House of Dark Shadows and Darkness at Blaisedon

[katrinavantassel]

I just got a pirated copy of HODS that was recorded from tv. Does anyone know how much was cut out? It seems like there should have been more to the story (especially true for NODS I thought). I remember seeing this at the theatre and was scared stiff and thinking how very, very different it was from the tv show. More violent, bloody, etc, which I didn't appreciate at the time.

I watched some old Charlie Chan movies and the dvd features contained a comparison of the old film and restored version. What a difference! Would love to see the same restoration applied to both these movies. Perhaps as we get closer to the new movie, they will be re-released that way.

Has anyone seen the movie Darkness at Blaisedon? Are there any dvd copies available anywhere? I only see one vhs copy available at amazon for over $30.

[adamsgirl]

I have HODS on VHS that I bought quite a few years ago. I watched it when Chiller aired it last October, and to be honest, I don't think anything was missing, if that's the version you have. HODS was just (to me) another vampire movie. It disappointed me big-time. The only thing that it had in common with DS was the whole cousin-from-England thing and familiar characters. Other than that, it might as well have been another Christopher Lee movie. NODS was cut to ribbons before its release, I believe, in theaters. From what I could see, it had a great deal of potential. Hopefully, the restored version will fill in those obviously missing blanks.

I've never seen Darkness at Blaisedon, although I've seen snippets. I, too, would love to see it in its entirety. Perhaps MPI has it? I'm going to check that.

[Midnite]

It's good to see you posting again, katrinavantassel!

Darkness at Blaisedon was included as a special feature on another DVD that was released this past January.  See:

Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD

[Gothick]

Just a note--as should be covered in the thread to which Midnite posted that helpful link, Darkness at Blaisedon was not a feature film; it was a pilot for a nighttime series co-starring the legendary Kerwin Matthews and Marj Dusay (who had guest roles on Star Trek, the Wild Wild West, and other shows of the period we all watched).  Cal Bellini was in it in a very Aristide-like role.

Blaisedon was done on videotape, written by Sam Hall, used all the classic DS music cues we love by Robert Cobert, and had a supporting role for Thayer David and what amounted to a cameo for Louis Edmonds.  I think it runs around 50 minutes.  It's a fun thing to see, but if you expect a glossy feature film with lots of explicit gore and violence like hoDS and NoDS, you'll be disappointed.

The best sources for the movies *currently* are, IMO, the laserdisc releases.  My own videotapes come from those discs which I own (a friend made the tapes for me since I never owned a disc player).  According to THE authority on the movies, Mr. Darren Gross, the sound mix for the recent broadcasts of NoDS is superior to any version ever released on home formats (at least, that is how I understood a remark he made about this a year or two ago), so your disc may be an improvement upon the laserdisc version in that respect.

At least the laserdisc does not have any annoying logo... or commercial breaks!

cheers, G.

[KMR]

What's the length of your copy of HODS?  If complete, it should be about 97 minutes.  The movie is very fast-paced, and some things were either never filmed or edited out before release, leaving slight (or not so slight) gaps in the narrative.  Not a great movie by any means, but it sure is a great ride nonetheless.

[Darren Gross]

According to THE authority on the movies, Mr. Darren Gross, the sound mix for the recent broadcasts of NoDS is superior to any version ever released on home formats (at least, that is how I understood a remark he made about this a year or two ago)

I should clarify that it's the TCM broadcasts of NoDS that tend to use a master with a more correct sound mix.  The recent Chiller broadcasts is an improvement on the VHS and LD audio mix, but the sound effects are still too soft.

While the NoDS footage exists, all of the material cut from House of DS is gone for good, long since destroyed.  All the cut and unused footage probably was disposed of by the mid 70s, as it never was delivered to M-G-M.  After release, it appears that Curtis had all that material destroyed, while cleaning house, prior to moving to Los Angeles.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Shame on him. But then, there wasn't even a market for VHS much less DVD "director's cut" movies back then, so he must have figured it was useless to keep it.

[katrinavantassel]

Yes, it is a shame about the destroyed footage. I will play Pollyanna here and hope that someday someone will find a second copy of all that footage sitting in a box in their attic...

I will check out that latest Dan Curtis release which includes Darkness at Blaisedon. It would be fun to see this gothic-type of movie.