Ace of Spades HQ

April 17, 2012

What The Hell Is This Crap?
— Ace

Dark Shadows.

I want to ask "Why do a Dark Shadows movie if it isn't a Dark Shadows movie, but just some kind of goofy parody which can be done under any name?"

But that's a dumb question. The name itself is why they're bothering with this non-remake remake of a barely-remembered soap opera.

I saw The Killer Elite, the new one. It was an odd thing-- it was a completely different story. In fact, it wasn't even based on the book The Killer Elite, but an entirely different book, "The Feathermen," about shadowy British ex-commando types who did crimes and stuff.

Why was it called The Killer Elite? I'm not 100% sure but I believe they just made this movie, figuring it would be called The Feathermen, then they heard the title "The Killer Elite" was available, so they bought it, and slapped it on a completely unrelated movie.

(The new Killer Elite, or really, "The Feathermen," wasn't half-bad. Odd. Different. I liked that it wasn't exactly like every other movie. Beyond that, it was so-so.)

They did that with the oddly titled, multiply-coloned "Bad Lieutenant 2: Port of Call: New Orleans." Apparently that was just a completely free-standing film with no connection to Bad Lieutenant, but they bought the title and slapped it on to it.

(A fake sequel to a movie hardly anyone remembers.)

So, here's a vampire comedy. It's called Dark Shadows, for no good reason.

Why not call it "The Adams Family 3"?

Plinkett explains the phenomenon of endless remakes here, starting at 6:20.

Posted by: Ace at 03:36 PM | Comments (99)
Post contains 271 words, total size 2 kb.

1 well. no bad publicity and all that ...

Posted by: Adriane at April 17, 2012 03:38 PM (VVZaH)

2 i love johnny depp....

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 17, 2012 03:39 PM (Ho2rs)

3 I loved Dark Shadows. The soap, I mean.

Posted by: mama winger at April 17, 2012 03:39 PM (P6QsQ)

This is my response to this movie. http://tinyurl.com/76bheqp

Posted by: buzzion at April 17, 2012 03:39 PM (GULKT)

5 But that's a dumb question. The name itself is why they're bothering with this non-remake remake of a barely-remembered soap opera.

Very, very hazy memories of Dark Shadows are among my earliest of TV.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 17, 2012 03:40 PM (X3lox)

6 I'm waiting for Gilligan's Island, the movie.

Actually, I'm not.....

Posted by: Jane D'oh at April 17, 2012 03:40 PM (UOM48)

7 Gee, Johnny Depp starring in a Tim Burton film -- who'd a thunk it?

Posted by: Balsamic Shotgun at April 17, 2012 03:40 PM (sTS/8)

8 Hey now! some of us old coots remember coming home and watching Dark Shadows after school - kind of a Boomer generation Twilight. Although at this point in my life I'm way over vampires.

Posted by: someone at April 17, 2012 03:41 PM (bqjJT)

9 I can go back to my childhood hobby of answering prank calls for Barnabas.

He vouched for St. Paul, you know.

Posted by: Dan Collins at April 17, 2012 03:42 PM (qlzIv)

10 7 balsamic that's what my kids said

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 17, 2012 03:42 PM (Ho2rs)

Barnabbas Collins was a badass, and the original Dark Shadows was pretty cool.

But Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have been making the same damn movie over and over for 10 years. It's time for both to retire. I don't understand how people see Johnny Depp as talented.

Posted by: Palandine at April 17, 2012 03:42 PM (g7D8V)

12 As for the whole "Dark Shadows" connection, I think the only people who might be upset about it are Sci-Fi geeks who get upset when nobody can tell that the Barnabus Collins costume they wear to Halloween parties isn't meant to be a Dracula costume.

Posted by: Balsamic Shotgun at April 17, 2012 03:43 PM (sTS/8)

13 Is this why I suddenly saw Dark Shadows listed on the Netflix site? Coincidence? Or conspiracy? When can we expect the remake of "The Six-Million-Dollar Man?" Of course it would have to be called "The Half-Billion Dollar Man" what with inflation and all.

