I watched this movie all the way through and just couldn't get into it. It is one of those movies that is like a 30s or 40s black and white movie but with color. The acting/writing/direction is exactly like that of a black and white movie but it is in color. These should have some kind of name to refer to them, there are a lot of them and if you like one, you like them all. For me, i have never been able to get into these kinds of movies. Most Italian horrors and gallios are like this. Maybe one day ill get into it but I've seen a lot and still don't get it.This movie is about a vampire and a researcher that is trying to find a cure.. i don't really remember details since i couldn't get into it.

Well, be careful of what you wish for Nancy Barrett (Carolyn). Jonathan Frid (Barnabas) is in town and he's got something on his mind. He's a lot older than you think and he wants to marry Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie) who reminds him of a former bride.This vampire story is actually alright in terms of vampire films. It just doesn't make sense and that ruins it for me. Sometimes, people are bitten and nothing happens, other times they become vampires. It's totally inconsistent and therefore totally dumb. What is going on? It's also pretty confusing at the beginning – who's who? It's not a bloodfest, which scores points for me, it does have its scary moments and it delivers an appropriate setting and atmosphere. I wanted to like it more, though.

House of Dark Shadows (1970) ** (out of 4)Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) gets released to the open where he seeks a long lost love but a doctor (Grayson Hall) might have the cure for his disease.HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS was the first of two features from Dan Curtis that were based on the long-runniung and highly successful television series. The television show ran for years and had an incredibly large fanbase and these fans are still crazy about the show after all this time. It's also worth noting that those same fans will tell you that this film and its sequel are among the greatest vampire movies ever made. That there leads me to ask: Do you need to be a fan of the television show to enjoy this movie? I have never seen the television show so perhaps what people love about this movie is just something I'm missing since I'm a virgin to it. I thought the performances were quite good and especially Frid and Hall. I thought Curtis managed to bring a nice atmosphere to the picture and there's no doubt that the blood level is quite good and will remind you of Hammer. I also thought the story was told in a very good way. However, did I really connect with anything that I was watching? No I didn't. I really felt like an outside. Someone watching something but not totally getting everything they were seeing.HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS was well-made and clearly fans love it. With me, it was impressive but just not entertaining.

I actually am one of the original ardent fans of the TV series in the 1960s, from the first day in 1966 on. It was forbidden fruit for some of us, who had parents who disapproved and would not let us watch, so we wanted to watch it even more! The series was great, but this film was so utterly wretched looking, with such cheap, lousy film techniques; just the look alone was an insult. I was searching just now for some stupid review that would actually praise its look, comparing it to a foreign film. Yes, it would compare to a foreign film from a country that was so starved of entertainment and resources that this would pass for great art. (sarcastic). Germany, after WWI, had an excuse for having low budget, and actually still managed to have an interesting look to their films. House of DS does not. The film is absent the value of the TV series; yet there are actually fans of the TV series who LIKE this mess.A film should have a decent cinematographer. How hard is that? But maybe there is no way this could have satisfied. A daytime TV series has time and space to fully engage and explore character motivations and plot. This one simply killed off almost all the characters and made Barnabus bloody and repulsive and disgusting. I do not know whom they were trying to target with this trash. The fans loved the romance of the show, and details. Who loved this? I did not love Barnabus --I never forgave him for how cruel he was too poor Maggie Evans, and didn't buy his "love" for Josette either. He was such a jerk control freak. I rooted for Angelique to get him in revenge. I have also gone to the Dark Shadows Festivals where fans praise this rotten film. I have sat next to fans who ask me if I like the film, and I can barely contain myself at how I despise it. Those of us who sit in on discussions of the film ask the makers/actors about it, and some of us ask about the storyline, which is more violent than the series, and nauseating and about the cheap production values. I cannot recall what the excuses are. I am not impressed. I didn't like Night of Dark Shadows, either, though its production values are better.Then again, there have been bad transfers of the film. I recall when this film was broadcast on CBS late movies and the video was horribly scratchy; I guess the TV execs did not care. It was so bad, it looked like it been run through someone's anus. Muddy, scratchy. I have seen it look better than that.But the script is still bad, and makes the characters look stupid. The soap opera itself rates an A, with a score of 10. This thing rates 10 below zero.