And you all thought Smallville: The Complete Series was a huge set…
In the late 1960’s, young people across the country would tune in to ABC every afternoon for a daily soap opera that explores what happens when a young governess comes to live with an eccentric family in a place called Collinwood. Oh, who are we kidding… that wasn’t it at all. Really, what people remember most about Dark Shadows was the vampire Barnabas Collins, played by Jonathan Frid, who came in around the 210th episode and was the precursor to more storylines involving werewolves, witches, and more. If The Vampire Diaries had been on every day, this is what you probably would come up with.
Dark Shadows and its troupe of actors went to different time periods, even “parallel times”… continuing to keep the show fresh and creating characters who are iconic enough to have been reinvented several times, the next time being a big screen movie starring Johnny Depp this year.
What also makes Dark Shadows unique is that the entire series has been available on DVD and/or video, and aside from one episode where the video is lost, the entire series exists in one way or another. It’s very rare for 1225 episodes of any program to still be in existence – but for DS, they live!
Just in time for the new movie, MPI Home Video is releasing a collection of 131 discs holding every episode of the series – enough to keep someone busy watching for months if not years. It’ll be pricey but you just know it’s going to be good. (We’ll post a pre-order link as soon as one becomes available – for whatever reason, Amazon is saying “sign up when it becomes available!”)
Here’s the press release. (Now where is the Dark Shadows trailer already?)
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ONE COLOSSAL SET, EVERY EPISODE OF THE LEGENDARY SERIES THAT LAUNCHED AN UNDYING VAMPIRE CRAZE
DARK SHADOWS
The Complete Original SeriesBefore ‘Twilight’ and ‘True Blood’ There Was the Gripping Saga of Vampire Barnabas Collins – It Rises Again on May 8, 2012, in An Extraordinary 131-DVD Box Set Featuring 1,225 Episodes
Director Tim Burton’s Hugely Anticipated Reimagining Hits Theaters Nationwide In May 2012 Starring Johnny Depp As Barnabas Collins
The vampire romance is one of today’s hottest genres in movies, television and novels, from the Twilight and True Blood to The Vampire Diaries, Underworld and Interview With the Vampire, but it all started with DARK SHADOWS, the ABC daytime series that brought tormented hero Barnabas Collins into the homes of devoted fans every weekday for five years. Now, in an unprecedented event, the entire series – 1,225 episodes on 131 discs – will be released in a single deluxe set. On May 8, 2012, MPI will release DARK SHADOWS: THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL SERIES in a custom coffin shaped box with bonus, in-depth interviews and other video extras, a commemorative booklet and more. The SRP for this collector’s set is $599.98.
The creation of Dan Curtis (The Winds of War, The Night Stalker), DARK SHADOWS premiered in 1966 as a unique series in TV history – a gothic daytime serial set in a forbidding, mist-shrouded Maine estate inhabited by a wealthy extended family as well as ghosts, demons and, most frightening of all, vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). For five years, 200-year-old Barnabas and his Collins family relatives made their way through hauntings and possessions, jumped through time, mysterious parallel worlds and were the victims of other eerie events. Add in a vengeful witch, a horrifying werewolf, a count with mystical powers, a female doctor obsessed with Barnabas and young, beautiful women encountering love and other dangers – all framed by haunting music – and you have a series that became a nationwide cult sensation.
Now, 41 years after the series went off the air, the cult continues to flourish. DARK SHADOWS has spun off novels, audio dramas, feature films, a Grammy-nominated hit song (“Quentin’s Theme”) and soundtrack album, DVDs, television reruns and regular fan conventions attended by original cast members. On May 11, 2012, director Tim Burton’s hugely anticipated reimagining of the show will hit the big screen, with lifelong “DS” fan Johnny Depp portraying Barnabas Collins. Original series cast members Jonathan Frid (Barnabas), Lara Parker (Angelique), David Selby (Quentin) and Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie/Josette) make cameo appearances in the new film.
DARK SHADOWS: THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL SERIES includes more than 100 bonus interviews with the actors and production personnel – its cast included Kate Jackson, Oscar nominee Grayson Hall and Hollywood Golden Era movie star Joan Bennett, plus a 96-page booklet with photographs and episode summaries, DVDs of bloopers, behind-the-scenes documentary and cast reunion – all housed in a coffin-shaped box.
DARK SHADOWS truly lives on in this remarkable release sure to thrill longtime fans and create a new generation of enthusiastic followers.
For fans who do not get the opportunity to purchase the $600 box set, MPI is releasing FAN FAVORITES and THE BEST OF BARNABAS on April 10th. Priced at $14.98, each release offers 9 complete episodes that are among the most popular in the history of the show, serving as an ideal introduction to new viewers as well as an enticing overview for devotees of the series. Included in FAN FAVORITES are Barnabas’ return to Collinwood after being release from his chained coffin; Barnabas and Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) discovering the secret of the werewolf; Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott) becoming the victim of a vampire, and more. THE BEST OF BARNABAS includes Julia’s attempts to cure the cursed Barnabas; eerie trips back in time to 1795 and 1897; the popular Parallel Time story line, and more. Each set includes informative new introductions by Kathryn Leigh Scott and Lara Parker (Angelique).
About MPI Home Video
Chicago based MPI Home Video, a subsidiary of MPI Media Group, is a market leader for high-quality releases to both wide and specialized audiences through home video distribution. Founded in 1976, MPI Home Video remains one of the largest independent companies producing and distributing a compelling slate of the world’s most respected cinema, documentaries, performances and television programs. www.mpihomevideo.com
