my only real criticism would be that he tended to chew the scenery as much as he chew the ingenues' necks, especially when he had the contacts and the fangs in...
And again, who do you think we can thank for that - particularly all the snarling?
And it's my one criticism of Cross' Barnabas, too. I've asked it dozens of times already, but WHAT was DC thinking?! Well, obviously the answer is he wanted Barnabas' animalistic nature to be depicted. But it was not a stylistic choice I would have made for him. And I hope to heaven it's not one that's repeated in the Depp/DS film...