Posted by: Pug Mahon at April 17, 2012 03:43 PM (cujSl)

14 If I had a son, he would look like Henry Waxman.

Posted by: Nosferatu at April 17, 2012 03:43 PM (eXigD)

15 It gives Depp a reason to wear make-up, that guy loves wearing make-up more the Ru Paul.

Posted by: lowandslow at April 17, 2012 03:44 PM (GZitp)

16 I'll grant that Depp is a hottie, but all he ever plays are weirdos.

Posted by: Palandine at April 17, 2012 03:44 PM (g7D8V)

17 Needs more Ewoks.

Posted by: George Lucas at April 17, 2012 03:44 PM (Qxdfp)

18 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: steevy at April 17, 2012 03:44 PM (7W3wI)

19 @14. Ha!

Posted by: Pug Mahon at April 17, 2012 03:45 PM (cujSl)

20 Vampires, democrats...same thing. Well, minus the sparkly shit.

Posted by: Hydrocarbon Liberation Front at April 17, 2012 03:45 PM (NVu2l)

21 The Killer Elite...aka the Obama Administration.

Posted by: tasker at April 17, 2012 03:45 PM (r2PLg)

Well, if anything fucking worked on this blog, I would probably post a link to the Lesbian Vampire Killers trailer, which is pretty funny and is true Vampire Comedy, and I might even say something like "Johnny Depp Blows, Not Bites."

But nothing fucking works on this blog.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 17, 2012 03:46 PM (RtpCp)

23 We have "Dark Shadows" DVDs of the Soap at our local library. Someone bought them and donated them to the library.

Posted by: Jimbo at April 17, 2012 03:46 PM (O3R/2)

24 I am sure gay people will love this.

Posted by: Ken Royall at April 17, 2012 03:46 PM (9zzk+)

25 @11: I don't understand how people see Johnny Depp as talented.

--------------------------

I think Johnny Depp is extremely talented, and I generally enjoy his movie performances. I just think his connection-at-the-hip with Tim Burton is wearing thin as a film device.

Posted by: Balsamic Shotgun at April 17, 2012 03:46 PM (sTS/8)

26 I never understood the attraction for Dark Shadows. I watched it one day and thought it sucked.

Hell, do a remake of Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford. Or Route 66 if they can dig up an old Corvette.

Posted by: Vic at April 17, 2012 03:47 PM (YdQQY)

27 Damn it!! I heard they were remaking it but I thought they were going to follow the original story!

It was a really cool soap in 1966, especially since all of the rest were full of things like Ada pouring tea (out of a silver tea service even though she was supposed to be working class) and listening to everyone's "problems."

We used to watch it after school and absolutely loved it.

Tim Burton is evil. That's all I have to say.

Posted by: Miss Marple at April 17, 2012 03:47 PM (GoIUi)

Let's face it - "Dark Shadows" aired in what - the late 60's, early 70's? All I know is that my mother wouldn't let me watch it (she was convinced that I would have nightmares - as if!), which made me a social outcast. (Well, OK, I was quite the nerdy girl - that didn't help)

But honestly - it's been almost 40 years since it played on TV; we're a generation removed from the show, and I don't recall it playing in syndication. Kids today aren't going to know what the big deal is.....

Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, TX at April 17, 2012 03:47 PM (0xqzf)

What are you talking about?

Is this some kind of comic book thing?

Posted by: George Zimmerman at April 17, 2012 03:48 PM (u/0TV)

30 O/T why is the CONTACT info so far down?

Posted by: I get the hint at April 17, 2012 03:49 PM (HOOye)

31 I don't understand how people see Johnny Depp as talented. ******************* Eyeliner.

Posted by: tasker at April 17, 2012 03:49 PM (r2PLg)

32 I hate movies. I don't watch them unless I have to.

Posted by: Chris M at April 17, 2012 03:49 PM (4lyMJ)

33 #26 Highway Patrol!?! My MOST hated show from that era! You cannot be serious!

Posted by: Miss Marple at April 17, 2012 03:49 PM (GoIUi)

34 I'll grant that Depp is a hottie, but all he ever plays are weirdos.
Posted by: Palandine at April 17, 2012 07:44 PM (g7D8V)

He's still trying to run away from his pretty boy beginnings on Jump Street. He should run quietly and out of sight. He is one annoying friggin actor.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 17, 2012 03:49 PM (X3lox)

35 Ever watch the Charlton Heston/Brian Keith movie Mountain Men? There is a scene where skinned dogs are seen hanging from an overhead beam in camp.

