Count me as another Barbara Steele fan! I love her first appearance emerging from the train-- a goddess in black boots! Judging by the look that Julia and Woodard exchanged when the sheriff mentioned the teeth and red eyes of Daphne's attacker, she seems to have gone beyond being "intrigued" (when she first arrived) and knows a good deal by the end of the pilot.
I agree with Cousin Barnabas that the interrogation in the direction scene was very good. Barnabas says there that he took the liberty of letting himself in. That must feel satisfying for a vampire who has already been invited inside.
But I cannot stand Gloria and her "Can't you WAIT until we GET into the CAR?" I get that a town slut was needed to take the place of the prostitute in classic vampire stories, but the former Miss Cowboy USA may have been hired more for her bod and less for her ability to fit in to a small Northeastern town.
If anyone watching the DVD wondered how Vicki knew the horse's name, it's because the VHS has the restored scene that Taeylor mentioned of Carolyn driving Vicki to the stables. Carolyn explains that when her mother called (presumably because of David), she left the bright lights to return home, though she was just starting to get somewhere with her photography and is still doing some picture taking. Vicki suggests that since she's there now, Carolyn might be able to go back, but Carolyn says it's hard to leave right now, and Vicki admits she might be right. After Vicki gets out of the car, Carolyn calls out to her, "Take the chestnut mare. Her name is Carolyn."
Tarantulas. They're common here in Southern California, and I found a small one in my bedroom after we first moved in. My husband returned it to the canyon behind the house. I don't like spiders, but at least I know that tarantulas are not particularly harmful, and that you would NOT find a lot of them in Maine IF AT ALL.
I also wondered why Willie doesn't lock the gate to the basement during the day, especially with a crew of workers on the premises.
Poor Victoria Winters, but not because of David's pranks. She is so hopelessly caught up in the romanticism of the ancestral house with its secrets, the story of the tragic woman she resembles, and her mysterious suitor.
Don't get too attached to the portrait of Josette.