Showing posts with label DARK SHADOWS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DARK SHADOWS. Show all posts
PARLEZ-VOUS MONSTRE?
Posted by 1001web
The movie magazine, CINEMA TEASER, appears to be much like the French counterpart of the UK 'zines EMPIRE and SFX.
In the May, 2012 issue, there is a review of DARK SHADOWS. In the spirit of this blog's title, this post is for anyone who reads French. The rest of us can be left looking at the accompanying pictures.
EVA GREEN INSTYLE
Posted by 1001web
The latest Burton/Depp collaboration, DARK SHADOWS, has thus far garnered tepid reviews on average, not I'm sure because of the pair's obvious filmmaking talents, but because of the treatment of what many consider to be sacred material.
I have not yet seen the film, but from what I've heard, Depp's acting is a synthesis of a number of his previous roles and the film can't decide if it should be dramatic or humorous. One reviewer said that Michelle Pfeiffer's Elizabeth Collins Stoddard is wasted in the film, but Eva Green as Angelique nearly steals the show. Of her role as the witch who cursed Barnabas Collins into becoming a vampire, she says, "It was fun to play."
There's no doubt that the most striking Paris-born French actress and former Bond Girl (the CASINO ROYAL remake) can command attention in any scene by her looks alone. I'll be looking forward to seeing if the critic was correct in his assertion about her acting, but I have a hunch that he's right. In the meantime, consider the lovely Miss Green to be hereby officially included on the MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD current canon of horror hotties.
Following is a photo spread and interview of Eva Green from the June issue of the UK version of INSTYLE magazine.
DARK SHADOWS: BOX OFFICE LIGHT
Posted by 1001web
Consequently, Tim Burton's DARK SHADOWS ended the weekend with a disappointing $28.8 million in ticket sales -- THE AVENGERS over three times as much with $103.2 million. Demographics show that DARK SHADOWS appealed primarily to females who made up almost 60% of the audience and about 75% of the audience was over the age of 25. Guess who went to see THE AVENGERS? Kids with money and their parents, that's who.
Despite the attraction of another Tim Buron movie with Johnny Depp starring, the subject may just be a little too esoteric for theater-goers who are more familiar with super heroes these days than they are the supernatural.
LARA PARKER, TOOL TIME GAL
Posted by 1001web
Considered rare is the image above of a certain young actress (and photographer's model, obviously) who goes by the name of Lara Parker, shown on one of these aforementioned shop tool calendars. No date is given, but it is presumed to be around the time that she was about to be made much more famous as an actress on television playing Angelique in the daytime drama, DARK SHADOWS.
[SOURCE: BILL'S MAGAZINES]
R.I.P. JONATHAN FRID
Posted by 1001web
"(TORONTO) — Jonathan Frid, a Canadian actor best known for playing Barnabas Collins in the 1960s original vampire soap opera "Dark Shadows", has died. He was 87.
Frid died Friday of natural causes in a hospital in his home town of Hamilton, Ontario, said Jim Pierson, a friend and spokesman for Dan Curtis Productions, the creator of "Dark Shadows."
Frid starred in the 1960s gothic-flavored soap opera about odd, supernatural goings-on at a family estate in Maine.
His death comes just weeks before a Tim Burton-directed version of Dark Shadows is due out next month starring Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins. Frid has a cameo role in the new movie in which he meets Depp's character in a party scene with two other original actors from the show.
Pierson said Burton and Depp were fans of Frid, who played a vulnerable vampire in one of the first sympathetic portrayal of the immortal creatures.
"Twenty million people saw the show at its peak in 1969. Kids ran home from school and housewives watched it. It had a huge pop culture impact," Pierson said.
Pierson said Frid, whose character was added in 1967, saved the show and stayed on until the end of its run in 1971. He said Frid was never into the fame and fortune and just wanted to be a working actor. He said he loved the drama and finding the flaws and the humanity in his characters.
"That's why he had this vampire that was very multidimensional. It really set the trend for all these other things that have been done with vampires over the last 40, 50 years," Pierson said. "Vampires were not in the vernacular. In 1967, there wasn't a pop culture of vampire stuff, so here he was in this mainstream network show that aired at 4 P.M. that really took off. And then he did the movie which was also a big hit."
Frid had been an accomplished stage actor before "Dark Shadows" made him famous. The show has lived on in reruns.
