Just a line to report how impressed I was by Alec Newman's performance as Barnabas in the WB "Dark Shadows 2004" pilot. While I found the 40 minute episode to be very much a mixed bag, Newman was startlingly good as our favorite vampire. His courtly manners, quietly seething sensuality and aloof, subtly dangerous body language were right on target. I could imagine tuning in just to watch Newman unfold the character over the weeks.
Matt Czuchny (I hope I have his name right) also showed promise in the role of Willie, although the character's actions were left seeming barely coherent because of the insane amount of story they covered in the one episode. I wonder whether one reason for nixing the series was that it was obvious they would have had to reshoot (or perhaps re-edit with new footage) some of this--for one thing, the scene where Vicki arrives at Collinwood was directed in this bizarre manner, as if it were an episode of the Gilmore Girls?
I don't feel up to writing a full review at the moment, but overall I'd describe it as having occasional good moments mixed up with a LOT that seemed jerky, out of left field, or WAY over the top. Vicki's nightmare on the train and every scene involving Roger and David being two examples. Blair Brown was good in her breakfast scene with Vicki. The actress who played Vicki did not work AT ALL for me in the role, although she was perfectly competent--just a case of not the right casting as far as I was concerned. I saw Dan Curtis' interview on one of the discs where he described seeing so many young actresses for Vicki and the day Alexandra walked in to read and the moment he saw her, he knew she was the one. I don't think they cast that rigorously for such an important role on the WB pilot and they really needed to do that.
For the Julia fans, I thought Kelly Hu's appearances were too brief to really say anything about. Again, she seemed competent, but there just wasn't enough there to get a handle on how she would have played the character.
The Mario Bava/Dario Argento color stuff seemed more distracting to me than anything else. Dark Shadows should not have the aesthetic of a splatter movie. Also, the grainy screening disc seemed a poor vehicle for the aesthetic vision the director was seeking to foster.
As for the episode ending, it was laughably over the top, but seemed pretty much par for the course for a WB series. I'm presuming it would have turned out to be another of Vicki's nightmares.
More later, possibly--I don't know that I have anything more to say on this subject. Oh, somebody asked about the Old House sets--I thought it was far too grand for a mid 18th century New England manor house--they made it look more like Versailles. Even rich people did not live on that scale in colonial America. Just my two drachmae.
G.