Totally gross.

Posted by: Vic at April 17, 2012 03:50 PM (YdQQY)

36 I had a friend that liked Dark Shadows. I watched several episodes. Bored me to distraction. Some old bat was doing an epic poem of a horoscope. Zzzzzzzz

Posted by: Jimbo at April 17, 2012 03:50 PM (O3R/2)

37 16 I'll grant that Depp is a hottie, but all he ever plays are weirdos.

Posted by: Palandine at April 17, 2012 07:44 PM (g7D8V)

Typecasting.

Posted by: Blanco Basura at April 17, 2012 03:50 PM (xKC/c)

38 30
O/T

why is the CONTACT info so far down?

Posted by: I get the hint at April 17, 2012 07:49 PM (HOOye)

What are you talking about. Its near the top almost right above the link to the asian porn site.

Posted by: buzzion at April 17, 2012 03:51 PM (GULKT)

39 Kinda surprised nobody has done a Gilligan's Island movie.

Posted by: lowandslow at April 17, 2012 03:51 PM (GZitp)

40 Highway Patrol!?! My MOST hated show from that era! You cannot be serious!

Posted by: Miss Marple at April 17, 2012 07:49 PM (GoIUi)

--------------------------

What, no love for '55 Buik patrol cars.

Posted by: Vic at April 17, 2012 03:52 PM (YdQQY)

41 Its near the top almost right above the link to the asian porn site. Posted by: buzzion at April 17, 2012 07:51 PM (GULKT) ******* Oh is that what you were talking about in the other thread....heh.

Posted by: tasker at April 17, 2012 03:52 PM (r2PLg)

42 Ooh! got it! Remake "Baa-baa Blacksheep!" Wait. With the right team that one might actually work. Greatest American Hero?

Posted by: Pug Mahon at April 17, 2012 03:52 PM (cujSl)

43 Kinda surprised nobody has done a Gilligan's Island movie.

Posted by: lowandslow at April 17, 2012 07:51 PM (GZitp)

Didn't they do a "reunion" some years back?

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 17, 2012 03:52 PM (X3lox)

I was forced to watch the trailer for this before some other movie and it was the longest two minutes of my life. A 70's spoof, one-joke piece of crap is what it looks like. Also, when is Congress going to pass some meaningful legislation, which would prevent Johnny Depp from ever working with Tim Burton ever again?

I mean, my God, those two have made the same movie 9 times now. We get it. You're both "weird." You're both "macabre." You're both "artistic."

You're both boring the shit out of us.

Posted by: Biblio Misses Breitbart So Much at April 17, 2012 03:53 PM (LNe4F)

45 Wrong thread for skinned dog.

Posted by: Vic at April 17, 2012 03:53 PM (YdQQY)

46 Skinned dog is never wrong. Except when it is.

Posted by: Pug Mahon at April 17, 2012 03:54 PM (cujSl)

47 Kinda surprised nobody has done a Gilligan's Island movie.

----------------------------------

Believe it or not, there actually was one in the works about ten or twelve years ago, IIRC. I can't recall the details, but it obviously never got greenlit.

Posted by: Balsamic Shotgun at April 17, 2012 03:56 PM (sTS/8)

48 NFL schedules are out. My Pats went from 4 1'clock games (my favorite time for them to be on) last year to NINE in 2012-13. Thank you, scheduling gods.

Posted by: Lincolntf at April 17, 2012 03:57 PM (hiMsy)

Greatest American Hero?

Posted by: Pug Mahon at April 17, 2012 07:52 PM (cujSl)

I don't have inside info but I bet William Katt is still around and looking for work.

Posted by: ErikW at April 17, 2012 03:59 PM (Qwhze)

50 Why are the Bears playing 3 Monday Night Football games and the Packers only one?

Posted by: mama winger at April 17, 2012 04:01 PM (P6QsQ)

51 I dunno. I saw the trailer a couple weeks ago and thought this movie might be fun.

Which is what movies need nowadays.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at April 17, 2012 04:05 PM (+WgEk)

52 Ace is waiting for the dramatic big screen interpretation of Harry and the Hendersons

Posted by: the Butcher at April 17, 2012 04:09 PM (8g9qq)

53 "Why are the Bears playing 3 Monday Night Football games and the Packers only one?"

