Ah, nothing like leaping into the boat just as it leaves the dock, but happy to arrive at the last minute to contribute at least a smidgen of thought.

Yes, I am from that era and I watched Dark Shadows a little bit, not faithfully as some others did. I've always had limited tolerance for stories that spin their wheels, and basically for me a soap opera is a soap opera no matter what costume it wears.

That said, I completely loved Burton's Dark Shadows. Man, does he catch the time! From that beginning......"Nights in white satin, through to all the visual kitsch, it was magnificent. Adored the script! And the actors, every one of them, was sheer perfection, especially Chloe Moretz. My daughter has memorized the scene between Carolyn and Barnabas in her bedroom. Birthing hips! Who comes up with this stuff? It's a jewel of a movie!!

This is one that's going to be remembered over the long haul. It's a shame it hit the theaters during such an impossibly awful period of regrettable and hopefully forgettable movies. I think our collective brains have been fried by amusement park trash of late, and when something truly stellar comes along that doesn't pound us senseless, it takes awhile for us to sit up and notice: Say? That was a good movie, wasn't it?

What an age this is -- and unfortunately I don't mean a great age for cinema.

I didn't watch the original show although I have heard of it over the years and "Barnabas Collins" seemed to be a familiar name to me. I got married in 1967 and had four babies by 1971 so I think it is understandable that I didn't have much time to do anything but change diapers and do laundry in those days. I didn't really get interested in the old series until Tim and Johnny decided to make the movie and when ONBC selected this book for discussion, I did a little more research. I watched the you tube videos of the 1990s series which was more manageable than trying to catch up with the whole of the original series. Of course the prime time series was different from the day time soap, so I don't know how much good it did me, except it did make me familiar with some of the basics. And I read Return to Collinwood before I saw the movie.

With all that said, I think the 2012 movie can stand on its own. I think it is its own complete story with a beginning a middle and an end, the characters are well-developed enough that the audience shouldn't have to know them in advance. For people of my age, the music was familiar and nostalgic -- I was absolutely delighted when they briefly played the Theme From A Summer Place, boy did that give me warm wonderful flashbacks! For those who didn't grow up with that music, I have a feeling most people still got a flavor of the time hearing it.

I think the problem with any re-make is that the original fans will always hold the original version close to their hearts. If the two were exactly the same, there wouldn't be any point in making re-makes! Of course, that is a whole 'nuther can of worms which I will not open here.

Figured I'd chime in on this for the heck of it. Not having been born until 1971, I'm not old enough to have seen the original show when it was first aired. Later on, early 90's, I saw just a tiny bit of a DS re-run, just enough to get a taste of the atmosphere. But by the time the new movie came out, I felt like I had a pretty good idea of the vibe of the original, and what Johnny and Tim saw in it that made them want to make the movie. And the movie itself, I love it. It's beautiful to look at, and the mix of the supernatural and coastal Maine 1972 I find mesmerizing and delicious. I've since watched some clips of the original show, and find Jonathon Frid very enjoyable to watch. I can see why Johnny loves him, and as far as my impressions of the original go, I think the boys (and girls) quite brilliantly performed the alchemy of filtering the essence and time of the show through their own personal prisms into this new, shadowy ray of Light.

You have a way with words, jruoss. Beautiful!

And I’m glad you and fireflydances popped in to share your perspectives.

Interesting how we all look at it. I think it is a personal thing…..how we view movies. I am glad to hear that the movie can stand on its own. Because I do come with my own set of experiences and memories, it’s hard for me to look at it objectively. As part of what tickled me about DS 2012 was how it used the times in which the TV show was made and how it tweaked the original storylines. There were elements I noticed that went right over others’ heads because they either never saw the TV show or didn’t remember it – the train scene with Vicky being one of them. And the music was absolutely perfect. Could be that the particular tracks chosen were some of my all time favorites – A Summer Place being one of those, nebraska.