Overview: Before Buffy, Twilight, Stephen King and Anne Rice, there was the Gothic World of Dan Curtis In 1966, a phenomenon was launched when Dark Shadows debuted on ABC-TV as a daily Gothic suspense series.

This highly anticipated new film is a comprehensive celebration of the legendary Gothic daytime series and its visionary creator, Dan Curtis.

Blu-ray Verdict: The incredible feature-length documentary reveals the fascinating history, far-reaching impact and lasting appeal of the beloved TV show Dark Shadows with a compelling blend of rare footage and behind-the-scenes stories; whilst also exploring the dramatic talents of creator-producer-director Dan Curtis.

Known as the “King of TV Horror,” the Emmy-winning filmmaker followed Dark Shadows with other iconic genre favorites including The Night Stalker, Trilogy of Terror and Burnt Offerings before earning accolades for the epic miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance.

Narrated by Ian McShane (Deadwood), and that deep, alluring British vocal tone of his, 'Master of Dark Shadows: The Gothic World of Dan Curtis' is as brilliant, as magnificent and as revealing as you could ever hope it to be.

The feature documentary, which was shot in New York, LA and London, reveals to us from the off that everything about the Gothic beauty Dark Shadows came from a dream that Curtis had one night.

There was this girl on a train and she was being hired to become a Governess to work in this big house and she steps out onto this empty platform in the mist as the train pulls away. And she's standing there all alone … and then he woke up!

So, knowing that he had something to work with, Curtis called around the studios and friends he had as producers and such and told them he wanted to do a daytime soap opera.

Eventually it got picked up, but as everyone associated with it says on this great documentary, it was all taken in a mundane fashion, nobody really paid attention to it and it actually got bad ratings!

So, just as the network had give the show just four more weeks to live (due to the aforementioned dire ratings), Curtis suggested, and with nothing to lose, adding a vampire to the daytime mix!

Something that hadn't been done ever before, and with the character being created as a reluctant vampire; someone who just didn't want to do what he had to do, as soon as it hit the air the rating started to shoot up almost overnight.

Coming on at 4pm in the afternoon, just in time for the kids to be home from school and flop down in front of the TV set for viewing, "It wasn't your mom's Gothic romance, it was YOUR Gothic romance", as Whoopi Goldberg puts it.

Including interviews with key actors and filmmakers involved in the undyingly popular story of vampire Barnabas Collins and all the eerie goings-on at the gloomy Maine mansion Collinwood, watching a lot of the funny black and white outtakes from the set is a goldmine of wonderment for fans such as myself.

The documentary, which was directed by David Gregory (Lost Soul, Godfathers of Mondo), also features Oscar-winning writer-producer Alan Ball (True Blood), screenwriter William F. Nolan (Trilogy of Terror), author Herman Wouk (The Winds Of War), veteran actors Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost), Barbara Steele (Black Sunday) and Ben Cross (Chariots of Fire), Dark Shadows stars Jonathan Frid, David Selby, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker, John Karlen, Nancy Barrett, Jerry Lacy, Roger Davis, Marie Wallace, Chris Pennock and James Storm, plus other colleagues and family members. This is a Widescreen Presentation (4:3) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Bonus Features of:

Dark Shadows Studio Visit
Before Dark Shadows: The House
Vintage TV Spots
Poe & Shakespeare in The Shadows
Barnabas at the White House
The Dick Cavett Show: Jonathan Frid
Light & Shadows: David Selby
Promos & More!

Official Trailer