Night of Dark Shadows, Dan Curtis’ sequel to House of Dark Shadows, is a mixed bag. In most respects the sequel is a good, or better, but in certain areas, it falls short of the standards established in his first film. Since NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS has a story line which was not taken from the TV series, the characters are identified more clearly than they were in House of Dark Shadows. The only exception is Gerard Stiles, Carlotta’ s nephew, who is not identified as such in the film. Since the plot is not dependent on the TV series for back-ground, it is less confusing to non-viewers of DARK SHADOWS than was the first film.

Unlike it’ s predecessor, the new film begins on a light note. Artist Quentin Collins and his bride Tracy have inherited Collinwood. Their novelist friends Alex and Claire Jackson have moved onto the estate. There is even a housekeeper, Carlotta Drake, to look after things. Everything looks rosy, but this mood of happiness is soon broken. Shortly after their arrival, Quentin sees a body hanging in a tree outside the window; and the first night there, he is troubled by 19th century night-mares of a man being trampled by a horseman who looks like Quentin.

These are followed by three more visions of past events – a funeral for Angelique Collins, conducted by the man Quentin saw trampled in his dream; a scene of Angelique and Charles Collins together in his artist’ s studio just before Gabriel (her husband, and Charle’s brother) bursts in; and a small girl watching Angelique being hanged.

Who are these people? Dan Curtis has given us their names and little else. He plays on our curiosity, making us wonder why Quentin is seeing these things. Yet these scenes are only a prelude to deeper terror.

Quentin’ s visions soon take a different turn, leading us to one of the most effective scenes in the film. This time it is more than just a vision, for Quentin becomes part of it, blending past and present. Angelique, one of the most powerful ghosts ever to haunt a screen, calls him to the studio in the tower which Charles had used and Quentin is now using. Quentin and Angelique are embracing when Gerard, whom Quentin sees as Gabriel, Angelique's former lover, bursts in, in a jealous rage. They fight savagely, wrecking the studio and tumbling down the stairs. There is some very deft editing, cutting from the master shot of Quentin and Gerard fighting, to Quentin’ s point of view, seeing not Gerard but Gabriel. Quentin is choking Gerard when his wife, Tracy, attempts to separate them. Seeing her as Charles’ wife, Laura, Quentin beings to choke her.

There is a nice dreamlike quality to this sequence, created by a fuzziness around the edges and the fact that it is very effectively kept silent. There are no sounds of fighting and crashing. It is not until Tracy’ s voice breaks through to Quentin (and to the audience) that the spell is broken.

Dan Curtis has depended less on graphic horror with NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS, choosing instead to create a mood of terror through scenes of tension. Quentin moves from visions and nightmares to a mixture of reality and visions, to partial possession, and into full possession by the spirit of his ancestor Charles. In between, we are given relaxing scenes – Alex and Claire having dinner with Quentin and Tracy, Quentin and Tracy walking around their estate, Quentin in his studio painting. These serve to make the next scene of horror all the more terrifying. Curtis also creates a great deal of curiosity, since he is well into the film before he fills in the blanks left by Quentin’ s visions. Quentin finally demands an explanation from Carlotta. It was she who recommended he use the tower studio for his painting, and it was she who returned Angelique’ s portrait to its place after Quentin had ordered its removal. Quentin is sure that she knows more than she says. And he’ s right. Carlotta admits that she is the reincarnation of the little girl Quentin saw-Sara Castle, the housekeeper’ s daughter who lived at Collinwood in 1810. We see a close-u of Carlotta’ s face superimposed over Sara’ s as we hear her story. Reverend Strack, the man we earlier saw trampled, convinces Gabriel that his wife Angelique must hang as a witch. Laura, Charle’s wife, is equally determined to see her hung, but for very different reasons, because Charles is in love with her. Before Angelique is hanged, she gives Sara a necklace, promising that Sara will never forget her. With this goes a silent promise that Sara’ s love for her will keep Angelique alive, till she can have Charles again. Now Sara’ s love has been reincarnated in Carlotta, and Charles has been reincarnated in Quentin. From here on it is pretty obvious what will happen, but it is still marvelous fun to watch how Dan Curtis handles it. Now the film picks up speed. Past the stage of seeing visions, Quentin is moving toward possession. He comes to Tracy to apologize for throwing her out of the studio earlier. In the middle of the scene, there is a subtle change; he is no longer Quentin but Charles, and once again treats Tracy roughly.

