Dark Shadows: The Revival

I mean it as the highest of compliments when I say that this short-lived return of the campy 1960s daytime serial is deliciously, histrionically goofy—a combination of ridiculous soap opera fodder and hilariously awful performances. Dark Shadows: The Revival compiles all 12 episodes of the 1991 NBC series, featuring steely-eyed matriarchs who glare with disapproval at just about everything, time-traveling ingénues and wayward ghosts in diaphanous nightgowns wandering the grounds of old manses, creepy little kids intoning not-remotely-spooky rhymes about death, village idiots getting smacked about by their superiors, and, yes, lots and lots of pseudo-sexy necking by stupendously silly bloodsuckers. Ben Cross stars as the immortal British vampire Barnabas Collins, who travels to the coastal Maine estate of Collinwood—his 18th-century home moved brick by brick from the old country to America—where he renews his hobbies of romancing sweetly naive governesses (the latest version here is played by Joanna Going) and aiming for the jugular every time. Although bereft of extras, the whole shebang has been remastered, so all the vamping is crisp and clear and you won't miss a single drop of blood. Recommended as a guilty pleasure. (M. Johanson)