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Night Of Dark Shadows: End Of An Era



Film adaptations of TV shows rarely work. And vice versa. It's just two different worlds of mainstream entertainment which have their own separate formulas. But to attempt a big screen version of a soap opera, in my humble opinion, is usually a lost cause. Dan Curtis, creator of the popular gothic horror soap, Dark Shadows, attempted a film adaptation a year earlier, with House Of Dark Shadows. A retelling of the original storyline of Vampire, Barnabas Collins. The show's most popular character. A good movie. A great movie, some may say. But does it really do the show, and more specifically, that storyline, justice? Not really. It's too many episodes to cover, and to anyone who is familiar with the show, the movie should seem very rushed in comparison. Like I said. A good movie. But it's flaws are there, and they're obvious, but alot of them couldn't be helped. Fast forward a year later. Dark Shadows has been cancelled. But the movie was a hit. And I think we all know by now what happens any time a Horror film gains even a glimmer of popularity.

With the constant stress of the show no longer holding him back, Dan Curtis gathers up as many DS cast members he can and makes plans for yet another movie. Since the first one centered on Barnabas, it's only common sense that this new movie would revolve around the second most popular character, Quentin Collins. Although, Quentin's story would not be a recreation of anything. Merely a Dark Shadowsy story that might remind one of several of the show's storylines. I tend to think this was the right decision as it eliminates the possibility of the movie having to be molded after a series of events it couldn't possibly live up to.

Filmed in the same eerie old mansion as House. This was a fine choice for location, but it ain't Collinwood, but whatever. It isn't clear as to whether or not the events of the first movie actually happened from this movie's point-of-view, or if this is a stand alone story, but Collinwood is currently abandoned, which makes me think it is acknowledged. Quentin Collins, and his wife, Tracy, have inherited Collinwood and are on their way to Collinsport, Maine to collect and to live a life of luxury. And Quentin, being the painter, is looking forward to much inspiration amongst the beautifully dreary scenery. Before the couple is even settled in, the first glimpse of weirdness comes from the housekeeper. Or whatever she is. Just some person who takes care of stuff, I guess. Grayson Hall plays Carlotta Drake, who seems to know a bit much about this house, and is slightly too invested in how things go. Also, Quentin is being plagued by nightmares. Reliving memories that aren't his own. Or are they? Quentin is remembering things that happened to a man named Charles Collins, who lived at Collinwood over 150 years ago.

Charles was married to Laura Collins, but fooled around with his brother Gabriel's wife, Angelique. A witch. We witness the events which led to Angelique's hanging by a witch hunting Reverend, as well as Charles' own demise at the hands of his brother. The more Quentin has these dreams, the less he seems like Quentin. He becomes cold, distant and temperamental. He attacks and berates Tracy without provocation. We find out the ghost of Angelique is involved. She wants Quentin to be Charles, and she wants Tracy gone. This may not be the same Angelique from the show, but anyone familiar knows what Angelique wants, Angelique gets.

While Night Of Dark Shadows may not have the same problems as the first movie, that doesn't mean it doesn't have its own problems. One big problem that not only killed this movie, but the chances for a third one, is the fact that a whopping 45 minutes was ordered to be cut. Still an hour an a half long even with the missing scenes, the film was stripped of many conversations and situations which gave the film much more of a point. as well as the characters depth. Still eerie, haunting, atmosphereic and creepy, but something is clearly missing from this movie. Something about it is so empty, so lonely. As if it's in need of an extra main character. No. It's merely missing 45 minutes of story. That's all.

Still very much worthwhile for a Dark Shadows fan or a fan of stuff like Burnt Offerings. An absolutely gorgeous score by Robert Cobert, which is what really saves this one for me. As I said, there was to be a third Dark Shadows movie, but after dealing with the frustration of this one, and probably a growing boredom with the world of Dark Shadows in general, Dan Curtis decided to move on to non-Dark Shadowsy projects. As with the show, fans will always be forced ask the "what if" questions about this movie. That is, as long as the film in its entirety is without release. It's not perfect by any means, but for the time being, Dan Curtis' final chapter in the Dark Shadows story will have to do. 7/10



#Review

Phantasm 5 (Ravager) news????

Has anyone heard anything about this? IMDB says it will be released on Halloween, but I haven't seen anything that supports that claim.

Yo, where are the white women at?