MNF isn't the prize it used to be, we got three Sunday night games.

Posted by: lowandslow at April 17, 2012 04:10 PM (GZitp)

54 The "Dark Shadows" movie looks like it's true to the orginal concept, by Dan Curtis - a show about titty jokes and 70s music. With vampires.

The fatcat corporate bigwigs stepped in and ruined it! "Gothic drama with monsters will sell soap!", they said. Bastards.

Posted by: DRH at April 17, 2012 04:10 PM (xFoDt)

55 I see we got a week two Thursday night game, that's odd.

Posted by: lowandslow at April 17, 2012 04:12 PM (GZitp)

56 There was that awful Batman movie, but NOOOOOOO. People still had to keep celebrating the genius of Tim Burton. I mean, look at how he portrayed all those dopey middle-class Americans as a bunch of pastel squares in Edward Scissorhands!!! What jeeeen-yuss!

I attended an awful show about him at LACMA. It was a pictorial history of a second-rate artist who was cliched at the age of 16 and hasn't evolved by a single brush-stroke since.

Posted by: the new, improved arhooley -- now with 10% more cynicism! at April 17, 2012 04:18 PM (YDhWK)

57 arhooley, enjoy my link about Tim Burton at comment #4

Posted by: buzzion at April 17, 2012 04:20 PM (GULKT)

58 Chris Christie as Cannon!!

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 17, 2012 04:22 PM (X3lox)

59 When can we expect the remake of "The Six-Million-Dollar Man?" Of course it would have to be called "The Half-Billion Dollar Man" what with inflation and all. Posted by: Pug Mahon at April 17, 2012 07:43 PM (cujSl) How about "The Trillion Dollar Stimulus Man?"

Posted by: RomneyBot since 2007 at April 17, 2012 04:26 PM (cYMja)

60 Looks like it is time to remake In the Heat of the Night as a buddy road film.

Posted by: Phelps at April 17, 2012 04:27 PM (aO4H/)

61 Also, Look Who's Coming To Dinner is being remade with Demi Moore and Lil John. Directed by Todd Phillips. Lil John gets drunk and wakes up married to Demi Moore and has to go back and figure out how it happened.

Posted by: Phelps at April 17, 2012 04:31 PM (aO4H/)

62 Time to bring back Soylent Green with the guys from Good Burger, directed by Dave Chappelle.

Posted by: Phelps at April 17, 2012 04:32 PM (aO4H/)

63 I vaguely remember the original Dark Shadows, which definitely makes me an old fart. I wanted a Victrola in the worst way when I was a kid. Which definitely made me a weird kid.

Posted by: rickl supports SMOD/Supervolcano 2012 at April 17, 2012 04:37 PM (sdi6R)

64 Adams Family is actually spelled Addams Family..... That's why. I loved Dark Shadows (as a child) & laughed hysterically as an adult when I realized how horribly assembled it was!! I embrace our Dark Shadows Overlords!

Posted by: Ruth Ruben at April 17, 2012 04:39 PM (85B77)

65 Mama Winger, do you go to Bears games by any chance? I saw that the Carolina Panthers are visiting the Windy City while I was trying to figure out a Panthers home game to go to. The Bears would've been a good choice, but I'm picking between the Saints and the Cowboys now. Cam Newton looks like he's worth the price of admission all on his own.

Posted by: Lincolntf at April 17, 2012 04:39 PM (HethX)

66 Ok, with Burton and Depp I'll cut this crap some slack. I'll probably enjoy it when it's on TV. BTW, I was an obsessive watcher of the TV show Dark Shadows when it came out. The only soap I watched regularly.

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at April 17, 2012 04:44 PM (d9lOz)

67 > 28 Let's face it - "Dark Shadows" aired in what - the late 60's, early 70's? But honestly - it's been almost 40 years since it played on TV; we're a generation removed from the show, and I don't recall it playing in syndication. Kids today aren't going to know what the big deal is..... Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, Tx DS was one of the few soaps that was successfully syndicated. The last time I saw was on SciFi channel around 1998 or 1999. They showed it 2 or 3 times. Last time - the rarely seen full run including the episodes before the supernatural stuff started. (The vampire stuff was a last ditch effort to get ratings before the show was cancelled. it worked!)

