I did receive my mailing from the Festival yesterday.

I called the hotel on Tuesday using the number provided by ShadowGram. This is the same number found on the website for the Tarrytown Doubletree.

As I went further and further into the menu options, I had the feeling that I was not in Kansas anymore leaving the actual hotel and delving deeper into a national type of phone bank. That seemed to be confirmed when the young woman kept repeating that the reservation I was making was for the Tarrytown, New York DoubleTree, at such-and-such an address.

Anyway, she said that the arrangements for the Dark Shadows rate were good for three days only, Thursday through Saturday. The rate for an additional night, Sunday, would be $256 for that night. I told her that was too much and I didn't know what to do. She recommended I still book for Thursday through Saturday because there were only three rooms left at that rate.

Is that really the arrangement that the Dark Shadows festival made with the hotel? Why weren't they more explicit in their information? For those who must leave on Sunday, are we supposed to bring our suitcase with us to the lunch? What if there is no flight leaving to go back to Kansas home later in the day?

What I really want and had planned to do was stay Sunday night and leave Monday morning.

What can possibly be done? There is no other number to call. They said this is what the rates are.

I don't know, I've never paid $256 for one night in a hotel room before, but maybe I'll have to bite the bullet?

There may be other hotels, but how convenient would that be? I'd prefer to stay at the hotel where the festival events are being held, especially since this would be my first time in Tarrytown.

This does look sound and look like something of a mess, or maybe I should say a madcap parody, something closer to "The Adams Family" or an update of "The Munsters," with added vulgarity. I was never too excited by this movie, given who was directing, writing, and starring, so I'm not shocked or surprised by the trailer. I had planned to attend it just to see the cameos of the original DS cast, but I don't want to support this movie in any fashion any more. Selfishly, I hope it will simply disappear and be forgotten, but for those who will truly enjoy it, I guess I'll just let those who enjoy it do so, and keep my own interest in the original series undisturbed by the hoopla. I just hope that when the dust settles, the original DS actors won't be accused of selling out for a buck and a cameo. I'm sure their intentions were good but I hope this won't tarnish their earlier credits.

The original DS had it schlocky moments, but it also had depth of characterization and themes (for example, Barnabas's internal conflict over his vampirism and his ongoing tension in hiding his secret). Something else the original had, that I knew would be absent from the movie as soon as the writer was announced, was poetry. There was genuine poetry in some of the writing, including dialogue and opening voice overs. It would have been possible for a "Dark Shadows" movie to be produced today that was true to such aspects of the series as these, but that would have required a different vision. It would have been possible to do something fresh and still honor the original. That would have been a DS movie I would have been excited to see and support.

I grant that others have different ideas about what they enjoy about the original series and may well be enthused with the new interpretation.

I've seen him as Lord Byron, in which he did a decent job, and in one of the Lonesome Dove movies, where he seemed to be more of a pretty face. He was quite good in "Mansfield Park," and anything about Sherlock Holmes sounds fun. He's one of the few of the "new" cast of the DS movie that I'm actually looking forward to seeing.

The "Fangoria" article sounds encouraging, MB. I plan to see the movie primarily because of the original cast members who are in it ... but it would be icing on the cake if the movie captures something of the original series.

Thanks for the clarification regarding the two festival events. I had skimmed through the newsletter so quickly I had missed that the West Coast event will be for the movie premiere in May, not an all-out festival.

So, it looks like the East Coast is it ... Like Jimbo, I hope dates and plans are finalized soon.  Festivals must be a huge thing to plan. And I'll continue to keep my fingers crossed that I can take vacation at that time. Wish the festial could be held in Newport, Rhode Island ...

Well, I hope things will work out for many of us. It would be good to meet up with Gothick, Teresa, jimbo, and many others ... and have the chance to be immersed in "Dark Shadows" again, if only for a few days.

How sad that there will be no more posts here by Rainingwolf.

And what a beautiful poem by Rossetti that Gothick has posted, which I hadn't come across before - clearly the poet has contemplated the death of a loved one and captured its painful essence, which is relieved though not negated in the faith expressed in the final line.

I'm reminded, too, that DS sometimes took death very seriously and somberly (for example, the 1795 and 1840PT storylines).

- Philippe

Guess I should have checked out the video before posting that question . . .

This is the best news about the new movie I've heard!

As an aside, the quality of the video posting is so clear, visually and aurally - so much better than the quality of the DVDs that have been sold at the festivals of his one-man performances.