View source for Dark Shadows (2004 TV pilot)


{{Infobox television
| image    = Dark Shadows (2004 pilot).jpg
| caption  =
| based_on = {{based on|''[[Dark Shadows]]''|[[Dan Curtis]]}}
| camera   = [[Single-camera setup|Single]]
| runtime  = Approx. 1 hour
| creator  = 
| director = [[P. J. Hogan]]
| producer = [[The WB]]
| starring = [[Alec Newman]]<br />[[Jessica Chastain]]<br />[[Marley Shelton]] 
}}
'''''Dark Shadows''''' is a one-hour [[television pilot]] that was a [[remake]] of the 1966–1971 [[Gothic fiction|gothic]] [[soap opera]] television series ''[[Dark Shadows]]''. The pilot was commissioned by [[The WB]] and produced in 2004, but not picked up for a series.

== Plot ==
[[Victoria Winters]] arrives by train to Collinsport, where she has been hired by the Collins family to tutor their youngest member, [[David Collins (Dark Shadows)|David]]. She is welcomed by matriarch [[Elizabeth Collins Stoddard]], but experiences strange and disturbing dreams during her first night in the mansion. Victoria meets David, the son of Elizabeth's brother [[Roger Collins (Dark Shadows)|Roger Collins]], who is constantly plagued by memories of his mother. Meanwhile, [[Willie Loomis]] and his girlfriend Kelly Vance go to the Collinwood crypt in search of treasure, and open the locked coffin of [[Barnabas Collins]]. In the process, Kelly cuts her hand and some blood falls upon the desiccated corpse, reviving him. A vampire, Barnabas drains Kelly of her blood and attacks Willie. He later attacks Elizabeth's daughter [[Carolyn Stoddard]], who is walking to her car from a romantic encounter with [[Joe Haskell]] on his boat.

Barnabas presents himself at Collinwood as a distant relative from England, as Elizabeth and a less than enthusiastic Roger note his resemblance to the historical Barnabas Collins, whose portrait hangs in the mansion. Victoria feels immediately drawn to Barnabas. He asks permission to restore the Old House, and although Roger cautions him against it, he is determined to proceed. David and Victoria visit the Old House and Barnabas shows Victoria a portrait of [[Josette DuPres]], which greatly resembles her. It hangs in Josette's room, which had been walled up until now. Willie, now working for Barnabas, bears fang marks and cannot say enough good things about Barnabas. At night David wakes and goes into the woods, where he removes a dagger from the ground. What might be the spirit of the witch [[Angelique Bouchard Collins|Angelique]] is now apparently free. Meanwhile, Dr. [[Julia Hoffman]] confirms that Carolyn's wounds match those on Kelly's recently discovered corpse. Carolyn, late at night at the hospital, wakes and looks longingly out the hospital window, murmuring "Come back." When Victoria drives back to Collinwood she seemingly hits Angelique with her car. The disfigured Angelique screams, "He's mine!"

== Cast ==
* [[Alec Newman]] as [[Barnabas Collins]]: An undead vampire accidentally released after being locked away for 200 years. He is tormented by his curse.
* [[Marley Shelton]] as [[Victoria Winters]]: A beautiful, twentysomething woman hired to tutor young David Collins, and an exact double of Barnabas' 1790s fiancée, [[Josette DuPres]].
* [[Jessica Chastain]] as [[Carolyn Stoddard]]: Elizabeth's twentysomething daughter, who still lives at Collinwood.
* [[Alexander Gould]] as [[David Collins (Dark Shadows)|David Collins]]: The 9-year-old, troubled son of Roger Collins.
* [[Martin Donovan]] as [[Roger Collins (Dark Shadows)|Roger Collins]]: David's father, a ruthless businessman.
* [[Kelly Hu]] as [[Julia Hoffman|Dr. Julia Hoffman]]: The Collins family physician, and a close friend to Roger and Elizabeth.
* [[Ivana Miličević]] as [[Angelique Bouchard Collins|Angelique]]: A beautiful, vindictive witch. She has come back from death to either reunite with Barnabas, or destroy him.
* [[Matt Czuchry]] as [[Willie Loomis]]: A former Collinsport high school football star who works as a handyman at Collinwood.
* [[Jenna Dewan]] as Sophia Loomis: Willie's younger sister, a maid at Collinwood.
* [[Blair Brown]] as [[Elizabeth Collins Stoddard]]: Roger's older sister. Her husband mysteriously absent, she lives a solitary life with Roger and Carolyn in Collinwood.
* Jason Shaw as [[Joe Haskell]], a fisherman and Carolyn's boyfriend.
* [[Alexis Thorpe]] as Kelly Vance, Willie's greedy girlfriend.
* [[Michael D. Roberts]] as Sheriff Patterson
* E.J. Callahan as Old Man on Train
* Nathan Weiss as Boy in Devil Costume
* [[Doug Jones (actor)|Doug Jones]] as Demon on Train, Barnabas in Crypt<ref>{{cite web |last1=Manning |first1=Stuart |title=Dark Shadows 2004: Just the Facts |url=http://www.collinwood.net/new/ |website=Dark Shadows Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525100949/http://www.collinwood.net/new/ |access-date=8 August 2020|archive-date=2011-05-25 }}</ref>

