Master of Dark Shadows

Offering a surprisingly fun look back at Dark Shadows, the groundbreaking soap opera that caught fire with teens as well as bored housewives between 1966-71, filmmaker David Gregory’s documentary is graced by the presence of many of the show’s principal creators. Chief among these is Dan Curtis, a forceful, iron-willed producer who oversaw the show’s transition from lurid drama about a wealthy Maine family to a supernatural tale about a reluctant vampire. Curtis discusses the huge ratings jump once the bloodsucking character of Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) was introduced into the weekday afternoon serial, with much of that audience increase coming from school kids who rushed home to catch the 4 p.m. broadcast. Surviving cast and crew members recall a tight daily production schedule, beginning with a morning table read, followed by a couple hours of preparation, then a rehearsal before filming. The speed sometimes resulted in missed cues, garbled dialogue, and other mistakes, which are highlighted here in good humor. Curtis never worried about bloopers (one of the best found Frid, in costume and makeup as Barnabas, walking into the camera’s gaze while carrying his own street shoes), maintaining that episodes were only going to be seen once, so why care about glaring errors (little did he know about the many lives on home video to come for this cult hit). Other tidbits include Frid’s daily habit of downing several vodkas after every taping, and discussion about Curtis’s decision in 1971 to pull the plug on the show. Other talking heads in this enjoyable survey of all things Dark Shadows include superfan Whoopi Goldberg, who talks about how sexy a vampire’s bite can be. The bountiful extras include footage of a 1969 Halloween party appearance by "Barnabas" at the Nixon White House, a 1968 audio interview with Frid on The Dick Cavett Show, the 1954 episode "The House" (which would become the inspiration for Dark Shadows) from the CBS anthology series The Web, a tour of the studio where the series was shot, and more. Recommended. Aud: P. (T. Keogh)