Stuart Manning, editor of the online "Dark Shadows News Page", said Frid brought a new dimension to the role of the vampire by injecting the role with depth and a sense of regret for his immortal existence.
"Now that idea has been taken many times since — 'Twilight' uses it, shows like 'True Blood,' 'Buffy' — which again I think shows the influence 'Dark Shadows' has had," said Manning, who worked with Frid as a writer on the 2010 "Dark Shadows" audio drama spinoff, "The Night Whispers."
The youngest of three sons, Frid served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. After graduating from Hamilton's McMaster University, he got a degree in directing at the Yale School of Drama and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
Frid starred in various theater productions with illustrious actors including Katharine Hepburn. But it was his turn in "Dark Shadows" and its first feature film adaptation, "House of Dark Shadows," that made him a commercial success and kept him busy throughout his career with reunions, fan events and dramatic readings.
He lived in New York for several decades before moving back to Canada in the '90s. His other credits include the 1973 TV movie "The Devil's Daughter," co-starring Shelley Winters, and Oliver Stone's directorial debut, "Seizure." He also starred in the Broadway revival and national tour of "Arsenic and Old Lace" in the '80s.
Pierson said Frid been in declining health in recent months. At Frid's request, there was no funeral and there will be no memorial.
"He really was kind of a no-fuss guy," Pierson said.
Frid never married. He is survived by a nephew, Donald Frid. "
[SOURCE: http://www.time.com/]
EYE ON EBAY: BARNABAS MAGIC SLATE
Posted by 1001web
Color me insensitive, but even in the middle of the latest DARK SHADOWS craze, I can't see a thousand bucks for a Barnabas Collins Magic Slate (Whitman, 1969), can you? Granted there may only be a handful left in existence, but even the most hardcore fans I'm sure wouldn't miss these if they disappeared off the face of the earth . . . would they?
FAMOUS FRID'S OF FILMLAND
Posted by 1001web
"I am not a horror actor and I wouldn't want to be compared with a Lugosi or Christopher Lee." Jonathan Frid, Horror Actor
There was no shortage of coverage for the DARK SHADOWS (1966 - 1971) franchise in FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND. Numerous issues covered material from the daytime drama series (okay, it was a soap opera already!) as well as the two feature films, HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS and NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS.
WEREWOLF OF COLLINWOOD
Posted by 1001web
Other supernatural creatures stalked the environs of Collinsport back in the days of Dan Curtis' daytime drama, DARK SHADOWS. The character, Chris Jennings played by Don Briscoe is by night a werewolf when the moon is full and bright (played in full makeup by stuntman Alex Stevens). This and other opinions about the show were reported in a short article in CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN #16 (July 1971). Don't miss the surprise by-line at the end.
Read More → WEREWOLF OF COLLINWOOD
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| CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN #16 (July 1971). Cover art by Ken Kelly. |
'DARK SHADOWS ... is an oasis in the wasteland of TV's daytime programmed mental retardation." - Joe Dante
Other supernatural creatures stalked the environs of Collinsport back in the days of Dan Curtis' daytime drama, DARK SHADOWS. The character, Chris Jennings played by Don Briscoe is by night a werewolf when the moon is full and bright (played in full makeup by stuntman Alex Stevens). This and other opinions about the show were reported in a short article in CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN #16 (July 1971). Don't miss the surprise by-line at the end.
WITH THIS RING I THEE BLED . . .
Posted by 1001web
Hey, while you're at it, don't forget to top off your Barnabas Collins ensemble with an authentic vampire ring. Sold at your local Internet storefront costume shop for around $4.99 (that's cheaper'n the sales tax on the Wolf's Head Walking Stick)!
THE PROP-ERLY DRESSED VAMPIRE
Posted by 1001web
Just one of the many things that Barnabas Collins brought back with him when he was released from his tomb by Willie Loomis, was his sense of 18th Century style. Barnabas retained his evening suit, replete with Inverness cape and puffy shirt. Included in the ensemble was his menacing wolf's-head walking stick.
Now, aspiring dapper wing-flappers and fanged fashionistas can have their own wolf's-head prop cane. Be on the lookout at the end of May for the "Dark Shadows Delux Barnabas Collins Cane". For a mere 80 bucks, the 31" shtick can be all yours.
JONATHAN FRID INTERVIEW (PART 2)
Posted by 1001web
