The Good: Story does seem to be going somewhere . . .
The Bad: Truly campy acting, Pacing issues, Medium issues, Light on character development.
The Basics: A campy gothic horror soap opera, Dark Shadows Volume 4 illustrates remarkably little progression, outside the character of Willie Loomis.
As I watch more and more episodes of Dark Shadows, more or less waiting for it to become interesting enough to justify itself, I am caught by how hit-or-miss the soap opera genre can be. I recall a few years back when Port Charles started running promos during prime time, highlighting their supernatural storylines and while it seems like Port Charles was just following in the footsteps of Dark Shadows, it seems they both suffered a common fate. It's hard, it appears, to be creative in the soap opera genre. Strangely, though, that means that endurance is partially based upon how closely a show follows the soap opera formula.
To that end, Dark Shadows Volume 4 continues to disappoint viewers hoping to find something truly different in the gothic horror soap opera as the five episodes on this video are remarkably formulaic. Dark Shadows, like most soap operas, plays to the commercials, revealing key information moments before the cut to commercial and repeating the information when the show returns. This sense of repetition fares quite poorly on video as fans watch now. Without the break, the characters involved in the annoyingly fractured story seem especially dim. "Volume 4" picks up where "Volume 3" (reviewed here!) left off and for those who have not tuned into the prior episodes, there is no recap to prepare the viewers for what they will be seeing, only Victoria Winters' opening monologue which declares that things are strange at Collinwood.
The video of Dark Shadows "Volume 4" contains episodes sixteen through twenty, without any bonus features or additional programming to make the video a better value. Here is how the stories go:
Episode sixteen replays Maggie's nightmare before she awakens, terrified. Maggie's boyfriend, Joe, takes Maggie out to the Blue Whale. Joe and Maggie are recovering from her shock when Barnabas and Maggie's father, Sam, arrive. The four begin to talk and an uncomfortable Maggie discretely slips to the other side of the bar with Joe, Burke arrives. Surprised by Barnabas's claim to have tamed Willie, Burke becomes fascinated by Barnabas's cane. And as the night ends, Maggie is visited in her home by an unexpected visitor.
In the seventeenth episode, Maggie's nightmares continue, arguably brought on by Barnabas Collins, who enters her bedroom with a sinister intent. Maggie is awakened late by her father, but she discovers she is exhausted and upset. She does not notice the ring on her finger and she insists she must get up and go to work. At work, she is short tempered with Joe and soon collapses. But as night nears, Maggie begins feeling much better and she accompanies Sam to the old house when Sam is called to work there. Barnabas encourages Maggie to return home and there, she opens the door to allow him in once again.
Episode eighteen finds Jason and Elizabeth arguing about the family business. Roger arrives, upset to have learned that Jason has been made the family representative with the press. Carolyn is also upset by Jason's continued presence and she goes looking for a key to a secret room in Collinwood which she believes has possessions from her dead father.
The nineteenth episode opens with Sam finding Maggie ill and asleep late into the day. Sam brings in a doctor, who reveals that Maggie has lost a lot of blood, while Victoria fills Burke in on the current happenings at Collinwood. When Joe comes to visit Maggie at night, she awakens and she throws him out without any real reason, opening her door once again to the night. When Joe arrives at the Blue Whale and tells the others of how Maggie is acting, Sam returns home to find Maggie missing!
In episode twenty, Sam begins searching for Maggie. Maggie, out in the night, arrives at the Collins cemetery. As Sam, Burke and Joe go out in search of Maggie, Victoria remains at Maggie's house to wait for Maggie to return. Willie shows up and learns that Maggie has disappeared and he flees, calling Victoria anonymously to tell her where to find Maggie. Burke arrives and Victoria fills him in. Barnabas arrives to find Maggie, but before he can do anything with her, Willie arrives to warn him that others are on their way! Having lost Maggie, Barnabas realizes Willie has betrayed him and he punishes him violently. And when Maggie collapses, Burke and Joe get a look at her neck and a real shock!
Dark Shadows deserves credit for being creative. It was a soap opera that utilizing the gothic horror setting of Collinsport, Maine to tell stories involving the supernatural. Unfortunately for impatient viewers, "Volume 4" is still Barnabas Collins before the revelation of his true nature. As a result, this video - in addition to being hampered by being an outdated medium - suffers from a storyline which is weird for the sake of weird. The clues are there, but this is a mystery in progress and as a result, there is little catharsis for the viewer.
As well, the acting is quite bad. Frequently, Dark Shadows seems like it must have been shot in one take as the black-and-white soap opera features several acting flubs where actors clearly forget their lines, stutter through them and are given leading questions by the actors they are playing with to try to get them back on the right track. Combined with technical problems like camera washouts from changing cameras that catch the wrong lights or burnouts from the candles that are lit in several scenes, Dark Shadows is very much b-rate soap opera material on this volume.
What saves this volume from complete dismal territory in the depths of "avoid it" is that the mood is interesting. Dark Shadows maintains a good level of intrigue which makes curious viewers who like science fiction and horror have some faith that the show is going somewhere. Moreover, despite appearing campy at times - especially how some of the actors play to the camera - the show works surprisingly well at keeping things moving and the feeling that dark forces are working in Collinsport makes for fun viewing.
Also, in this block of five episodes, Willie Loomis finally steps up as an interesting character. Willie is clearly under Barnabas's control, but he tries to resist him here and that works nicely to make him develop some.
It is not enough to recommend "Dark Shadow" Volume 4 on VHS, though. These episodes might carry the all-important abduction of Maggie, but given how this gets resolved, one could skip them and be no worse off for where the story is going.
[For a much better value, check out Dark Shadows Volume 1 on DVD, reviewed here, as it has over forty episodes on the currently dominant medium!]
For other horror works, please check out my reviews of:
A Nightmare On Elm Street
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Friday The Thirteenth
3.5/10
For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2012, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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