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at April 17, 2012 04:47 PM (d9lOz)

68
All the young dweebs who see this movie and who are the target audience anyway have no clue what the orginal "Dark Shadows" was nor who "Barnabus" was.

A parody of a TV show that none of the audience has seen or heard of. What genius.

Posted by: Sphynx at April 17, 2012 04:48 PM (M0c4a)

69 The trailer looks a bit lame but Johnny Depp has never failed to entertain me. (despite what other morons may think of him)

Posted by: toby928© Person of Pallor at April 17, 2012 04:55 PM (NG097)

70 You know, they had one season of a reboot of Dark Shadows in the very, very early 90's that starred Ben Cross as Barnabas Collins. I really liked it, too. Now, granted the original was waaaaaay before my time, but I did watch it on Sci-Fi when it ran (again, in the 90's) and IMO the reboot stayed very respectful to the source material without being too much of an actual soap opera. This Tim Burton crap, though.....what a pile of shit. We ran across the trailer for it on ye olde XBox Marketplace a few weeks back and when I saw the title I was kinda excited. Until I saw Tim Burton's name on it. Within about a half second of the trailer starting my reaction was What. The. Fuck.

Posted by: Mandy P., long-time lurker at April 17, 2012 05:05 PM (qFpRI)

71 As far as 70's vampire comedies go, "Love at First Bite" was pretty good.

Posted by: Darth Randall at April 17, 2012 05:12 PM (6ZvY0)

72 68 All the young dweebs who see this movie and who are the target audience anyway have no clue what the orginal "Dark Shadows" was nor who "Barnabus" was. A parody of a TV show that none of the audience has seen or heard of. What genius. ^^^This.

Posted by: rickl supports SMOD/Supervolcano 2012 at April 17, 2012 05:13 PM (sdi6R)

Put me in the category of old enough to have remembered and enjoyed the original run, but part of the appeal even then, apart from the high level of camp, was the tremendous number of bloopers. They had an epidemic of people forgetting their lines on there and one actor who was almost certainly intoxicated on a regular basis, not to mention a bunch of set and scenery malfunctions, and these deadly serious folks just soldiered on like they were doing something Shakespearian.

Give Dan Curtis some credit though - I still say his collaboration with Tobe Hooper on Salem's Lot was one of the best horror efforts to come out of the Seventies, something really ground-breaking and evolutionary that was a partial inspiration for Joss Whedon's Buffy. (And remember the soap opera elements of Salem's Lot - Stephen King himself called it "Peyton Place with vampires," so it can be done, at least if Tim Burton isn't involved.)

Posted by: A. Pendragon at April 17, 2012 05:15 PM (pYA5L)

74 arhooley, enjoy my link about Tim Burton at comment #4
Posted by: buzzion

------------------
(panting) thank you, thank you.

I was so full of Tim-Burton-hatred that I didn't even make it to comment #4.

Posted by: the new, improved arhooley -- now with 10% more cynicism! at April 17, 2012 05:36 PM (3f6Rl)

75 I remember as a kid always wanting to see Dark Shadows by virtue of older sibs word of mouth. When I finally did get to see it I found to my disappointment that it never lived up to its hype in my eyes. The most incredibly boring soap opera I've ever subjected myself to. I kept on thinking "Where's the Vampire?"

Posted by: Batznratz at April 17, 2012 05:44 PM (QFAFF)

76 Dark Shadows was vaguely cool, due to the setting, the time travel, and the vampires, but making a parody movie is not only wrong, but stupid. The primary movie market is too young to know anything about the show, and the rest of the market, those old enough to remember it, will be offended.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 17, 2012 05:54 PM (9lQzN)

77 I used to run home from the bus stop every day to watch DS. I can still distinctly recall the theme music. The best part- it was in black-and-white. I can't imagine seeing a comedy version in color. Keep in mind, it aired long before The Exorcist and when vampire movies weren't a dime a dozen like today. I'm sure that's what they're trying to capitalize on by taking it on now.

