Unaired television pilot
Dark Shadows
is a one-hour
television pilot
that was a
remake
of the 1966?1971
gothic
soap opera
television series
Dark Shadows
. The pilot was commissioned by
The WB
and produced in 2004, but not picked up for a series.
Plot
[
edit
]
Victoria Winters
arrives by train to Collinsport, where she has been hired by the Collins family to tutor their youngest member,
David
. She is welcomed by matriarch
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
, but experiences strange and disturbing dreams during her first night in the mansion. Victoria meets David, the son of Elizabeth's brother
Roger Collins
, who is constantly plagued by memories of his mother. Meanwhile,
Willie Loomis
and his girlfriend Kelly Vance go to the Collinwood crypt in search of treasure, and open the locked coffin of
Barnabas Collins
. In the process, Kelly cuts her hand and some blood falls upon the desiccated corpse, reviving him. A vampire, Barnabas drains Kelly of her blood and attacks Willie. He later attacks Elizabeth's daughter
Carolyn Stoddard
, who is walking to her car from a romantic encounter with
Joe Haskell
on his boat.
Barnabas presents himself at Collinwood as a distant relative from England, as Elizabeth and a less than enthusiastic Roger note his resemblance to the historical Barnabas Collins, whose portrait hangs in the mansion. Victoria feels immediately drawn to Barnabas. He asks permission to restore the Old House, and although Roger cautions him against it, he is determined to proceed. David and Victoria visit the Old House and Barnabas shows Victoria a portrait of
Josette DuPres
, which greatly resembles her. It hangs in Josette's room, which had been walled up until now. Willie, now working for Barnabas, bears fang marks and cannot say enough good things about Barnabas. At night David wakes and goes into the woods, where he removes a dagger from the ground. What might be the spirit of the witch
Angelique
is now apparently free. Meanwhile, Dr.
Julia Hoffman
confirms that Carolyn's wounds match those on Kelly's recently discovered corpse. Carolyn, late at night at the hospital, wakes and looks longingly out the hospital window, murmuring "Come back." When Victoria drives back to Collinwood she seemingly hits Angelique with her car. The disfigured Angelique screams, "He's mine!"
Cast
[
edit
]
- Alec Newman
as
Barnabas Collins
: An undead vampire accidentally released after being locked away for 200 years. He is tormented by his curse.
- Marley Shelton
as
Victoria Winters
: A beautiful, twentysomething woman hired to tutor young David Collins, and an exact double of Barnabas' 1790s fiancee,
Josette DuPres
.
- Jessica Chastain
as
Carolyn Stoddard
: Elizabeth's twentysomething daughter, who still lives at Collinwood.
- Alexander Gould
as
David Collins
: The 9-year-old, troubled son of Roger Collins.
- Martin Donovan
as
Roger Collins
: David's father, a ruthless businessman.
- Kelly Hu
as
Dr. Julia Hoffman
: The Collins family physician, and a close friend to Roger and Elizabeth.
- Ivana Mili?evi?
as
Angelique
: A beautiful, vindictive witch. She has come back from death to either reunite with Barnabas, or destroy him.
- Matt Czuchry
as
Willie Loomis
: A former Collinsport high school football star who works as a handyman at Collinwood.
- Jenna Dewan
as Sophia Loomis: Willie's younger sister, a maid at Collinwood.
- Blair Brown
as
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
: Roger's older sister. Her husband mysteriously absent, she lives a solitary life with Roger and Carolyn in Collinwood.
- Jason Shaw as
Joe Haskell
, a fisherman and Carolyn's boyfriend.
- Alexis Thorpe
as Kelly Vance, Willie's greedy girlfriend.
- Michael D. Roberts
as Sheriff Patterson
- E.J. Callahan as Old Man on Train
- Nathan Weiss as Boy in Devil Costume
- Doug Jones
as Demon on Train, Barnabas in Crypt
[1]
The pilot included new characters not previously shown in the original or the 1991 versions of the series, including Sophia Loomis and Kelly Vance. Characters
Maggie Evans
, Sam Evans and Sarah Collins from the prior versions were included in the script, but did not appear in the filmed pilot (although Sarah is mentioned by David).
Alec Newman went on to play a grown up David Collins in an audio series of
Dark Shadows
produced by the British company
Big Finish
, which was created as a continuation of the first T.V. series and starred many of the original actors.
Production
[
edit
]
TV Guide
reported in November 2003 that
The WB
had secured the rights to adapt the 1966?1971
gothic
soap opera
Dark Shadows
into a new television series.
[2]
Created by
Dan Curtis
,
Dark Shadows
had previously been remade as a short-lived
1991 prime time series
.
[3]
[4]
A
pilot
was commissioned and produced in 2004.
