Title: An interview with Dan Curtis
Karen - October 23, 2007 08:27 PM (GMT)
This great and rare Dark Shadows interview with Dan Curtis can be found at SciFi.com
DanCurtisProductions
Dan Curtis continues to thrive in the Dark Shadows
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By Michael McCarty
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Dark Shadows, created by producer/director Dan Curtis, is a pop-culture phenomenon. The series ran for a half-hour each weekday from 1966-1971. The success led to two feature films—House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows. The gothic soap opera has a cult following reaching Beatlemania proportions and a fan base that stretches over three decades.
Other movies Curtis directed included Burnt Offerings and Trilogy of Terror 2. His TV movies The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler led to the Kolchak: The Night Stalker series. Curtis and his Dan Curtis Productions remade such classics for the tube as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula (1972) and Frankenstein (1973).
Other TV movies included The Norliss Tapes, Scream of the Wolf, Trilogy of Terror and Dead of Night (1977). At that time, he was dubbed "television's king of horror." In the 1980s, he made the mainstream made-for-television movies The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, based on the books by Herman Wouk.
Dark Shadows has now been resurrected on DVD, starting out with the introduction of Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) in episode #210 from April 1967. The DVD sets of 40 episodes on four discs will be coming out quarterly from MPI Home Video. The first set was released the last week of May and the next set will be issued in late August.
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Why do you think Dark Shadows has had such a devoted following for over 35 years?
Curtis: If I knew the answer to that I'd be a genius. Obviously it has some kind of deep-seated appeal that reaches down into the bowels and the hearts of the viewers. It's not just a horror story, it's a romance story that crosses centuries as well. It's a reincarnation story of lost love. It can be very scary at times, with a lot of imaginative twists and interesting characters.
It has a universal appeal, because it appealed to people of all ages and continues to appeal. It wasn't just a question of would it appeal to kids in the late '60s. It seems to appeal to all who watch it.
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Of the 1,225 episodes of Dark Shadows, what were your favorite storylines?
Curtis: My favorite story is when Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) goes into the past and we find out how Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) became a vampire, the whole Angelique (Parker) story and the cursing him and all that whole business.
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You introduced Barnabas Collins in episode 210. Was the vampire going to be just a short-term character?
Curtis: I had turned the show supernatural and I was going to see how far I could go with it in terms of how much the audience was going to buy it. I put on a vampire, which I consider the scariest of all supernatural creatures. That's how it happened.
When Barnabas Collins turned into such a huge hit, I couldn't kill him off, which I had originally intended to do. I had to find a way to keep him alive.
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Why did you kill off Barnabas Collins in the end of the House of Dark Shadows movie?
Curtis: That is what I always wanted to do with that story, but I couldn't on the television series. So I did it in the movie.
If one looks very closely, right around the time of the credits, you see a bat fly up towards the camera, which would have given us the opportunity to come back and do a sequel. It's a little hidden fact that probably nobody knows [laughs].
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Any last words?
Curtis: Dark Shadows will live forever.
DanCurtisProductions
Dan Curtis continues to thrive in the Dark Shadows
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Michael McCarty
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dark Shadows, created by producer/director Dan Curtis, is a pop-culture phenomenon. The series ran for a half-hour each weekday from 1966-1971. The success led to two feature films—House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows. The gothic soap opera has a cult following reaching Beatlemania proportions and a fan base that stretches over three decades.
Other movies Curtis directed included Burnt Offerings and Trilogy of Terror 2. His TV movies The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler led to the Kolchak: The Night Stalker series. Curtis and his Dan Curtis Productions remade such classics for the tube as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula (1972) and Frankenstein (1973).
Other TV movies included The Norliss Tapes, Scream of the Wolf, Trilogy of Terror and Dead of Night (1977). At that time, he was dubbed "television's king of horror." In the 1980s, he made the mainstream made-for-television movies The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, based on the books by Herman Wouk.
