Soap operas are a form of TV show that is very easy to make and very cheap to make as well as you don't need a huge budget to make a soap opera. Yet for some strange reason there's only been one horror soap opera ever made this is despite the fact that the horror itself is pretty much perfect for the soap opera format as you can spend alot of time building up to a scare by having a creepy episode choke full of them before restarting the process all over again and so then join me as I review episode one of the show that is to date the only horror themed soap opera ever made with the show in question being called simply just "Dark Shadows" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is young Victoria Winters finds herself heading to a new job in a mansion in Collinsport, Maine where the job itself will change her life forever. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as this is a soap opera the story of course doesn't end with this episode but instead ends months later but as for the plot of this episode it was something that was really well done with the plot itself doing a good job of building up suspense not only for the mansion but also the Collins family as whole whilst at the same time being the kind of plot that you really wouldn't expect a soap opera to have as they typically have more lighter plots and the plot for this episode is anything but that and that is something that really does work well enough in this episodes favor as it helps to set this show apart from all pf the other soap operas out there with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters and Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Also starring in this episode is Mitchell Ryan as Burke Devlin , Louis Edmonds as Roger Collins , Joseph Julian as Wilbur Strake , Elizabeth Wilson as Mrs Hopewell , Kathryn Leigh Scott as Maggie Evans , Jane Rose as Mrs Mitchell , Conrad Bain as Mr. Wells , Katherine Bruce as Sandy , Alfred Hinckley as The Train Conductor , Bob O'Connell as Bob Rooney and Tom Murphy as The Chauffeur.
Now then interms of what personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. Which is pretty much on par with the acting in alot of soap opera but at the same time tho the acting in this episode was also alot better then what it really had any right to be as this episodes cast members only had one take to get the scene perfect and from an acting point of view that's really hard to do and yet they did it and it's because of that they they really did nail there characters perfectly which was something that not only wasn't expected but also something that wasn't needed as this was only the first episode of the show and as a result of that is the fact that it would have been foolish to expect good acting in this episode and yet that's exactly what we got with the acting in his episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode was just so good that all this episodes cast really have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's really in this very episode.
One of the biggest strengths of this episode is the fact that it really does full advantage of the soap opera format by using to build up suspense all throughout the episode. With the episode spending alot of it's building up just how creepy the Collins family and there mansion are which is something that does work in this episodes favor as now we the audience have a reason to scared for Victoria without actually seeing why the townsfolk are saying these things which is something that does play into the soap opera aspect of the show as this is a soap opera then the show doesn't have to reveal everything right in episode one it can take it's time to build things up and make them alot more of a bigger deal which is something that this episode does and does in a way that feels natural and organic as of course the townsfolk would be talking about this family and it makes you wonder f what they say is true or not or if there actually making things alot more lighter then what things actually are which is something that would be really interesting.
This episode does a fairly solid job of setting up it's central mysteries that would last for the shows first few months of airing. With there being the mystery of who Victoria's birth parents are , who the Collins family are and why Burke Devlin wants revenge on them all of which are mysteries that play out over the shows first few months or airing and all of which are things that are really well set up in this episode as the episode gives you enough to make you want to watch the next episode but it doesn't give you to much that it makes it super easier for you all to work them all out before the episode reveals them with this most likely being due to the fact that each episode was produced on a weekly basis think South Park but live action which means that if a character is liked by fans in the one episode then the makers of the show can include that character in the next episode and give them alot of scenes as well something that just wouldn't be possible today as shows are produced months in advance and yet because of the fact that this show was produced on a weekly basis it means that the show could tackle things that are happening in real life America.
While this episode does get quite alot of things right it does also get quite alot of things wrong as well as the episodes characters aren't that well defined. Which while that is something that does make sense as this is a weekly soap opera show and as such it would have been foolish to expect the characters to come across as being fully formed characters they still need a place to go as characters and yet because of the fact that the episode is more focused on setting up the plot of these first two hundred plus episodes it means that the characters don't get alot of chances to fully establish who they are as a characters this isn't helped by the fact that the episode does feature quite alot of flashbacks which does do a solid job of setting up the fact that Victoria is bit of a dreamer who is always day dreaming but at the same time tho those scenes also take away screen time that could have used to help to establish other characters in the episode and not just help to give one of the shows characters some personality with alot of the flashbacks not even adding anything to the actual plot of the episode and as a result of that is the fact that they just come across as being filler when the episode really didn't need filler scenes added to it.
The other thing that this episode gets wrong is the fact that it doesn't really set up the townsfolk all that well either. Which again given that this is a soap opera does somewhat make sense but at the same time there meant to the shows supporting cast and yet we the audience aren't really given a reason to care for them as apart from Mr. Wells who does come across as someone who doesn't really believe that Burke Devlin is there to do anything bad even tho he outright yells at Mr. Wells alot of the time and straight up acts like an antagonist towards him whilst also acting like a hero and a kind person towards Victoria with the other thing that the episode gets kind of wrong is the fact that it doesn't really set up the Collins family which in this case does kind of work to the episodes advantage as we get to here about them through other people and as a result of that is the fact that we get to build them up n our heads and while we do get two scenes with two of them at the start and the end of episode what we do get to see from them does make them seem like an odd family.
Now then this episode has / had a exact grand total running time of exactly twenty one minuets and thirty seven seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have and to this episode this episode really does have the absolutely right amount of plot to really cover that right amount of running time which makes it odd that the episode would include alot of flashback scenes as all but one of them add nothing to the plot of the episode and come across as being like a filler scene when the episode really doesn't need any kind of filler in it as the episode works well enough with it's current running time and and even if that wasn't the case and they wanted to add in an extra scene this is a soap opera and as a result of that is the fact that you don't really need alot of plot to cover whatever running time that the show typically has as all you need is just the bare amount of plot to cover that amount of running time which makes it all the more shocking when it turns out with this episode that it has more plot and really could have been longer but I will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual horror that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual horror that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. As even tho there really isn't anything that's all that creepy and scary in this episode which is to be expected as this is only the first episode of the show what the show does really well is create tension and it doesn't let you go all throughout the episode running time and as a result of that is the fact that we the audience are practically begging for a scare not because this is a bad show but because of the fact that it would mean that the tension would be dropped if even for a minuet and yet at the exact same time not having anything that's all that creepy in it an argument could be made for the actual Collins family being the creepiest thing in the episode just due to how well built up that there in the episode which makes them come across as being really creepy and scary in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall it's very easy to see why this shown was as good as it was as this show and this episode is very addictive as you just have t watch the next episode just to see what happens with this episode also being a really good and a really solid first episode despite alot of faults in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got al of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , the official The Dark Shadows fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this episode being Google Images really simply because Google Images actually has images from this episode really are up and on Google Images and really plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images really were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we really end this review as we really always do with really our one and really true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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