It all came from a dream of Dan Curtis who wanted to do a daytime drama unlike anything that had ever been on tv before.
In 1966 the ABC-TV series Dark Shadows premiered to less than stellar ratings. It was a Gothic suspense daytime series that wasn’t much competition for the other daytime soap operas. But failure sometimes allows utter freedom and that’s what happened when the creator Dan Curtis decided to ‘go for it’ with the addition of Barnabas Collins the reluctant vampire in a gloomy Maine mansion called Collinwood. It was the original teen ‘must see tv watercooler’ that came on at 4PM with a daily dose of horror from the vulnerable vampire Barnabas Collins to witches, ghosts and scary story lines that has passionate fans five decades later still watching and attending conventions.
David Gregory (Lost Soul, Godfathers of Mondo)is the director for the soon to be released documentary out digital platforms and on DVD April 16, 2019 narrated by Ian McShane (Deadwood).MASTER OF DARK SHADOWS has interviews from Dan Curtis, Oscar-winning writer-producer Alan Ball (True Blood), screenwriter William F. Nolan (Trilogy of Terror), author Herman Wouk (The Winds Of War), veteran actors Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost), Barbara Steele (Black Sunday) and Ben Cross (Chariots of Fire). The original Dark Shadows series cast wasJonathan Frid, David Selby, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker, John Karlen, Nancy Barrett, Jerry Lacy, Roger Davis, Marie Wallace, Chris Pennock and James Storm, plus other colleagues and family members.
Even if you’ve never seen the original, remake or movie Dark Shadows has been a huge influence on ‘geek TV’. Master of Dark Shadows is the quintessential sotry about the iconic series and creator Dan Curtis. The documentary was shot in New York, Los Angeles, and London with interviews with cast and filmmakers of the series and tells the history of the series that has inspired five decades of fandom with rare footage, behind-the-scene stories, and the work of Dan Curtis as television ‘King of TV Horror’.  Dan Curtis the Emmy-winning filmmaker followed Dark Shadows with other iconic genre favorites including The Night Stalker, Trilogy of Terror and Burnt Offerings before earning accolades for the epic miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance.Â