of a cure for his affliction. But as Barnabas begins a relationship with Collinwood governess Maggie Evans, seeking in her his lost love Josette du Prés, complications arise and the stage is set for betrayal and death.
Cast
- Don Briscoeas Todd Blake (as Donald Briscoe)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about House of Dark Shadows (1970)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Because the Dark Shadows TV series was still in production, characters had to be temporarily written out so their actors could film the movie: Barnabas (Jonathan Frid) was trapped in his coffin by failed writer William Loomis (John Karlen), who wanted to use the vampire's life story as a novel.
- The preview version included a scene where young David Collins (David Henesy) pretends to hang himself; it was cut because of concerns some children might "try this at home", and no copies of the footage are known to exist.
- The planned second film, Curse of Dark Shadows, was meant to bring Barnabas back, but Jonathan Frid declined to return, fearing he would be typecast as the vampire, so Night of Dark Shadows instead focused on new heir Quentin Collins (David Selby).
- When the production shot at the Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, New York, it had to work around the house's scheduled public tours; extra footage was shot at nearby Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, and parts of those locales also appeared in the TV series.
