What I have heard from people who watched it is that this series was more of a psychological drama about traumatized people (maybe members of the same family, I am not sure) with a few horror stylings to dress it all up as a ghost story.

Seems to have nothing in common with the novel or the original film beyond the title.

G.

This is on the Me TV site but seems to be promoting the start of DECADES broadcasting our show:

https://www.metv.com/lists/7-spellbinding-things-you-didnt-know-about-lara-parker-from-dark-shadows

There's a shot of Lara in the Burton/Depp film I do not recall having seen before. No doubt it's familiar to those of you who are fans of that thing.

G.

Hard to believe this was 51 years ago!

https://www.welovesoaps.net/2018/10/today-in-soap-opera-history-october-26.html

Quote:

1967: On Dark Shadows, Dr. Julia Hoffman's (Grayson Hall) experiments with Barnabas Collins' (Jonathan Frid) blood went terribly awry and his youthful appearance reverted to that of a 175-year-old vampire. The horribly disfigured Barnabas accused Julia of having taken revenge on him after he rebuffed her romantic overtures. Julia denied the charge, but reveled in the fact that Barnabas had to cancel his pending rendezvous with Vicki.

I'm just remembering Julia's egging Barnabas on to attack Vicki in one of the two Old Barnabas scripts. Julia's character is written really inconsistently in those two shows. I still have no idea what was going on there.

G.

I'm not a fan of the "modern" horror film, at all. But I think George Romero, Tobe Hooper, and William Friedkin actually invented the beast, for better or worse. The directors mentioned in the blurb for the Paley Center event elaborated on this new horror arena characterized by such elements as body horror, extreme gore, splatter, etc. Romero's decomposing zombies of 1967, Hooper's violent chainsaw massacres and Friedkin's onscreen torture of Linda Blair's body were what set the tone for what was to come.

Just my two drachmae.

G.

Interesting. I wonder if Christine is a fan of last year's indie underground hit, THE LOVE WITCH (which I didn't think was a very good movie, but it had great sets and costumes). Her look seems quite reminiscent of the title character in that film.

G.

GHOST STORY/CIRCLE OF FEAR is a mixed bag--like many anthology shows (and most non-anthology shows). For me, the introductions by Sebastian Cabot are a highlight, but those were phased out after the first few weeks or months--can't remember how many were made with Sebastian.

Only 23 episodes were produced in total so when they say 42 shows, presumably some will be repeated.

I don't know if they make cuts and speed up some of the scenes, as has happened with other programs that ran around 52 minutes in the old hour slot from this period, when they get shown on such channels as DECADES. I guess if you have no other way of seeing it, it's better than nothing. At one time, I believe there were several episodes from GHOST STORY available on Youtube.

G.

MB, I hope you enjoy whatever you are able to watch of the Honor Blackman AVENGERS shows. I've become quite fond of them over the years. I think you may have missed one of my favorite episodes, "Warlock." It is the only story they ever did that involved a case of what was suggested to have been genuine occult activity. Guest star Peter Arne would have fit right in on DS.

I have stopped paying any attention at all to broadcast TV so for all I know, that "channel" (or whatever it should be called???) may have been available here for years. I only know about these things when a friend or co-worker mentions it in conversation.

Another friend said that the American horror show serial "Apocalypse" is doing a Witches vs Warlocks fighting it out to the death and the fate of the ENTIRE UNIVERSE hangs in the balance (yawn)... it did make me think of our favorite Witch throwing shade at our favorite Warlock...

G.

I'm watching this 1978 TV movie, CRUISE INTO TERROR, about the discovery of an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus by a troubled ship in the Gulf of Mexico. The dialogue is hilariously bad but the movie does boast a wonderful score by Gerald Fried (who I think composed for STAR TREK--some of the leit-motifs sound familiar) and a fun cast including such familiar faces as Hugh O'Brian, Lee Meriwether, John Forsythe, and Stella Stevens. Ray Milland as a professor looks and sounds so much like Sam Hall that I figured I had to post about the film on here. I wonder whether Grayson ever commented on the resemblance.

Ray Milland appears in several other Seventies tv-movies that are available on Youtube, including BLACK NOON with Yvette Mimieux and the deliciously awful LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENED TO ROSEMARY'S BABY (with Tina Louise as a retired madam who is also some kind of High Priestess of Satan).

Link for CRUISE INTO TERROR--warning, this seems to be have digitized from a home recorded VHS tape; the picture is grainy and blurred. Reminiscent of watching one of these on a UHF station with foil-wrapped rabbit ears as we used to do for many years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SdqY8nbcAc&index=7&list=PL8VpLcXt2Cdl1ASk7phwGBJOXO-XTulQX&t=0s

G.