Well, almost... David Selby plays Quentin Collins, a talented young artist who moves his wife and himself into the woodsy estate once owned by his ancestors, who were involved in witchcraft and may still be hanging around; Grayson Hall is the caretaker of the manor, who knows all its dark secrets (she tells the handyman, "Everything's different now!"). Dan Curtis' continuation of themes he began with the television serial "Dark Shadows" has its effective moments, despite MGM forcing cuts to shorten the original running-time (the film is a second-cousin to the TV show out of necessity, not by design, after Jonathan Frid refused to return as Barnabas Collins, forcing Curtis in a new direction). Robert Cobert contributes a spooky score, although there is so much one-finger tapping on a piano that one gets the feeling everyone is walking around with their own keyboard. Cinematographer Robert Shore does excellent work on a tight budget, and nobody stages a creepy nightmare like Curtis (this one has a shuddery funeral in the rain, capped with a lonesome church bell and a woman laughing hysterically). The reincarnation plot isn't much, and Selby is too colorless an actor to be much of presence (or a threat), but the dark, damp location--with spirits around every corner--provides the perfect place for things that go bump in the night. ** from ****

I think all the fans agree on one thing about this movie: it's the deleted scenes and the horrible editing job that prevent this movie from being the great ghost story it should be. But for me, having seen it just once on television, it could also do something about the extrenuous extra characters in the movie with vague connections to the ghost. The best ghost story only really needs the people who see the ghost and the ghost itself/herself. All the extra roles, the handyman, the psycho maid, the neighbors just barely provide the Collins some breathing room from the ghosts. Lara Parker does a very good job playing etherial and ephemeral as she portrays the ghost lurking just out of your mind's eye. David Selby and Kate Jackson have a wonderful chemistry, but the hestiant romance as well as the unnecessary flashbacks also do much to impair the flow of the story. John Karlen and Nancy Barrett, two of my faves from the series (John has a wonderful voice for mimmickry and Nancy's beauty has no bounds), seem to be only present to remind the watcher that this movie is based on a television series. Grayson Hall, much like Bette Davis, does a wonderful job playing a sinister and unpredictable old bat of a housekeeper. As a whole, the film is rather fair, but what it lacks in the style of a ghost movie such as The Legend Of Hell House, it more than makes up in atmosphere.

Painter Quentin Collins (David Selby) and his wife Tracy (Kate Jackson) move into ancestral home Collinwood unaware that the place is haunted by several ghosts, with the malevolent spirit of Charles Collins seeking to possess his descendant.

With its running time drastically reduced from well over two hours to a mere 95 minutes thanks to studio interference, it comes as no surprise that the theatrical cut of Dan Curtis' Night of Dark Shadows lacks coherence and suffers from serious pacing issues. Painfully slow and frequently unfathomable, the film limps awkwardly from one dreary scene to the next with little evidence of Curtis's usually assured hand.

No doubt a fully restored director's cut of Night of Dark Shadows would be an improvement (it could hardly be any worse), but as it stands—cut to shreds and making very little sense—the film is a huge step down from the previous Dark Shadows big-screen outing, House of Dark Shadows (1970).