[5]
[6]
Not wanting to have two vampire shows in competition with each other, The WB canceled the
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
spinoff
Angel
to make room for
Dark Shadows
in the 2004?2005 television season.
[7]
[8]
With a budget of $6 million, the pilot was written by
Mark Verheiden
.
[9]
It starred Alec Newman as Barnabas, Marley Shelton as Victoria, Blair Brown as Elizabeth, Martin Donovan as Roger, Kelly Hu as Dr. Hoffman, and Jessica Chastain as Carolyn.
[8]
[10]
The pilot was cast younger than previous adaptations, and was the first iteration of
Dark Shadows
with diverse casting for major characters.
[9]
[11]
Todd McIntosh was the lead makeup artist, with prosthetics built by Andrew Clements.
[12]
They created a series of looks for Barnabas in varying stages of decomposition as he transitions back to the appearance of a living man.
[12]
The original director,
Rob Bowman
, backed out of the project at the last minute due to other commitments, and was replaced by
P. J. Hogan
.
[9]
Curtis, Hogan, and The WB reportedly all had different visions for the series.
[7]
[9]
The pilot was filmed at the
Greystone Mansion
in
Beverly Hills, California
, which also served as the
Collinwood Mansion
for the
previous 1991 remake
.
[8]
[9]
The pilot was screened for The WB in June 2004,
[9]
but was not picked up for a series.
[5]
[9]
[12]
WB chairman
Garth Ancier
said in July 2005, "We had a new director [Hogan] come in who was accomplished in movies but frankly didn't do a particularly good job ... The script was terrific, but creatively, the end result did not come out the way we'd all hoped for."
[9]
Jeff Thompson wrote in
The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis
that The WB later regretted their decision, as the 2004?2005 season saw the debut of several popular "mystical and quirky" series like
Lost
,
Desperate Housewives
,
Medium
,
Ghost Whisperer
, and
Supernatural
.
[9]
Release
[
edit
]
The pilot never aired because The WB passed on the series.
[5]
[12]
It was screened at a 2005
Dark Shadows
festival in
Los Angeles
, with subsequent showings at the 2006
Dark Shadows
40th Anniversary Festival in
Brooklyn, New York
, the 2008
Dark Shadows
Festival in
Burbank, California
and the 2009
Dark Shadows
Festival in
Elizabeth, New Jersey
.
[9]
Reception
[
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]
In his book
Dark Shadows
,
Harry M. Benshoff
wrote, "Perhaps the most interesting thing about the pilot was its luridly lit visual design, one more reminiscent of Italian horror films by Mario Bava and/or Dario Argento than the original series."
[11]
Critic
Mark Dawidziak
commented at the 2005
Dark Shadows
Festival that much of the pilot was "lighted like a French whorehouse."
[9]
Thompson praised the cast, in particular Newman and the female performers.
[9]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Manning, Stuart.
"Dark Shadows 2004: Just the Facts"
.
Dark Shadows Journal
. Archived from
the original
on 2011-05-25
. Retrieved
8 August
2020
.
- ^
"Insider: Cheers".
TV Guide
: 16. November 29, 2003.
- ^
Nutt, Shannon (October 18, 2005).
"
Dark Shadows: The Revival
? The Complete Series"
.
DVD Talk
. Retrieved
May 23,
2013
.
- ^
Dougherty, Margot (January 18, 1991).
"The Vampire Strikes Back"
.
Entertainment Weekly
.
Time Inc.
Retrieved
May 23,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
Gross, Darren (January 2005). "
Dark Shadows
Staked!".
Fangoria
(239): 62?65, 82.
- ^
Otterson, Joe (September 9, 2019).
"
Dark Shadows
Sequel Series in Development at CW"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
June 28,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
"The Lost
Dark Shadows
, 2004"
.
The Collinsport Historical Society
. November 24, 2015
. Retrieved
June 27,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
Freitag-Fey, Paul (April 3, 2017).
"It Streamed from Beyond the Grave: 2004's
Dark Shadows
Pilot!"
.
Daily Grindhouse
. Retrieved
June 28,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
Thompson, Jeff (July 18, 2019).
The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis: Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker and Other Productions
(2nd ed.).
McFarland & Company
. pp. 72, 101, 104.
ISBN
9781476636337
– via
Google Books
.
- ^
"
Dark Shadows 2004
: Just the Facts"
.
Dark Shadows Journal
. Archived from
the original
on May 25, 2011
. Retrieved
June 28,
2020
– via collinwood.net.
- ^
a
b
Benshoff, Harry M. (March 15, 2011).
Dark Shadows
.
Wayne State University Press
. p. 116.
ISBN
978-0814336328
– via Google Books.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Nazarro, Joe (January 2005).
"The Lost
Dark Shadows
"
.
Fangoria
(239)
. Retrieved
June 27,
2020
.
External links
[
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]