Rating: 
Summary: If you have the box set...GET this too!
Review: PERFECT "Behind the scenes" DVD to go with the OUTSTANDING DVD box set! LOVE seeing the Game Board commercial, the ABC Announcement about a time change, home movies, commercials, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: A flawed but interesting collection...
Review: The first "Dark Shadows" entry into the DVD arena is undoubtedly a mixed bag, though viewers who can overlook its technical and creative flaws should find plenty of interest. While much of its material is culled from previous VHS releases, the DVD format offers a sufficient number of unique features to justify its purchase.The meat of the disc is to be found in its documentaries, all of which are previously released. "Dark Shadows: Behind the Scenes" is a fascinating hour-long programme, which consists of a broad selection of vintage and original cast interviews, backed to series highlights. With the addition of rare home movie footage and trailers, it succeeds at placing the "Dark Shadows" phenomenon firmly in context, though feels distinctly light on hard facts, lacking a needed authority on its subject matter. In "Inside the Shadows", creator Dan Curtis makes a leisurely, but modestly diverting commentary on the show, with some overlong archive exerpts. Finally, series star Nancy Barrett takes viewers "On Location", for a tour of series filming locations. While this segment is well-researched and nicely composed, it fails to fully ignite, emerging as a quaint aside, though nothing essential. Elsewhere, there is an original episode of the series with its dubbed Spanish language soundtrack (though sadly no choice of alternative English audio); some movie trailers; and finally, "Dark Shadows: Nightmares and Dreams", which compiles some of the show's imaginative dream excursions, but through non-existent presentation only succeeds in making them dull and tedious. As a bonus from the material available on VHS, there are some nice extras, in the form of a scratchy copy of a previously lost commercial for a "Dark Shadows" board game, recorded on the Collinwood set with Jonathan Frid; a series of 1980s "Dark Shadows" PBS pledge spots again featuring Frid; an exemplarly Picture Gallery, featuring beatiful rare pictures and sound cues; and finally a few text-only features, which seem notable only for their staggering pointlessness. Where the disk genuinely fails is in its lack of overall cohesion and variable picture quality. While certain segments look excellent, others fail with smeary overcompressed pictures, particularly in the "On Location" segment. This chapter is also prone to compatability issues on certain players, though I experienced no problems on mine. In spite of the technical problems, this emerges as a worthy package offering a broad range of content and excellent value for money. While it would be churlish to criticise this at length, a more focused approach and a desire not to shoehorn in excessive material at the cost of picture quality, would help make future releases more essential viewing. Hopefully future "Dark Shadows" DVDs can address these teething troubles, allowing their presentation to match the content. As times, less can definitely be more.
Rating:
Summary: A flawed but interesting collection...
Review: The first "Dark Shadows" entry into the DVD arena is undoubtedly a mixed bag, though viewers who can overlook its technical and creative flaws should find plenty of interest. While much of its material is culled from previous VHS releases, the DVD format offers a sufficient number of unique features to justify its purchase. The meat of the disc is to be found in its documentaries, all of which are previously released. "Dark Shadows: Behind the Scenes" is a fascinating hour-long programme, which consists of a broad selection of vintage and original cast interviews, backed to series highlights. With the addition of rare home movie footage and trailers, it succeeds at placing the "Dark Shadows" phenomenon firmly in context, though feels distinctly light on hard facts, lacking a needed authority on its subject matter. In "Inside the Shadows", creator Dan Curtis makes a leisurely, but modestly diverting commentary on the show, with some overlong archive exerpts. Finally, series star Nancy Barrett takes viewers "On Location", for a tour of series filming locations. While this segment is well-researched and nicely composed, it fails to fully ignite, emerging as a quaint aside, though nothing essential. Elsewhere, there is an original episode of the series with its dubbed Spanish language soundtrack (though sadly no choice of alternative English audio); some movie trailers; and finally, "Dark Shadows: Nightmares and Dreams", which compiles some of the show's imaginative dream excursions, but through non-existent presentation only succeeds in making them dull and tedious. As a bonus from the material available on VHS, there are some nice extras, in the form of a scratchy copy of a previously lost commercial for a "Dark Shadows" board game, recorded on the Collinwood set with Jonathan Frid; a series of 1980s "Dark Shadows" PBS pledge spots again featuring Frid; an exemplarly Picture Gallery, featuring beatiful rare pictures and sound cues; and finally a few text-only features, which seem notable only for their staggering pointlessness. Where the disk genuinely fails is in its lack of overall cohesion and variable picture quality. While certain segments look excellent, others fail with smeary overcompressed pictures, particularly in the "On Location" segment. This chapter is also prone to compatability issues on certain players, though I experienced no problems on mine. In spite of the technical problems, this emerges as a worthy package offering a broad range of content and excellent value for money. While it would be churlish to criticise this at length, a more focused approach and a desire not to shoehorn in excessive material at the cost of picture quality, would help make future releases more essential viewing. Hopefully future "Dark Shadows" DVDs can address these teething troubles, allowing their presentation to match the content. As times, less can definitely be more.
