| Night of Dark Shadows Released: 1971 MPAA Rating: PG Genre: Ghost/Witch Nuts and Bolts: A rich New England painter inherits his old family mansion. He soon discovers that he is the thrall of ghosts from the past as well as a 19th century witch who is out to claim his soul. Summary: Quentin Collins and his new bride Tracy (Kate Jackson) have just inherited the Collins family estate known as Collinwood. It is a gothic mansion set atop a cliff on the shores of Collinsport Maine. Upon arriving, they meet Collinwood’s caretaker Carlotta Drake. Carlotta states that she has worked here all her life and even lived at Collinwood when her parents were caretakers. Carlotta begins showing the newlyweds around the house. Pretty soon, Quentin comes upon a 19th century portrait of a blonde haired woman with captivating green eyes. Carlotta explains that the portrait is of Angelique Collins who used to live there over a century ago. A short while later, Quentin stares out of an upstairs window and swears that he can see someone hanging from one of the branches of an old oak tree outside. He blinks several times and the vision is gone. He then decides to go to bed. Throughout the course of the evening Quentin dreams of Angelique being sentenced to die for witchcraft. His mind replays the events of her death and the vision matches that of the woman he believed to have seen hanging from the tree earlier on. After the Collins settle down for the evening, the mansion’s stable hand Gerard Giles enters the kitchen. Gerard is a bit of a retard and he has some kind of strange relationship with Carlotta Drake. (Now when I say relationship, I don’t necessarily mean one of a sexual nature. I know this is supposed to be a horror movie and all, but that’s just gross.) Carlotta ruminates about Collinwood’s new owners and comments about how different everything will be. The following day, Quentin decides to go riding and he meets Gerard for the first time. While saddling up a horse, he has another vision. This time he sees himself as Charles Collins dressed in 19th century attire attending the funeral of Angelique. (For the sake of brevity, it should be noted that actor David Selby portrays both Quentin and Charles Collins. This is done deliberately as will be explained later.) He also sees himself blaming the local priest, Reverend Strack for her death and murdering him by trampling the good Reverend with his horse. Hey, he only executed a WITCH for Christ’s sake! By today’s standards of papal moral code, that would be considered tame. It’s not like she was an under-aged alter boy or something. Sheesh! Anyway, shortly after riding his horse he goes to visit his good friends Alex and Clair Jenkins. Alex and Clair are a husband and wife team of mystery writers and they also seem to have a flair for modern art. (Typical early 70s yuppie types.) Quentin tells Alex of the dream he had and Alex begins to get a bit concerned. The next day, Quentin decides that he wants to set up his own art studio at Collinwood. Carlotta recommends the third floor tower room for privacy and atmosphere. Quentin has no reason to suspect the old bird of duplicity and so he takes all of his Crayolas up into the tower. Conveniently enough, Carlotta places the portrait of Angelique up there as well. Later on outside, Quentin suffers another vision. In this one he sees himself as Charles Collins (again) who is romantically involved with Angelique. To make matters worse, not only is Angelique a witch, but she is the wife of his younger brother Gabriel as well. Quentin dreams of Angelique’s execution again. But this time he (Charles) turns his head away to gaze up at the third floor window of Collinwood. He sees a young girl staring down gasping in horror as Angelique is pushed from the tree branch. Quentin goes upstairs to question Carlotta about what he had seen. Carlotta explains that it was she who he had seen at the window and that perhaps his mind was playing a trick on him and made him think that he was watching a little girl. Quentin isn’t completely satisfied with her answer, but he lets the matter drop. That evening, Quentin and Tracy invite the Jenkins over for dinner. The group has a real good time despite the discomfort of Carlotta’s presence. That evening Quentin and Tracy make love and the two fall asleep. Quentin dreams of Charles Collins once again. Charles jealous brother Gabriel discovers the two in each other’s arms and the two come to blows. Now this is where it gets a little confusing to describe. While Quentin is dreaming, Gerard hears a noise coming from the master bedroom (Or so Carlotta later claims). Upon investigating, Quentin attacks him. Except Quentin is still asleep, and in his dream-state he believes its Gabriel that he’s actually fighting. The two wrestle each other out into the hallway wakening Tracy and Carlotta. In the throws of his mania, Quentin begins to strangle Tracy. He finally snaps awake once he realizes what he’s doing. The next day, Alex drives over to check on Quentin. He stops near the greenhouse when he believes he sees someone lurking about. Getting out of the car he calls out, but no one answers. He goes into the greenhouse and the next thing you know, all the glass falls down on top of him. But don’t worry, Alex is a wily sort and he manages to dive out of the greenhouse before getting speared by a dozen shards of shattering glass. (Now you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that this is Angelique’s ghost fucking with him.) Quentin meanwhile is getting pretty pissed off at all these strange visions and dream-memories he’s been having. He questions Carlotta and forces her to reveal what she knows. Carlotta explains that the little girl that Quentin thought he saw at the window was actually Sarah Castle. Sarah was the daughter of the housekeeper in charge of Collinwood in 1810. Carlotta is the reincarnation of Sarah Castle. The full story of 1810 is basically thus: Angelique was the wife of Gabriel but as a witch she seduced his brother Charles. Angelique had also murdered a local reverend named Haredge. Haredge’s close friend Reverend Strack learned of this and came to Collinwood to accuse Angelique of witchcraft. Angelique was taken downstairs for trial. Prior to sentencing however, she stopped Sarah Castle. Sarah and Angelique were very close to one another and Angelique gave her a special necklace. She said that so long as she wore it, she would never forget her. Angelique was then taken out to a great tree on the Collins’ estate and hung. Charles blamed Strack for his true love’s death and thus he had him trampled by his horse. I figured it would be best to re-explain everything since the disjointed dream sequences can tend to get kind of confusing. Anyway, the long and short of everything is that Quentin is actually the re-incarnation of his own ancestor Charles. The spirit of Angelique is working through Carlotta to try and keep Quentin’s body near so that Charles’ spirit can dominate completely. However, the conspirators need to do away with those who would threaten this union; namely Tracy, Alex and Clair. Quentin of course tries to dismiss all of this, but what can I say? It’s not as if his mind is exactly in the right place. He goes back up to the tower to work on his painting. Tracy tries to come up and visit him but Quentin pulls a Jack Torrance on her and tells her to get the fuck out. Now Tracy is beginning to suspect that there is seriously something wrong with this guy. Later on, Quentin decides to go into town for a few hours. Tracy decides this is a good opportunity to sneak into the tower and see what he’s been working on. (She basically wants to make sure that he’s not typing out 3000 pages that say, “All work and no play makes Quentin a dull boy”.) She finds Quentin’s coat and absconds with the tower room key. Breaking into the room, she finds a painting of Quentin (Charles) carrying Tracy’s dead body and placing at the feet of Angelique. Pretty grim eh? Tracy doesn’t know what to make of all this since she doesn’t know the complete back-story concerning Angelique. Quentin returns early because he forgot his wallet in his jacket. Tracy rushes back down to try and replace the key before Quentin discovers that it’s missing. Meanwhile, Alex and Clair go to New York to attend the Burton Art Gallery. (This seemingly insignificant event will become important later.) That night, Quentin once again becomes possessed by the spirit of that bastard Charles and tries to rape Tracy. Tracy manages to get away but she is definitely freaked out by Quentin’s rash behavior. Now Alex and Clair get back and conveniently enough, guess what they found in New York? Yup. It’s a 19th century portrait of Charles. They notice that barring a small scar on the cheek, Charles is the spitting image of Quentin. Alex is bright enough to figure out that something kooky is going on here. The ghost of Angelique however is getting pretty fucking tired of the Jenkins’ shenanigans and tries to kill Alex. Her spirit covers him and tries to choke him while he’s sleeping. But good ole Clair saves the day and manages to drive the ghost away for a while. The following day, Tracy