Dark Shadows Begins Screening Online; New Documentary on its Way

[Uncle Roger]

Curiouser and curiouser, as they say. Some fans actually seem to believe that the premiere of the documentary warrants a red carpet screening. More power to them.
If anything, this will likely be a very scaled down event, along the lines of the Mabuse screening. Probably in lieu of an actual festival.

[Gothick]

I had the same thought, Uncle Roger--the "premiere" will be an opportunity for fans to gather and a couple of the surviving cast members to sell their latest books and do autographs.  I haven't kept track of what they've said about the Festivals. I think they said the 2016 one was the last they would do, but who knows.

The documentary and the 2004 pilot would make a nice DVD release, along with whatever other little bits they can put on it.  I'd buy it just for auld lang syne.

G.

[Uncle Roger]

Very little has been said about a potential festival. Shadowgram manages to sidestep the topic altogether. Despite the existence of a festival committee, the only person who decides these things is The Pierson That Be and I don't know if he is interested in this anymore.
I do find it very telling that when fans have asked KLS about a 2018 festival, she tells them that they need to get after Jim. So it will be interesting to see what, if anything, materializes.

[michael c]

indeed on one of the FB pages recently KLS herself was telling US to get on Jim about the festival. as if we had more influence on him than her, Parker, Selby and the other fest stalwarts. 

[michael c]

indeed on one of the FB pages recently KLS herself was telling US to get on Jim about the festival. as if we had more influence on him than her, Parker, Selby and the other fest stalwarts. 




i've been hearing it's "the last" since i attended my first fest in 2003 or 4. but it does really seem like the whole operation is winding down. 

[Gothick]

When I write about the next (final?) DVD release, I'm trying to keep up the front that I actually care if the content features anything OTHER THAN Grayson's Playtex commercial.

I mean, really.

G.

[Uncle Roger]

While KLS was able to shame Pierson into continuing the festivals at the so called final festival some years ago, maybe she no longer has that kind of leverage. While the fanbase is undeniably loyal, it is also scattered and unfocused.
No matter how one feels about the Depp movie, it did not bring new blood into the fandom. Quite the opposite, it alienated a lot of the fanbase.
The fandom is simultaneously aging and dwindling. There really have not been any attempt to broaden the audience. It's been a long time since there has been any sort of advertising done in the general media. Newbies stumble onto to it quite by accident, if they find it at all. Articles about festival activities have gotten some press but those always seem to be after the fact.
The last gasp seems to have been the cruises, which were beyond the budget and availability of the majority of fans. Very few photos have surfaced of the last one, so maybe that's the end of those.
People are full of all sorts of ideas about having festivals in different cities, which is not necessarily realistic. Any time the festivals deviated from the NY/CA areas, the numbers weren't there. Nor do the fans seem that eager to support anything that doesn't have the festival brand attached to it, as the Friends of the 1991 DS events demonstrated.

[Gothick]

Yes, the last Friends of 91 DS event in NYC was canceled, wasn't it, due to lack of pre-registration?  The main area where I see fannish activity is on Facebook groups. I know there are some younger people who have become fans, but it's quite random. Unfortunately, if the series is no longer on hulu, that will remove from the game the last somewhat more visible arena where the series was seen. I don't know how successful MPI's attempt to run their own DS channel is going to be.

I myself don't pay all that much attention to Shadows fandom any longer and I don't really have the time or extra funds to devote to attending the occasional events that are run. 2017 was the 50th anniversary of the appearance of Barnabas Collins and it seems that barely anything happened to celebrate that.

And 2018 was the year we first clapped eyes on Mrs Cassandra Collins... also the 50 anniversary (as of late June) of my first episode ever viewed of DS.

Best, G.

[michael c]

i can only speak for myself but i really have no interest in "cruises" (nor the funds) or those odd half day mini events out at Lyndhurst. and as for the "Friends of 1991" events there seems to be a black cloud over them as they are rife with cancellations and last minute no shows every time they try to hold one. in addition they are confusing as they generally attach more OS names to them than 91 participants. i can never make heads nor tails of the lineup.

the preference of the fandom seems to be the traditional hotel bound 2-3 day festival. a big well stocked dealers room. film and video oddities ( "The House" was well received at the last one). the typical cast/crew panels and Q&A sessions. and so forth. stabs at "newness" seem to fall short.

that said of course with a rapidly aging cast (and fan base) how much longer how much longer that's even possible remains to be seen.

[Uncle Roger]

In some ways, the festivals have paralleled the last days of the series where Curtis and Company were completely out of touch with the audience. (Give the audience what they want to see, guys. Not what you think they should have.)
Interestingly, the get togethers at Seaview Terrace in Newport seem to attracted a loyal collection of hardcore fans. While the intent of these events is admirable to a point; the fees are supposed to go towards much needed repairs on the house. I have not participated since I have issues about paying for the maintenance on someone else's home, especially when the family that owns it is perfectly capable of doing so on their own. Habitat for Humanity for Millionaires?! Uh, no.
I tend to stay away from a lot of the intense fanboys on Facebook. Too much of it is at the level of 16 Magazine. I don't dispute their interest or their intensity but so many are ill informed. Such as: Did you guys know that Joan Bennett appeared in a movie before she was on Dark Shadows? (I'm exaggerating this a bit but not much.)

[Gothick]

Ack! I should have written something like "50 years ago, in 1968, was the first time we saw Cassandra..."

The deep freeze here in New England means my brains are more mush-like than ever. At least, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I'm far from being in the core fan group but my perception is that the days of the DS Festivals are officially over.

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I hadn't checked out the Web site since posting the notice, but I decided to look in on it today. I see where they're indicating that there's an "Exclusive first look at the upcoming Dark Shadows feature documentary and tons of bonus features!" available. Has anyone checked out the first look at the documentary?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm guessing that the silence on that question means that few people here have subscribed to the streaming site so they don't even have the opportunity to have checked out the preview of the documentary. Obviously I'm also among the ones who haven't subscribed. And as I said when the site was first announced, it might be the case that fans won't even consider subscribing until we learn that content that's not available on the DVDs has been added. So far it would seem as if the preview is the only thing like that that's been added and it's not enough of an incentive to subscribe. I know it isn't for me. I already subscribe to enough sites with fresh content (Acorn TV, Amazon, CBS All Access, and Netflix) that I can just about keep up with so I don't feel the need to subscribe to any site that doesn't...

[Gothick]

A well-known fan from the original broadcast era posted (on social media) a link for a trailer for the new documentary, which had been posted to youtube. Within a very short time, the youtube video had been pulled. It was gone by the time I saw the post so I have not seen this trailer.

I'm trying to wrap my mind around the mindset that would not want A TRAILER out there to promote a product. Presumably it is because an actual launch date has yet to be finalized.

The fan joked, after the link had been disabled, that perhaps the 50th anniversary video would be released in time for the actual SIXTIETH anniversary of the show. That seems increasingly likely.

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Sure, it definitely seems logical to want anyone and everyone to be able to see the trailer so as to broaden the likely buyers pool for the documentary. But let's keep in mind that logic like that has so little to do with these things when it comes to DS fandom. I would bet anything the trailer was taken down because they only want subscribers to the site to see it. After all, they paid money for the privileged - and be damned if in all likelihood there aren't that many of them at this point...

But who knows?

And yes, that joke might be dead on...