Rating:
Summary: HMMMMMM!
Review: The good news - this is the first attempt at putting Dark Shadows on DVD! YEA! The bad news - the quality of the DVD. BOO! I thought that the earlier released videos were better quality. And since when is a Spanish dubbed episode an extra?? I would have put in another episode with commercials from the time period, like Tape #54. Overall, well....still worth buying. Just cross your fingers for the future!
Rating:
Summary: darkshadows series on vhs
Review: This DVD contains a treasure trove of Dark Shadows bonus material, such as interviews and clips. An excellent buy now that the series has made its debut on DVD. Pretty good menu as well, though not as good as the series DVD menu.
Rating:
Summary: With the series out, this DVD has terrific extras
Review: This DVD contains a treasure trove of Dark Shadows bonus material, such as interviews and clips. An excellent buy now that the series has made its debut on DVD. Pretty good menu as well, though not as good as the series DVD menu.
Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to a classic series!
Review: This DVD serves as a great appetizer before plunging into the main course of watching this classic series. The looks behind the camera at how the show and its various storylines came to be created are fascinating and unfailingly entertaining. The tour of the opulent mansion that served as the exterior of Collinwood is fascinating, guided by the charming Nancy Barrett (who played Carolyn Stoddard, Millicent Collins, Melanie Collins, and others throughout the show's run). The promo spots are amusing, especially those with Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins, Bramwell Collins) promoting a local PBS channel, and an ad with Jerry Lacey (Reverend Trask and his various descendants) re-creating the Humphrey Bogart impersonation he so effectively portrayed on stage and screen in Woody Allen's "Play It Again, Sam." The Spanish episode is amusing, especially being a cobwebs-and-thunder episode where not a lot happens, but the overall flavor of the show is teasingly presented. All-in-all, an entertaining and nostalgic evening's viewing. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: CREEPY AND SO COOL!
Review: This is an awesome DVD! I grew up watching Dark Shadows on ABC, and this brought back such great, creepy memories. The behind the scenes stuff is very interesting and informative. You get an update on cast members, and they even give you a Spanish Episode! I have recommended this disc to all my friends.
Rating:
Summary: A Nostolgic Look at a Classic
Review: This special edition is a compiliation of several single titles which were originally released on videotape. This title contains short snipets of some scenes which have been cut from their original length. The material is interesting and brings back some of the best scenes from the tv program. My main and only really bothersome problems with this dvd has been that it would lock up totally when I tried to play the portion of the disc which contains the tour of collinwood by Nancy Barrett (Carloyn Stoddart). I tried to access this portion of the dvd using two different copies and still it locked up tight. The only way to get the machine to unlock was to to turn the machine off and then on again. I thought this was a problems with just my Magnavox dvd player so I sent it in to Magnavox for servicing. They told me that they would modify it and upgrade it for free so that my machine would be able to track and play any dvd program as it was just purchased and was still in warranty. But to my surprise even after this modification I still can not play the above program track I mentioned. I must therefore now conclude that there is some type of defect in the dvd's of this title which my player is sensitive.
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