Apparently, after the success of House of Dark Shadows, plans for the next film were to be a direct sequel, with Barnabas returning, but Jonathan Frid said no to reprising the role, so the project eventually became Night of Dark Shadows. But if making the sequel had succeeded, I always wondered what it would be about.
At the conclusion of HoDS, many of the primary characters had gone compost: Carolyn; Julia; Roger; Eliot, and Willie. Those major ones remaining were Elizabeth, David, Maggie and Jeff. Minor ones were Mrs. Johnson, Todd - who survived Carolyn - and Daphne who, I take it, survived Barnabas' attack. Elizabeth had gone Frances Farmer; David was an orphan. Thinking logically, what would've happened to all of them after the blood letting brought on by a now-staked Barnabas? Elizabeth undoubtedly would've remained at Collinwood with Mrs. Johnson tending to her as she tried to figure out how to market her secret mayonnaise. David, now a Dickensian waif with an enormous trust fund, probably would've been turned over to child protective services who would've placed him under a state guardianship and would be shipped off to an all-year prestigious boarding school, possibly in Europe, until he reaches majority. Maggie and Jeff would take off, eloping, finding a new home far away, trying to stay incognito while he remains a struggling artist and she brings home the bacon as a school teacher. Todd would've probably spent some time recuperating at Wyndcliffe and once his marbles are all back in place, odds are he definitely wouldn't remain in Collinsport and seek his future elsewhere. Daphne, also mended, certainly wouldn't resume doing secretarial work for her employer who now thinks she's Queen Victoria and would seek places distant to resume her life.
So, in great bloody and violent Hammeresque style, Barnabas resurrects and what does he find? At a now desolate Collinwood, there are two late-middle-aged women, one thinking it's 1901 and the other having her sample sandwich spread, hopefully their shared existence not turning into Blanche and Baby Jane Hudson. He no longer has a Renfield in Willie to watch over him and drag his coffin around. Does he even still have a coffin? Wouldn't the police either have hauled it away as evidence or even destroyed it? Where will Barnabas sleep the sleep of the dead? As for his Josette, she (and her husband) are long gone and nobody knows where.
With just those remaining characters, what would a plot involving a returning Barnabas be about? Maybe somebody knows or even has a good I-think-I-remember-hearing answer to give us. If not, what do our DS cousins here would think would be a great storyline?
Gerard
