By the way, what I end up deciding on does have to be digital images I can print!  The reasons being even if I were willing to dig through stuff to find all my Dark Shadows Festival materials and actually willing to cut any up, some pictures may need to be printed in several sizes to make sure they fit where I end up needing them to go which I won't know till I have all the pictures together.  Thanks for understanding.

I cannot have seen the early Barn eps, especially where he's thinking, "I must eliminate David".

What? I always remember Barn being loving & protective of the various incarnations of DH.

I really HATE Barn at this point; I remember some cousins didn't like him, and I didn't understand why.

At least David's behaving less psychotic.

Can't believe it....

Patti

Hey, Patti!  I watched the original DS as a kid but not until about 1968 and can't have prior to 1967 as we didn't even have a working TV set then.  (My parents watched President Kennedy's funeral on a neighbor's set, and once a year we went to a neighbor's to see The Wizard of Oz.)  Even after getting a TV, Mom forbid us watching any soap opera, including Dark Shadows, dismissing it as "sad stuff."  Finally, this had to be the summer I was six, my best friend informed me it wasn't "sad stuff" and I had to watch, and my sisters and I and to some extent Mom were all soon completely hooked!  I absolutely loved Barnabas, he was my major crush and first great love.

After the series ended in 1971 I never saw it again until a local TV station began rerunning some in 1982 by which time I was in college.  In this case they started with the episode where Barnabas showed up.  I've seen parts of the previous episodes only sporadically on other stations more recently.  When it reached the part about how Barnabas wasn't going to just eliminate Cousin David, but in a way to make sure he would really suffer in the process, Mom said, "A lovely man!"  (Sarcasm font.)  I was just floored.  I watched that program faithfully every single weekday for over two years and remembered no such thing!  Dr. Julia Hoffman may have had some mistakes in her trial and error to cure Barnabas, but her treatments certainly did him good!  (By the way, dig the way lady doctors were portrayed on TV then.  My sister grew up to be a lady doctor!)

About the movie, there were things I liked and didn't like from what I saw so it's hard to form an opinion.

Okay...without having actually watched the movie...let me say this about that.

Having loved the original series and tolerated the 1990 remake well, I was put off by images from the film and the idea of its being a comedy.  I absolutely didn't want to be trapped watching it in a theater so never went when it was playing.

The other night, when I was too tired to do anything but watch TV (I'm recovering from a severely broken leg and my activities are limited) and I'd been around every channel three times and there was REALLY NOTHING on, I decided to watch the beginning, as it was just coming on and I wanted to at least see the house.  I really enjoyed the way house and grounds were done!  Wonderful to see a large budget brought to Collinwood and not worry about things such as walls shaking when brushed!  All the photography and cinematography was great.

Barnabas was not only my favorite character but my first love so naturally I am touchy and protective of him.  Johnny Depp is a good actor I've always admired, but his hair and makeup were so over the top I was completely distracted as to whether his acting was any good or not.  Perhaps this was intentional, to start him off looking like a ghoul and then warm him up a bit after Dr. Hoffman had worked him over--I didn't watch for long enough to know.  I really feel Barnabas might reasonably start out pale after being in a coffin for 170-odd years, but he shouldn't look like some kid dressed for Halloween who did his own makeup or a silent film actor with a bad makeup man.  Ben Cross was not a patch on Jonathan Frid, but I never recall him looking like a monster except in sequences where he was supposed to, and don't recall cringing while watching him.  I like Johnny Depp 100 times more than Ben Cross but couldn't here, which was distressing.

I had the channel on for 45 minutes but can't claim to have watched that much of the actual film as the channel was mostly commercials.  I didn't stick around long enough to see if the workmen foolish enough to open Barnabas's coffin were injured, killed, or some combination.  Like Gremlins and Fargo, not really funny.  Of course if any survived they might have talked and opened a can of worms, which may or may not have figured in the plot.  As far as comedy, not funny haha but I chuckled a few times.

Anyhow, the best thing I took away was when Carolyn was playing the record and Roger made her shut it off.  Today I played "The Season of the Witch" all the way through while staring out my window at tree branches and got a truly awesome decorating idea for a wall which has stood blank for five years while I was hung up for an idea, so that made the whole thing worthwhile.  This is a movie I would watch if I were with fans who really wanted to watch it with me and discuss it but for myself would not watch alone.

I couldn't find her on Facebook.

Sorry to hear Denise is doing poorly.  We had some email correspondence years ago and I bought signed pictures for several family members but have not kept in touch and I wanted to know how to either get in touch with her, or hear news of her.  From my experience she was an incredibly sweet, dedicated, conscientious person.  Thanks.

Farewell to the first actor with whom I identified and truly loved!     So sad I never got the chance to tell him what he meant in my young life!     Truly the movie should be dedicated to him and he should be long remembered and honored.