Posted by: Moonbeam at April 17, 2012 06:11 PM (1k4dd)

78 Gayer than 'Sleepy Hallow'.

Posted by: Racist Tom Hanks at April 17, 2012 06:20 PM (c3mby)

I hate Tim Burton's movies. I hate the fact that he has one of his creepy characters as a float during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Posted by: Matt at April 17, 2012 06:21 PM (Ou5cA)

80 Re: Dark Shadows, they owned the rights to the title, which left them free to do whatever they wanted. Starship Troopers had the same treatment accorded to it. The original story had important ideas about who deserves to exercise the sovereign franchise in a democracy, and the movie was some jackoff abomination which was a mockery of a great little SF story. And Paul Verhoeven, the coke addict Dutch pussy, has yet to be horsewhipped for it.

Posted by: Mike James at April 17, 2012 06:35 PM (spLGA)

81 I beg to differ: 'Bad Lieutenant' with Harvey Keitel, the original 'Bad Lieutenant', was an amazingly good movie and certainly not unforgettable, although ironically a movie I never want to see again. It's just too hard to watch for a lot of reasons, but not because it wasn't worthwhile. The bad cop played by Keitel--bad in every way--was a man completely given over to nihilism and depravity, with no honor, no moral bearings, no hope. It was like looking at Edvard Munch's 'The Scream' rendered in film. Not much of a recommendation, I know, but the saving grace of this film was Keitel's character's discovery of the possibility of redemption and the power of forgiveness at the end. And then he died a stupid, preventable, fucked-up death, because it was that kind of movie. In its way, even with all of the violence and drugs and rape contained in it, 'Bad Lieutenant' was a deeply religious movie. So no, it wasn't forgettable. I didn't see the Nicholas Cage movie with a similar title. Who did? Who would want to?

Posted by: troyriser at April 17, 2012 06:37 PM (YCeSE)

Fun fact: Werner Herzog (yes, that Werner Herzog) directed Bad Lieutenant Two: Port of Call New Orleans. If you think of it as a clincally-insane, existentially-themed Teutonic re-imagining of the Big Easy (which in most ways it is) the movie's a surreal extravaganze. It's got future cult movie written all over it.

Posted by: A. Pendragon at April 17, 2012 06:52 PM (pYA5L)

83 I have to say, when I saw Edward Scissorhands it was instrumental in reconciling me to the early-70's aesthetic of my early childhood, which the media had conditioned me to hate. The Carter Era was a good time to be a kid. The New Carter Era may be a good time to be an adult -- the jury is still out.

Posted by: The Chap, etc. at April 17, 2012 07:07 PM (fscec)

84 It looks like an Austin Powers version of Dark Shadows. Tim Burton is over rated

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 17, 2012 07:19 PM (qVk8S)

85 Ace - Just wanted to thank you for the post title - that was my reaction exactly when I saw the trailer. mac :]

Posted by: macbrooks at April 17, 2012 07:42 PM (r08IB)

Forgot to add that Bad Lieutenant 2 has one of the most out-there lines in cinema, only topped by the scene that precedes it:

"Shoot him again - his soul's still dancing!"

(Plus, at that moment in the film the line makes perfect sense.)

Posted by: A. Pendragon at April 17, 2012 07:51 PM (pYA5L)

87 This is a complete travesty, HERESY, I say! I loved the show in its first run, rushed home to watch with all my friends after school, and this is just stupid. And seriously, Johnny Depp? He plays the same character over and over. He has no range at all. BORING!

Posted by: TheCynic at April 17, 2012 07:54 PM (rpXaP)

Wow. They just have to ruin everything, don't they? Anyways, for those that don't know, Dark Shadows was a serious and creepy gothic soap-opera which spawned two theatrical movie releases, several dozen novels, a comic book series, and a mini-series in the mid-90's or thereabouts.

Posted by: NorthernX at April 17, 2012 08:26 PM (eWnkk)

89 Long as we're on about remakes/reboots, give 2010 version of The Crazies a look. It's a remake of George Romero's 1973 version and many reviewers found it to be better than the original.

Being a horror nut, I enjoyed it because the character development actually made you care about the people in the movie. That, and it *was* pretty creepy.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at April 17, 2012 09:24 PM (opLk0)

90 #73 -- I worked for Dan Curtis (in the 90s) and I don't think he had anything to do with Salem's Lot. I know his films (since I handled his distribution records) and that was not one of them.