Hell Of The Living Dead (1980)



Italian Exploitation of the 70's and 80's can be a bit iffy. Sometimes boring, for the most part, entertaining. Usually, in a "so bad, it's good" kind of way. And of course, the inevitable ripping off of popular ideas from far more creative and talented non-Italians. I recently watched a film called Hell of The Living Dead. AKA, Virus, this cheesy zombie epic was directed by none other than Bruno Mattei, using the name Vincent Dawn. Mattei is responsible for some of the worst, and some of the most entertaining Itallian trash to come out of this era. This one is pretty bad, but I like to think of it more as entertaining than anything else. Say what you will about this movie. Entertainment value is one thing it has going for it. Gore, titties and stupid dialogue. These are the things Hell is made of.

After a chemical plant accident unleashes a deadly virus on the world, a SWAT team heads to New Guinea to investigate. What they find is walking corpses. But shortly after running into a hot reporter, they're all taken in by a primitive tribe when she gets naked for them and puts on a little face paint. These scenes which involve said tribe kind of makes this a cannibal movie as well as a zombie flick. Just sayin'. The jungle hospitality is short-lived as the living dead make their presence known after eating several cannibals. As the group ditches their new friends, they make their way through a very stock footage-filled jungle, taking an unusual amount of time to figure out that shooting zombies in the head is the only way to kill them. One guy either already insane, or getting there due to all this madness, sees fit to have a little fun with the extra slow-moving ghouls, and tease them, obviously setting up for the moment it all blows up in his face. As this group gets closer to salvation, they also get closer to finding out the truth behind all this. Knowledge they may soon regret learning.

Alot of fuss gets made over Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2, which is a sequel to nothing, by the way. While this one here hasn't gotten a fraction of the appreciation as well as the legendary status that it deserves. I'm not sure what makes that other one so great, other than who directed it. Not that Fulci was all that great, himself. But Bruno Mattei isn't quite as respected in his field, as he's known for nothing but trash, as opposed to Fulci, who put out some classy stuff, early on. but Mattei already earned my respect with such mean-spirited exploitation cheese-fests as Women's Prison Massacre and Rats: Night Of Terror. Both bad, both entertaining. But this trash epic takes the cake.

And that's not quite all it takes, as this movie shamelessly flaunts a stolen score from movies such as Beyond The Darkness, Contamination, and get this, Dawn of The fucking Dead. Yeah. That's pretty sad, Bruno. Such a choice of movies to rip off more or less pigeonholed Hell into being seen as a poor man's Dawn Of The Dead. Which is a shame because it deserves better than to be in any movie's shadow. I'm not going to play it off like Hell Of The Living Dead is anywhere in the same league as Dawn, but it can be just as entertaining, if not more, at times. Hell Of The Living Dead is non-stop fun. Gory, ridiculous, apocalyptic, and just all over the place with stupidity and dumbass quotes that'll leave you scratching your head hours after it's over. A 100 minute epic just waiting to be discovered by more fans of trashy Italian cinema, which should be seen as essential for most. Highly recommended! 7/10



#Review

Cat O' Nine Tails (1971)

It's been described as a "pure giallo".
Much more subtle than what I'm used to, and I found it disappointing for a long time.
It's kind of special, despite not being violent, or dark in an atmospheric sense.
Has an excellent car-chase scene, and pretty sturdy dialogue, especially at the end. 6.5/10

Florida Residents?

I know half of us are bat shit crazy but for some reason, Flordites get lumped with the the most batshittiest. I live in Florida, I know Troma does, who else from here lives in the the big FL?

#cannibaltacoparty

Hannibal (2001) (the Florence scenes)

There are plenty of things to be said about this movie, from all kinds of different perspectives. But, I just wanted to say, Good Lord, the shots in Florence are spectacular. What a beautiful city. Yes, I know, I am not the first one to think Florence is beautiful, but still, wow. Maybe the Ridley Scott director's touch made it even more beautiful, if that is even possible...

Anyway, I found this blog. Someone visited the spots where they filmed those scenes (and the other scenes too). That blogger must have a few extra bucks kicking around, to be able to visit all those locations. Anyway, here's the blog:
https://movie-tourist.blogspot.com/2013/01/hannibal-2001.html

OK, here it comes: the Zombie Apocalypse

I guess it is POSSIBLE that this is not the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, but.... no, I'm not buying that. This is The Big One. It has to be.
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/2015/10/19/brazilian-man-bites-passenger-on-irish-aircraft-collapses-and-dies-woman/?cmpid=edpick&google_editors_picks=true

New Feature: Chess

I had a total of one person ask me for this, so I spent the last 3 weeks working on it. It took longer than I expected it to, working out the kinks for the turn-based stuff, but I learned a few new coding tricks along the way.

It's very basic, but it works... on some browsers.
https://trashepics.com/chess/

This post exists merely to link a shoutbox to the chess page.