Dark Shadows has now been resurrected on DVD, starting out with the introduction of Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) in episode #210 from April 1967. The DVD sets of 40 episodes on four discs will be coming out quarterly from MPI Home Video. The first set was released the last week of May and the next set will be issued in late August.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why do you think Dark Shadows has had such a devoted following for over 35 years?
Curtis: If I knew the answer to that I'd be a genius. Obviously it has some kind of deep-seated appeal that reaches down into the bowels and the hearts of the viewers. It's not just a horror story, it's a romance story that crosses centuries as well. It's a reincarnation story of lost love. It can be very scary at times, with a lot of imaginative twists and interesting characters.
It has a universal appeal, because it appealed to people of all ages and continues to appeal. It wasn't just a question of would it appeal to kids in the late '60s. It seems to appeal to all who watch it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of the 1,225 episodes of Dark Shadows, what were your favorite storylines?
Curtis: My favorite story is when Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) goes into the past and we find out how Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) became a vampire, the whole Angelique (Parker) story and the cursing him and all that whole business.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You introduced Barnabas Collins in episode 210. Was the vampire going to be just a short-term character?
Curtis: I had turned the show supernatural and I was going to see how far I could go with it in terms of how much the audience was going to buy it. I put on a vampire, which I consider the scariest of all supernatural creatures. That's how it happened.
When Barnabas Collins turned into such a huge hit, I couldn't kill him off, which I had originally intended to do. I had to find a way to keep him alive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why did you kill off Barnabas Collins in the end of the House of Dark Shadows movie?
Curtis: That is what I always wanted to do with that story, but I couldn't on the television series. So I did it in the movie.
If one looks very closely, right around the time of the credits, you see a bat fly up towards the camera, which would have given us the opportunity to come back and do a sequel. It's a little hidden fact that probably nobody knows [laughs].
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any last words?
Curtis: Dark Shadows will live forever.
amp - October 24, 2007 12:19 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| It's not just a horror story, it's a romance story that crosses centuries as well. It's a reincarnation story of lost love. |
This is what did it for me, a bored and lonely 12 yr. old girl, and it still is the hook that sinks in deep.
It's all about that damned Gothic romance.
| QUOTE |
| My favorite story is when Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) goes into the past and we find out how Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) became a vampire, the whole Angelique (Parker) story and the cursing him and all that whole business. |
yeah, Duh. :thumbsup After that story line waned, I think I lost interest. It sure was fun while it lasted!
Christine M - June 4, 2008 03:41 AM (GMT)
WOW ~ What gems you have here.
This is so awesome and brings back such fond memories. You all may find this a bit silly, and telling my age, but, I was in 4th or 5th grade when I started watching DS in the late 60s. And till this day I love seeing and hearing waves crashing against the rocky cliffs. And because of DS, lilacs are my favorite flower.
Here is a link to youtube that has a couple of the late 60s version of DS. Remember the theme song and the voice in the beginning.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...ws&search_type=
This is so awesome and brings back such fond memories. You all may find this a bit silly, and telling my age, but, I was in 4th or 5th grade when I started watching DS in the late 60s. And till this day I love seeing and hearing waves crashing against the rocky cliffs. And because of DS, lilacs are my favorite flower.
Here is a link to youtube that has a couple of the late 60s version of DS. Remember the theme song and the voice in the beginning.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...ws&search_type=
Karen - June 4, 2008 03:58 AM (GMT)
That was great! And don't forget Quentin's Theme....and that music that Josette's music bax played. I can still hear it.
ItDeppends - June 4, 2008 03:01 PM (GMT)
OMGosh Karen! I had forgotten about the music box. I loved that as a kid and wanted one of my own. I don't think they thought of merchendising as much in that day. But I bet you could sell them like hot cakes.
DeppendsandChristineMmustbethesameage :D
DeppendsandChristineMmustbethesameage :D