Long before the sparkling Cullen vampires wowed YA fans, a bloodsucker named Collins caught the imagination of America’s youth. Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 60th anniversary tribute to the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, which premiered June 27, 1966.

We will screen the first theatrical movie based on the series, House of Dark Shadows (1970) for one night only, July 27 at the Laemmle NoHo at 7:00 p.m.

The television series focused on the fictional town of Collinsport, Maine and the wealthy Collins family, incorporating unprecedented supernatural elements for a daytime serial. Produced by Dan Curtis, the series had become an enormous success and pop cultural phenomenon after the introduction of 170-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins (stage actor Jonathan Frid) almost a year into the run, with Frid emerging as an unconventional “matinee idol.”

Curtis capitalized on the popularity of the TV series by fashioning a fast-paced feature-film adaptation, basically a condensed version of the storyline about Barnabas, cursed as a vampire in 1795. Inadvertently awakened in the 20th century, he wreaks terror on his contemporary ancestors at Collinwood while seeking to recreate his lost 18th century love as his vampire bride. The film featured most of the original TV cast: Joan Bennett, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Roger Davis, Grayson Hall, John Karlen, Nancy Barrett, Louis Edmunds, Thayer David, et al. Welcomed by fans seeing their favorite characters on the big screen, the film was a solid box office hit. When the series was abruptly canceled in 1971, its cult status propelled it through several decades of syndication, short-lived primetime remakes, and an ill-conceived “camp” movie version by Tim Burton in 2012, which was rejected by the ardent followers of the original series, who keep the show’s legacy alive.

To attract viewers outside of the fan base, House of Dark Shadows was sold as a straightforward vampire movie, emphasizing a more sinister side of Barnabas with increased shock and blood and giving a sanguine conclusion to the character. Horror filmmaker Rob Zombie offered a 21st-century assessment: “A prime example of everything done right when turning a TV show into a movie…essentially 200 episodes of storyline distilled down to a spectacular 97 minutes of gothic horror. It’s like an epic American version of a Hammer film.”

“The poetic finale is a tour-de-force of superb gothic imagery and galvanising horror.” – Alan Jones, Radio Times.

“Genuine chills and surprises. Blows away the TV show.” – Gerry Shamray, Cleveland.com.