goes wandering around the Old House. (While not explained in the movie, the Old House is actually the ORIGINAL family mansion that had since fallen into disrepair). She’s fiddling about near the old swimming pool when Quentin comes lumbering along. He is completely taken over by Charles now and is even limping just like his ancestor used to (I guess Charles had a bum leg). Anyway, Quentin attacks Tracy and tries to drown her in the swimming pool. Satisfied that he has killed her he stalks off back to Collinwood. Just as he’s leaving, Alex and Clair show up to warn the Collins’ about what they have found out. Alex finds Tracy floating in the pool and manages to save her before she drowns completely. He knows that Quentin did it and pretty much figures out everything that is going on. Clair takes Tracy back to their cottage while Alex heads off towards the main house. Carlotta is determined to follow Angelique’s will and she sends Gerard out to kill Alex and Clair. Gerard hops in his pickup and begins following Alex’s car. He runs him off the road into a tree nearly killing him. He then drives off to the Jenkins’ cottage. He attempts to break in through the front door but Clair shoots him in the face at point blank range. I guess it was just a glancing shot however (Or maybe one of those funky JFK-inspired ‘magic’ bullets) because it only succeeded in causing a really bad flesh wound. Gerard breaks in and kidnaps Tracy. He takes him in his truck and heads off into the country. He stops the truck for a moment because he wants to fondle Tracy. Meanwhile, Quentin has managed to temporarily take control of himself. He finds Alex and learns about Gerard. He finds the pickup near a bridge on the countryside. Gerard gets out and runs. Quentin chases him onto the bridge and the two square off for the final confrontation. Quentin does pretty well against Gerard, but its actually Tracy that executes the final blow. She comes up behind Gerard and whales the shit out of him with a lead pipe. Gerard falls off the bridge onto the railroad tracks below. (Ironically enough, during the scuffle Quentin suffers a gash across his cheek, which bears a striking resemblance to the scar borne by good ole uncle Chuck.) Now we come to the climax of our flick, and let me warn ya; it doesn’t make a whole helluva lot of sense. Quentin and Tracy go back to Collinwood. They decide to end Angelique’s madness for good. Not quite sure how they plan on doing that. They figure the best way to do this is to go down into the basement. Angelique’s spirit appears and wrestles around with Tracy. But this is a future ‘Angel’ we’re talking about here and she’s not going to go down like a punk. Tracy manages to shrug the violent spirit off of her. Quentin meanwhile chases Carlotta to the roof of Collinwood. She’s perched on the parapet when she looks down to the ground and finds Angelique beckoning her. Carlotta answers the summons and leaps to her death. And they all lived happily ever after. Well, not really. But that’s what the viewer is meant to think. They figure that with both Carlotta and Gerard dead, everything will be hunky-dory again. Quentin decides however that he is going to sell Collinwood and get the fuck out of town. They meet up with the Jenkins’ and everyone decides to drive up to the Cape for a little R&R. Alex and Clair pull off and Quentin says he’ll follow shortly. He just wants to take one last look at the house. (BAD MOVE QUENT!) Quentin goes inside leaving Tracy to wait for him in the car. After a few minutes, she gets tired of waiting and goes inside to find Quentin. He finds him sitting in an easy chair chilling out. She calls out to him and he slowly rises. He has an evil grin on his face and begins limping over to her. He tears the bandages from his face revealing the scar. Tracy now knows that the spirit of Charles Collins has taken him over completely. Angelique appears in full visage for the first time and the two converge upon Tracy. The last thing we hear is Tracy’s terrified screams. It can be assumed that Charles/Quentin either: a) Killed Tracy. Or… b) Allowed Angelique to take control of her body so that Charles (Quentin) and she can be together forever. In an epilogue we learn that the Jenkins car went off the road killing both Alex and Clair. Witnesses report seeing a ghostly white smoke filling the vehicle as it went off the highway. Acting/Dialogue: For you trivia buffs out there, this is the film that introduced us to Kate Jackson. Kate would later go on to star on classic TV shows like Charlie’s Angels as well as Scarecrow and Mrs. King. She