The pilot included new characters not previously shown in the original or the 1991 versions of the series, including Sophia Loomis and Kelly Vance. Characters [[Maggie Evans]], Sam Evans and Sarah Collins from the prior versions were included in the script, but did not appear in the filmed pilot (although Sarah is mentioned by David).

Alec Newman went on to play a grown up David Collins in an audio series of ''Dark Shadows'' produced by the British company [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]], which was created as a continuation of the first T.V. series and starred many of the original actors.

== Production ==
''[[TV Guide]]'' reported in November 2003 that [[The WB]] had secured the rights to adapt the 1966–1971 [[Gothic fiction|gothic]] [[soap opera]] ''[[Dark Shadows]]'' into a new television series.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Insider: Cheers|journal=[[TV Guide]]|date=November 29, 2003|page=16}}</ref> Created by [[Dan Curtis]], ''Dark Shadows'' had previously been remade as a short-lived [[Dark Shadows (1991 TV series)|1991 prime time series]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Nutt|first=Shannon|title=''Dark Shadows: The Revival'' – The Complete Series|url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/18279/dark-shadows-the-revival-the-complete-series|work=[[DVD Talk]]|access-date=May 23, 2013|date=October 18, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Dougherty|first=Margot|title=The Vampire Strikes Back|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,313041,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130122183906/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,313041,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 22, 2013|access-date=May 23, 2013|newspaper=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|publisher=[[Time Inc.]]|date=January 18, 1991}}</ref> A [[television pilot|pilot]] was commissioned and produced in 2004.<ref name="Fangoria Gross">{{cite journal |last1=Gross |first1=Darren |title=''Dark Shadows'' Staked! |journal=[[Fangoria]] |date=January 2005 |issue=239 |pages=62–65, 82}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/dark-shadows-the-cw-1203329640/|title=''Dark Shadows'' Sequel Series in Development at CW|first1=Joe|last1=Otterson|website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=September 9, 2019|access-date=June 28, 2020}}</ref> Not wanting to have two vampire shows in competition with each other, The WB canceled the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' spin-off ''[[Angel (1999 TV series)|Angel]]'' to make room for ''Dark Shadows'' in the 2004–2005 television season.<ref name="TCHS 2015">{{Cite web|url=http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2015/11/the-lost-dark-shadows-2004.html|title=The Lost ''Dark Shadows'', 2004|website=The Collinsport Historical Society|date=November 24, 2015|access-date=June 27, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Grindhouse">{{Cite web|url=http://dailygrindhouse.com/thewire/streamed-beyond-grave-2004s-dark-shadows-pilot/|title=It Streamed from Beyond the Grave: 2004's ''Dark Shadows'' Pilot!|first=Paul|last=Freitag-Fey|website=Daily Grindhouse|date=April 3, 2017|access-date=June 28, 2020}}</ref>

