Diabolique

[Uncle Roger]

The July/August issue of Diabolique focuses on Dark Shadows. The 2012 film is mentioned but the focus is on the TV incarnation. David Del Valle, who produced the 30th anniversary tribute, wrote a very warm and quite funny tribute to Jonathan Frid. Apparently, the Seizure shoot was party central. Martine Beswicke "recalled having to keep the cameraman sober by making love to him on occasion, to which Jonathan laughed and said 'Better you than me.'" Now, that's the kind of scrapbook memories that I'd like to hear more of!

There's also an article about the DS influence on other supernatural Tv shows, from Twin Peaks to Days of Our Lives.

There are some good pictures, though nothing too uncommon. The shots of Nancy Barrett from HODS actually appear twice on the cover. Once as artwork and once on the masthead.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I definitely missed this thread!  Sorry about that, Uncle Roger.  But now I have found it, haven't I?   

Gothick has asked me to post another review, so here we go... 

The July/Aug issue of Horror magazine Diabolique has two primary focuses:  Dark Shadows and Christopher Lee (I guess they are now one in the same?), though it is Dark Shadows which gets most of the attention. 

The Art:  It is really good.  The front cover is pretty spectacular, with the exception of the inclusion of the Barnadepp finger shot.  The inside cover and back cover feature foreign HoDS movie posters, while the Table of Contents is topped by a dramatic photo of Lyndhurst.  There are a lot of photos throughout, all of which we have seen before, but they are of very good quality and are presented nicely, many times being incorporated right into the page layout/design. 

The Articles: 

The Letter from the Editor addresses the issue of remakes, and briefly notes that Depp Shadows has done "okay business" as of late, thus indicating it is not the flop other publications would have you believe. 

Article One is a tribute to the late Jonathan Frid, as Uncle Roger mentioned.  This was probably the most interesting of all of the pieces.  Written by David Del Valle, it recounts personal memories of times spent with Frid, including a lengthy section dedicated to Frid's reunion with Seizure costar Martine Beswick, all of which Uncle Roger mentioned.  This article was interesting because it showcases a parallel between Frid and Bela Lugosi, but notes the vast distinctions, as well as some of Frid's own (very briefly mentioned) thoughts on the subject. 

Article Two is a complete history of Dark Shadows with reviews and thoughts on each incarnation from UK viewer, Robert Simpson, the editor of the magazine.  What's interesting here is the number of references to David Collins, a character usually overlooked in these types of accounts.  The author uses the dreaded "C" word (I rolled my eyes, but then read on).  Rather than simply toss it in as a descriptor, he addresses it.  Not everyone is going to agree with everything he writes in this extended piece, especially his review of NoDS, but I think a lot of us will agree with his closing thought, that a new TV incarnation is the best route for a future DS, something I have concluded after watching Depp Shadows.  He also mentions that if Warners does decide to do a sequel, it's best bet may be to do one without Burton, another notion with which I can't agree more.   

Article Three is a very lengthy analysis of soap operas, Dark Shadows' influence on them, and how they all relate back to Gothic Horror.  I am going to have to re-read this one, as it was pretty heavy for this time of night. 

[Gothick]

Thanks Cousin for that gracious and engagingly detailed review, and of course, hats off to Uncle Roger for starting the thread. 

David is also discussed at length in the VW roundtable.  Which again makes it all the most intriguing that Angelique is barely discussed at all.  One of the participants gives his opinion that Angelique in the OS was "clearly insane" when the events of the 1795 storyline unfolded--although I think she may have ended up with questionable sanity, I think her motives and inner world are pretty clearly shown in Parker's brilliant performance.  No matter what I think of her novels, I *do think* Parker's performance as Angelique had touches of genius and deserves more credit than fans seem to give it.  None of the other actresses who have played Angelique (in what I have seen--I *have seen* several clips of Eva Green) comes close to what Parker did in the role.  Of course the part was very well written, particularly in 1795.

G.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I do love Lara Parker's Angelique, and I can definitely see how her performance has been overlooked in recent years.  It seems that she was given more respect in the past, although she did get a whole section in one of the Monster Mags back in May.  But this article didn't really seem to focus on her very much.  There were probably more mentions of the character in Diabolique than in the VW article - proportionately speaking (from what you describe.)  Still, Elizabeth got about two mentions, Willie got a number, Vicki got several, and Julia probably had the most next to Barnabas and Quentin.  (One of the interesting things was that the author describes Barbara Steele's Julia as "more human" than Grayson Hall's.  That didn't really seem like an insult to Grayson, since she got a number of mentions throughout, so I am curious to know from where he derived that!  All in all, there was special attention paid to the family as a unit and the house as a force, which may be why David got more mentions (although still relatively few) than we are used to, especially in this type of write-up.   

The full length article on the history of Dark Shadows is nothing groundbreaking.  And the editor, himself, admits that he hasn't seen all of the episodes of the original (as I recall), but he is definitely a fan who has experienced some isolation as a result of his love, basically because very few people in the UK have even seen any episodes.  So it was an interesting perspective. 

[Patti Feinberg]

What's Diabolique?

Thanks,
Patti

[Gothick]

It's a magazine for horror movie fans.

Best, G.