would also crest the silver screen a few more times in such Oscar-worthy achievements like Satan’s School For Girls (Review coming soon)! Kate is pretty much a diamond in the rough at this starting point in her career, but she still manages to bring some color to her character and she plays well off of David Selby. David Selby (Quentin) is the real shining star here. He is one of the few actors that can pull off macho as well as sensitive at the same time. Also from the cast of the original Dark Shadows is John Karlen. DS enthusiasts are used to seeing him portray a weak sniveling sycophant, but here we see him as a carefree artisan who just can’t seem to keep his damn car on the road. Karlen is awesome to watch no matter what roll he plays. Bold and the Beautiful star James Storm plays the part of Gerard Stiles. Storm doesn’t get much of a field to play in, but he really does an excellent job at playing the quasi-articulate villain. Grayson Hall is pretty one-dimensional in this, but that’s not really her fault. The character of Carlotta doesn’t demand much other than being the token she-bitch. Lara Parker reprises her role of Angelique Collins. Unfortunately, even though she’s the driving force behind this picture, she really doesn’t have much dialogue. Lara’s strength has always been in her facial expressions and Night of Dark Shadows makes sure to accent that. I would have liked to seen more of her in this. Gore: There’s not really any gore here. This is a PG flick and as such the blood is minimal. The most graphic scene you will find is Gerard’s bloody looking visage after being shot by Clair. Guilty Pleasures: Nary a hint of nipple to be seen. Not even a clingy wet t-shirt. The Good: Before I get into the length and breadth of this review I feel it is important to shed a little light as to the origins of Night of Dark Shadows. The characters and concepts of this movie were loosely based on the hit TV soap opera Dark Shadows, which aired from 1966-1971. The show proved to be so popular, that it spawned its own feature film entitled House of Dark Shadows. But despite HODS popularity, it failed to feature Dark Shadows’ second most popular character, Quentin Collins. And thus the demand was created for a second full-length movie. It’s important to note that Night of Dark Shadows exists as a stand-alone non-sequential project and does not have any continuity consistency with either the original show or House of Dark Shadows. Which is to say: You don’t need to be familiar with either of the prior works in order to view this movie. Night of Dark Shadows is less a horror movie and more a tale of gothic romanticism. It is an epic romance spanning centuries the likes of which one is apt to find adorning the pages of many a trashy Harlequin romance novel designed to titillate the nether regions of drunken cat-loving middle-aged divorcees the world over. What I like about this movie is that the romantic elements are centered on the films’ villains rather than the protagonists. In all honesty, nobody gives a fuck about what happens in the bedroom between Quentin and Tracy. But the wayward spirits of Charles and Angelique striving for love over the span of centuries is something that is not only kind of romantic but pretty fucking warped as well. The story itself is really pretty cool. Done in the tradition of those old Victorian era gothic penny-dreadfuls, there’s a nice sense of atmosphere and everything is presented in very bleak and somber tones. Tragedy sets the mood, and the theme is kept at a steady constant all throughout the flick. Story telling through moods has always been Dan Curtis’ greatest strength and he shows off his talent well with the direction of this flick. I really like the transition sequence between Quentin’s first dream-sequence and his first fight with Gerard. The two are edited together really well and it’s an interesting gimmick to show the parallels between the characters of the 19th century and those of the 20th. It’s also a good way to show the audience the connection between Charles and Quentin (As stated earlier, both characters are portrayed by the same actor). I also liked the epilogue. I’m the type of sod that always roots for the villains, so I got a definite kick out of the fact that EVERYBODY loses in this flick. It also leaves a bit of mystery in the air as well as to the final fate of Tracy. This is the sort of thing that I don’t need completely explained to me. It’s more fun just to imagine what ultimately happened in that house. As I alluded to earlier, I think Angelique took possession of