With a budget of $6 million, the pilot was written by [[Mark Verheiden]].<ref name="Thompson">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lvGjDwAAQBAJ&q=2004&pg=PA250|title=The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis: Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker and Other Productions|edition=2nd|first=Jeff|last=Thompson|date=July 18, 2019|pages=72, 101, 104|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|isbn=9781476636337|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> It starred Alec Newman as Barnabas, Marley Shelton as Victoria, Blair Brown as Elizabeth, Martin Donovan as Roger, Kelly Hu as Dr. Hoffman, and Jessica Chastain as Carolyn.<ref name="Grindhouse"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.collinwood.net/new/|title=''Dark Shadows 2004'': Just the Facts|website=Dark Shadows Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525100949/http://www.collinwood.net/new/|archive-date=May 25, 2011|url-status=dead|via=collinwood.net|access-date=June 28, 2020}}</ref> The pilot was cast younger than previous adaptations, and was the first iteration of ''Dark Shadows'' with diverse casting for major characters.<ref name="Thompson"/><ref name="Benshoff">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n1WSiLnM3-cC&q=dark+shadows+2004&pg=PT124|title=Dark Shadows|first=Harry M.|last=Benshoff|date=March 15, 2011|page=116|publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]]|isbn=978-0814336328|via=Google Books}}</ref> Todd McIntosh was the lead makeup artist, with prosthetics built by Andrew Clements.<ref name="Fangoria Nazarro"/> They created a series of looks for Barnabas in varying stages of decomposition as he transitions back to the appearance of a living man.<ref name="Fangoria Nazarro"/> The original director, [[Rob Bowman (director)|Rob Bowman]], backed out of the project at the last minute due to other commitments, and was replaced by [[P. J. Hogan]].<ref name="Thompson"/> Curtis, Hogan, and The WB reportedly all had different visions for the series.<ref name="TCHS 2015"/><ref name="Thompson"/> The pilot was filmed at the [[Greystone Mansion]] in [[Beverly Hills, California]], which also served as the [[Collinwood Mansion]] for the [[Dark Shadows (1991 TV series)|previous 1991 remake]].<ref name="Grindhouse"/><ref name="Thompson"/>

The pilot was screened for The WB in June 2004,<ref name="Thompson"/> but was not picked up for a series.<ref name="Fangoria Gross"/><ref name="Thompson"/><ref name="Fangoria Nazarro">{{Cite journal|url=http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2015/11/the-lost-dark-shadows-2004.html|title=The Lost ''Dark Shadows''|first=Joe|last=Nazarro|journal=Fangoria|issue=239|date=January 2005|access-date=June 27, 2020}}</ref> WB chairman [[Garth Ancier]] said in July 2005, "We had a new director [Hogan] come in who was accomplished in movies but frankly didn't do a particularly good job ... The script was terrific, but creatively, the end result did not come out the way we'd all hoped for."<ref name="Thompson"/> Jeff Thompson wrote in ''The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis'' that The WB later regretted its decision, as the 2004–2005 season saw the debut of several popular "mystical and quirky" series like ''[[Lost (2004 TV series)|Lost]]'', ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'', ''[[Medium (TV series)|Medium]]'', ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'', and ''[[Supernatural (American TV series)|Supernatural]]''.<ref name="Thompson"/>

== Release ==
The pilot never aired because The WB passed on the series.<ref name="Fangoria Gross"/><ref name="Fangoria Nazarro"/> It was screened at a 2005 ''Dark Shadows'' festival in [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], with subsequent showings at the 2006 ''Dark Shadows'' 40th Anniversary Festival in [[Brooklyn, New York]], the 2008 ''Dark Shadows'' Festival in [[Burbank, California]] and the 2009 ''Dark Shadows'' Festival in [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]].<ref name="Thompson"/>

== Reception ==
In his book ''Dark Shadows'', [[Harry M. Benshoff]] wrote, "Perhaps the most interesting thing about the pilot was its luridly lit visual design, one more reminiscent of Italian horror films by Mario Bava and/or Dario Argento than the original series."<ref name="Benshoff"/> Critic [[Mark Dawidziak]] commented at the 2005 ''Dark Shadows'' Festival that much of the pilot was "lighted like a French whorehouse."<ref name="Thompson"/> Thompson praised the cast, in particular Newman and the female performers.<ref name="Thompson"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0887892|Dark Shadows}}

{{Dark Shadows}}

[[Category:Dark Shadows]]
[[Category:Gothic television shows]]
[[Category:Unaired television pilots]]
[[Category:Television pilots not picked up as a series]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Dark Shadows (2004 TV pilot)|access_date=2026-03-02}}