Angelique had earlier attempted to Kill Alex or scare him off, with the collapse of a greenhouse roof under which he was standing. Now that Alex has discovered a painting of Quentin’ s ancestor and has seen the remarkable resemblance, he is determined to make Quentin leave Collinwood. Angelique tries a more direct attack to stop his interference. Looking more like a ghost than she has previously, she floats into the living room where Alex has fallen asleep. She hovers over him, transforming herself into a mist and enshrouding him. Claire awakens and calls him to bed; when there is no answer, she comes into the living room and is faced with a scene of incredible horror. Alex is enveloped in a pulsating glowing mist. Claire’ s scream blends with a high-pitched note of music, and once again Angelique’ s presence creates a deadly silence. Claire manages to turn on a light, breaking the spell.

Quentin is becoming Charles more frequently and deeply. He now limps, as did Charles. He attempts to drown Tracy, seeing her as Laura, and fails only because Alex and Claire rescue her in the nick of time. Gerard tries to kill Alex by running him off the road. Quentin, once more himself, fights Gerard’ s knife – scared on the cheek, as Charles was. It is Tracy who kills Gerard, by pushing him off the bridge.

Carlotta is the only one left to keep Angelique’ s spirit alive. Alex, Claire, Quentin and Tracy search Collinwood, with Quentin and Tracy taking the lower regions and Alex and Claire the upper. Angelique traps Tracy in a storage room and attacks in her deadly silence. Alex finds Carlotta on the roof, but before he can reach her she is called to her death by Angelique. Carlotta is dead, Angelique is gone, Tracy is OK, Quentin is himself. All is right with the world Or is it? Dan Curtis could not disappoint us with a happy ending. He sends Quentin back into Collinwood one last time, to provide us with a chilling ending.

Alex is relieved that the whole thing is over. He had believed, near the end, that Quentin might be the one keeping Angelique’ s spirit alive. Alex and Claire leave for Cape Cod in the automobile. Quentin and Tracy go back to Collinwood so that he may pick up his paintings. Tracy becomes impatient when he does not return, and enters the house herself. After searching several rooms, she finds him in the art gallery, sitting and staring out the window. She asks him what he is doing. He rises, slowly limping towards her, his face a silhouette against the large, bright window. He comes closer and closer to Tracy, and when she can see his face clearly she knows the awful truth – he is no longer Quentin, but Charles. And we see Angelique, once again a woman of flesh. We hold on a close-u of Charle’s face, and then see a teletype message clattering across the screen: ΄΄UPI Teletype 3 July, Collinsport, Maine. Holiday Weekend Casualties—Popular husband and wife novelists Claire and Alex Jenkins died in an auto accident on the turnpike. A witness, Leo Humpreys, told state police that before the crash, the car suddenly filled with white smoke.΄΄

David Selby handles his dual role well, as both Quentin and Charles Collins. Charles is the more interesting of the two, as evil characters usually are. Kate Jackson does nicely as his perplexed and then terrified, wife. Grayson Hall makes reappearance as the sinister Carlotta Drake. John Karlen and Nancy Barrett appear as Alex and Claire Jenkins, who introduce a sane element into the film. Lara Parker is Angelique, a ghost more real than ethereal. Christopher Pennock plays Gabriel Collins, and James Storm is Gerard Stiles, Quentin’ s rival for Angelique’ s ghostly love. Thayer David is the hypocritical Reverend Strack. (The role of Strack was originally intended to be Dark Shadow’ s Reverend Trask, played by Jerry Lacy. The replacement was made necessary when David Selby was hospitalized with appendicitis during the filming of his scenes with Lacy. Be the time Selby has recovered, Lacy had other commitments and was no longer available for the role.)

Unfortunately, the film is marred in several respects. The camera work, for the most part, is excellent. The point-of-view technique is used often, drawing the viewer into the terror of Collinwood. There are some beautifully dizzying shots of the scaffold from which Angelique is hanged. But there is same annoying camera work, too. When Carlotta, Tracy and Quentin are ascending a stairway, we are given a view down the stairwell—and as if that’ s not dizzying enough, the camera is rocked back and forth. This rocking is also used in several other scenes and becomes irritating. Several scenes seem padded, such as the one in which Alex wanders around the greenhouse for quite awhile before the collapse of the roof.

But the most serious fault lies in the scoring. A romantic theme is used at the beginning, where it is fine. But it is also used in several scenes where it is entirely inappropriate; where a mood of tension is needed, it relaxes you. There are several scenes where there should be music and there is none. And over-used as the TV series music is, it would still have been very effective if more of it had been used. But these faults are only a small part o a very enjoyable movie that does have good acting, a well-written script and a beautiful location going for it. There is also the fact that the world of witchcraft and ghosts really does exist for, and is accepted by, all of the characters of DARK SHADOWS. Perhaps this, more than anything else, contributed to the success of DARK SHADOWS, HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS and NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS.