Master of Dark Shadows Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Master of Dark Shadows Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Randy Miller III April 18, 2019

The lasting impact of Dan Curtis’ landmark Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows makes it ripe for a retrospective this year: his franchise just turned 50, already outliving the influential creator who died back in 2006. Ironically, Dark Shadows barely made it out of the gate, as the show’s ABC premiere on June 27, 1966 and initial 13-episode run didn’t garner much interest and was on the verge of cancellation. Curtis’ desperate decision to ramp up the show’s supernatural aspect proved to be a successful one: the series rebounded and stayed on the air until 1971, spawning over 1,200 episodes, three full-length films (House of Dark Shadows, Night of Dark Shadows, and Tim Burton’s 2012 adaptation), and a short-lived 1991 television reboot. But the original 1966 series left the biggest mark of all, as evidenced by the nostalgic memories of countless kids who rushed home after school to catch Dark Shadows before dinner.

David Gregory’s Master of Dark Shadows (2019) is well aware of this fact; it’s a feature-length documentary that pays tribute to the franchise and Dan Curtis’ overall career but focuses mostly on the original series. What’s more is that it features a respectable roster of first-party contributors: Curtis and other dearly departed individuals, including original series lead Jonathan Frid (“Barnabas Collins”, d. 2012), appear in older interview clips, while everyone else is shown in more recent years. From familiar faces like David Selby (“Quentin Collins”), Lara Parker (“Angelique”), Kathryn Leigh Scott (“Maggie Evans”), Nancy Barrett (“Carolyn Stoddard”), John Karlen (“Willie Loomis”), and Roger Davis (various) to other crew members such as composer Bob Cobert, all speak frankly about the series, their characters (or other contributions), and their working relationship with Dan Curtis. From the soap opera's humble beginnings to mainstream success, from its 1991 remake (likewise represented by a handful of cast members, including Ben “Barnabas #2” Cross and Barbara “Dr. Julia Hoffman” Steele) to the convention circuit, Master of Dark Shadows takes a well-deserved deep dive into a cult-classic franchise whose magic hasn’t faded much during the last five decades.

As its title implies, the documentary also focuses on Dan Curtis’ long and prolific career as a producer, which took off in 1963 with the Emmy Award-winning CBS Match Play Golf Classic before diving head-first into horror for well over a decade; his non-Dark Shadows work also included The Night Stalker, The Night Strangler, and a handful of 1970s made-for-TV adaptations including Dan Curtis’ Dracula and Trilogy of Terror. Curtis, growing weary of the genre, later found success in sweeping TV productions such as The Winds of War and its massive sequel War and Remembrance, both critical and commercial sensations. He’s spoken of fondly by most participants despite candid memories of his no-nonsense attitude and tireless worth ethic. Although Dan Curtis' life takes a backseat to the original Dark Shadows during most of this production, it’s perfectly understandable given the franchise’s pop culture endurance.

MPI Media Group, who released a massive 131-disc Dark Shadows DVD boxed set featuring all 1,225 episodes of the original series back in 2012, now serves up Master of Dark Shadows on Blu-ray. It’s a crowd-pleasing effort that, in many ways, mirrors the show itself: the A/V presentation is certainly rough around the edges due to its low-budget source material, but the excellent vintage bonus features give this one-disc release a lot of added value.

Master of Dark Shadows Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with TV clips and other vintage material framed at 1.33:1 and similar formats, Master of Dark Shadows looks more inconsistent than most documentaries of its kind. MPI's 1080p transfer does what it can with the older source material (which looks to be taken from a multitude of source formats including VHS, low-resolution digital files, DVD, consumer-grade VHS, Betamax, and even Kinescope), but at least these clips are framed correctly; blowing them up to 16x9 would not only butcher the compositions, but exacerbate the existing source material limitations. These fundamental flaws include mosquito noise, dirt, debris, edge enhancement, macroblocking, heavy digital noise reduction, combing, gate hair, and that's just for starters -- some of this stuff is in extremely rough shape, but that doesn't necessarily make it a flaw of the disc authoring. Unfortunately, even some of the interviews don't look very good either: older footage, such as clips featuring Dan Curtis (who died in 2006) and Jonathan Frid (d. 2012), suffer from similar combing defects and were more than likely shot using lower-quality equipment. More recent interviews, on the other hand, look great -- or at least much more passable -- while vintage still photos are usually crisp and clear with excellent color saturation and contrast levels. Clips from the actual show similarly run the gamut in overall quality; most look more or less identical to their DVD counterparts, for better or worse.

Overall, it's tough to pinpoint where the documentary's source problems end and the transfer quality begins but, based on the strength of its best moments, I'll give Master of Dark Shadows' Blu-ray presentation the benefit of the doubt. While I can't award it more than a three-star rating for its unavoidable inconsistency, this is the kind of release that die-hard fans will enjoy regardless of its less-than-perfect visuals. Still, I'm not entirely convinced that a dual-layered Blu-ray was all that necessary: while the format's increased resolution slightly elevates some of its more recent interview clips, the vast majority of its vintage content wouldn't look much different on an upscaled DVD.

Master of Dark Shadows Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, Master of Dark Shadows' lossless PCM 2.0 audio presentation (incorrectly listed as DTS- HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray's back cover) is pretty straightforward by design and has no discernible tricks up its sleeve. The bulk of the vintage material doesn't seem to suffer from as many source audio defects aside from very slight sync issues, volume fluctuations, and some mild hiss, but issues like these are generally kept to a minimum and almost expected under the circumstances. In contrast, more recent interviews sound better by design with no obvious problems: dialogue is crisp and clear with modest channel separation, which also applies to its sporadic music cues and Ian McShane's occasional voice-over narration. Very few noteworthy comments here on either end of the spectrum, which isn't surprising for the genre; it's just a decent presentation of limited elements that gets the job done.

Optional English subtitles (not SDH, another packaging goof) are included during the main feature only.

Master of Dark Shadows Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

MPI's Blu-ray edition of Master of Dark Shadows is packaged in a standard keepcase; no inserts or slipcover are included, but it features attractive interior collage artwork. We're also treated to plenty of rarely-seen bonus features that, aside from the lack of an audio commentary, cover all the expected bases. Several of these extras can be seen during the film itself; they're presented in their entirety here and are similar in A/V quality.

• Dark Shadows In Hell's Kitchen: Visiting Studio 16 (1:58) offers a quick tour of the original studio where Dark Shadows was shot, including the control room. Obviously no remnants of the series remain, although this short piece (hosted by actress Kathryn Leigh Scott) also includes a few vintage photos and set diagrams.

• Original Dark Shadows TV Spots (4 clips, 1:57 total) - These 1966 ABC promos are in pretty rough shape from an A/V standpoint, but are great little nuggets of television history.

• Jonathan Frid on "The Dick Cavett Show" (15:32) is an audio segment from the August 2, 1968 daytime episode that features the Dark Shadows leading man in fine form. As the original video has since been lost, this interview is paired with vintage production photos that actually do a great job of capturing the moment.

• Jonathan Frid: "Poe & Shakespeare in the Shadows" (15:56) captures one of Frid's many dramatic performances from live shows and Dark Shadows conventions during the 1980s and 1990s; this particular one was recorded in 1985 as part of a New Jersey PBS fund-raising program called The Dark Shadows Special.

• Barnabas at the White House (3:39) - This rare newsreel footage, supplemented by publicity photos, was taken during a White House Halloween party on October 31, 1969 and hosted by President Nixon's daughter Tricia. It features Jonathan Frid, in full costume as Barnabas, greeting some of the guests.

• "The House" (25:31), a 1954 episode of CBS' anthology series "The Web" written by Art Wallace, would later serve as the spiritual foundation for Dark Shadows, both in its story elements and a few key characters.

• David Selby - "Light & Shadows" (6:19) is a live musical performance (more of a spoken-word piece) by Selby captured at a fan convention. Die-hard fans might like this, but I guess you had to be there.

• Dark Shadows In Print (7:32) is a plug for Dark Shadows: Return to Collinwood, a 2012 retrospective book written by Kathryn Leigh Scott and Jim Pierson with a foreward by Jonathad Frid.

• Dark Shadows Audio Dramas (2:29) is another plug, this time for Dark Shadows: Bloodlust, an audiobook series with cast members from the original series and 1991 reboot reprising their original characters.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:08) - Also available on MPI's YouTube channel if you haven't seen it.

Master of Dark Shadows Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Like the long-running series it pays tribute to, David Gregory's Master of Dark Shadows is a labor of love that fans will enjoy digging through on the franchise's 50th anniversary. Featuring a wealth of first-hand interviews, behind-the-scenes clips, and a well-deserved look at creator Dan Curtis' producing career, this is an absolute no-brainer for fans of the series. Despite the unavoidably rough A/V presentation, Master of Dark Shadows earns a solid recommendation for its main feature and comprehensive set of vintage extras. Barnabas Collins visits the White House, you guys.