Also, Dan was forever trying to get Dark Shadows made into a feature film. I am pretty sure that he would hate this version. I was so excited when I heard it was being made -- but this looks just god awful.

Posted by: Lichine at April 17, 2012 09:33 PM (0VSVJ)

91 Salem's Lot was Tobe Hooper...

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at April 17, 2012 09:48 PM (opLk0)

Lichine - it appears that you're right. It just goes to show how fallible memory is - when Salem's Lot first aired back in 1979, I would have sworn that I saw Dan Curtis's name in the closing credits, superimposed over that final shot of the full moon at the end, and even that there was some media discussion of him being on the production end of things. But a quick scan of imdb and a few other references doesn't seem to show any connection. I wonder if maybe it was just a reflexive thing for me, as a person of that point in time, to associate Dan Curtis with televised horror productions. Thanks for the correction.

And it must have been fascinating working with the man - you've likely got some interesting stories to tell.

Posted by: A. Pendragon at April 18, 2012 04:06 AM (pYA5L)

93 I'm slowly Netflixing the entire Dark Shadows series. Haven't watched any soaps since college so it's interesting in that way, hope it's not a long wait until the appearances of Julia and Barnabas.

Posted by: waelse1 at April 18, 2012 04:11 AM (VaU8E)

94 Good lord, that looks incredibly stupid. It's a mash up of Austin Powers and Love Bites with stupid Tim Burton visuals.

How does Tim Burton keep making movies? And why does Depp star in every single one of them?

Posted by: Monkeytoe at April 18, 2012 05:38 AM (sOx93)

95 #92 A. Pendragon
Yes it was fascinating working for Dan -- and fun. He had a very strong personality and quite a temper -- most people were terrified of him -- but he was really a very kind, generous man who loved his wife and daughters. As his assistant/bookeeper I know that he helped many old friends who were down on their luck. Though Dark Shadows and his horror movies were what he is most known for -- he was almost more proud of Winds of War and War and Remembrance (especially the Holocaust depiction). When Spielberg got so much credit for the Holocaust scenes in Shindler's List -- Dan liked to point out that he was the first to do it realistically.

I was so excited for this Dark Shadows to be released --- but when I saw the trailer a few weeks ago -- ugh -- yuck. Ace is right "what is this..."

Love this blog -- this is the first time I've commented -- kind of scary to be amongst all this greatness!

Posted by: Lichine at April 18, 2012 06:16 AM (0VSVJ)

Lichine - I'm an infrequent commenter myself, but let me be the first to say welcome aboard! And many thanks for the details on Dan Curtis - he sounds like an interesting (if sometimes challenging) boss to work with, and I think he was on the money with his assessment of the Herman Wouk miniseries - those two were superb productions, and Robert Mitchum in particular gave one of his best performances, really bringing Pug Henry to life.

As you've no doubt already noted, there's a lot of people on this site, including our esteemed host, who share an interest in the entertainment industry, and you've definitely got some worthwhile experience in that realm that I think people will like to hear.

Posted by: A. Pendragon at April 18, 2012 08:45 AM (pYA5L)

97 A. Pendragon -- thanks! One story is that the future Sen Jim Webb worked on a project with Dan (adaptation from his book SENSE OF HONOR) in 1995 for a few months. He would come stay in Los Angeles and they would work on the script together and I would sit there and type and format. Jim was such a nice guy, yet I and the others in the office use to laugh because even Jim, this decorated combat soldier, seemed scared of Dan too! He never wanted to push his ideas if Dan objected. And we thought that Jim's creative ideas were a bit better usually. Project never got made. I was so disappointed when Webb switched to Dem and ran for Senate and then voted for Obamacare! Back in the office we would talk some re politics and Hollywood lefties and he was on the right side then. Oh well...

On another note -- I am a committed Romneybot and I love reading the comments here -- it gives me hope we will win!

Posted by: Lichine at April 18, 2012 09:37 AM (0VSVJ)

98 I shuddered with horror and loathing when I was the trailer for Not Dark Shadows. And the "Angelique" in the movie does not have "Lara Parker Eyes"...

Posted by: Mad Capn Bob at April 18, 2012 04:17 PM (LZ/lZ)

99 You guys are no fun.

Posted by: Tattoo De Plane at April 18, 2012 08:59 PM (6PGxO)

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