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).
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).