Tracy’s body permanently so that Charles and she can be together. My favorite scenes however involve Angelique’s execution. They are done really well and manage to showcase the morbidity of the crime without resorting to classic horror movie splatter. There is a really haunting imagery used here and it is all enshrouded in the staccato echoes of Reverend Stracks’s lamentations. Really nice work done here. If you’re into generational stories, or gothic ghost stories then it behooves you to at least give Night of Dark Shadows a try. The Bad: Night of Dark Shadows is what happens when a money-grubbing executive producer gets their hands on a project. Thanks to those MGM fuck-holes, a whole FORTY minutes of this flick was left on the cutting room floor. When it came time to piece everything together director Dan Curtis only had twenty-four hours to affect the necessary changes and despite his best efforts, what we are left with is an ambiguous misleading film that prompts too many questions and fails to deliver any kind of satisfactory resolution. Firstly, I think more needed to be done with the Jenkins. In the beginning of the film, we are given the impression that Quentin and Tracy have never been to Collinsport before, and yet they are already good friends with Alex and Clair. Now I don’t need a complete back story behind their relationship, but I think it would have strengthened the character dynamic if we were told at least a little of how all these people came to know one another. Alex and Clair also seem to be on the ball as well. Alex knows instantly that something is wrong with Quentin and it only takes two steps before he comes to the conclusion that the spirit of Charles possesses Quentin. That was really a little too pat for me. Then there’s the whole business trip to the art gallery nonsense. Come on now. What are the chances of these two yuppies going all the way from Maine to New York and finding a portrait of a man who just HAPPENS to be causing trouble for their good buddy Quentin right at that moment. Again, suspension of disbelief is really stretched to its limits here. Also, what made Alex think to go to the pool to look for Tracy? All he saw was Quentin leaving the Old House. He had no reason whatsoever to investigate the pool. This character dumb-lucks his way onto the right answers way too often in this flick. Okay, I understand Carlotta’s motivations, but what the fuck is up with Gerard? We are led to believe that he is in-the-know about the whole Angelique affair from the beginning as Carlotta tells him “Everything is different now.” So what exactly is HIS role in all of this? Is he the reincarnation of some obscure ancestor as well? Why would he conspire with Carlotta? Or is he just a simpleton who is easily manipulated. He’s an interesting character, but I think the audience would have benefited had they fleshed him out a bit more. The ending is completely absurd as well. This is the primary victim of random edit cuts. For some inexplicable reason, Quentin and Tracy decide to go into the Collinwood basement. Why? What the fuck is in the basement? There is nothing in any of the flashback sequences that has anything to do with the basement, so why in the name of Barnabas would they even think to go there? What were they hoping to accomplish? Then there’s the issue of Carlotta’s death. This made no sense. Why would Angelique beckon her servant to kill herself? Now if Angelique had succeeded in completely converting Quentin into Charles, then I could at least see it. Carlotta would be useless at that point, and Angelique would probably rub her out, as she has no more need for her. But up until that point, we are given no reason to believe that Angelique has won. If anything, it appears as if Quentin and Tracy succeed in driving her spirit away. Again, another scene that simply ends with a big fat question mark. I could accept the rest of the movie if the climax made even the slightest degree of sense. Before checking out this flick, I would wait to see if there are plans for a DVD release, which may possibly include the lost footage. Without it, you merely have a film that will leave you scratching your head. Great Lines: “Everything is different now.” --Carlotta Drake commenting about Quentin’s arrival at Collinwood. “Angelique loves us. She always has and she always will.” --Carlotta re-affirming Quentin’s position at Collinwood. “That son of a bitch tried to kill me!” --Alex Jenkins after surviving an auto accident. Overall Rating: 4 out of 10 severed heads. |
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