It's that inbetween limbo nether-region that bothers me, though maybe not quite as much as totally copying the original..... I want it to be one thing or the other. I want a film to add to and enrich the original story, not replace it by saying, alright now we're doing it up right, with money, and here's how it all really happened.
It's one thing to retell Dracula, or Frankenstein, or ?... very differently. We're not invested in those stories or the characters as we are with a series. Those are basic ideas that can be presented in any number of different ways.
There has to be an equally compelling intro for Barnabas, to an audience who doesn't know him well, which is new (and continuous with original DS events)... some later, or earlier, events which are just as good an introduction as Willie and the coffin. If no one can come up with any, maybe they need to wait on doing the film. Human creativity isn't dead, even in Hollywood. To executives: Call up one of those clever creative writers you don't want to hire anymore because remakes are easier.
How about starting with BC and Ang in Martinique? Just a scene or two. Flash to Ang's big cursing scene, then ahead to new, post 1971 events? Just spitballing. Just running things up poles to see who does whatever.
