In typical horror movie fashion, a funeral takes place hear during a thunder storm. Rebecca Staab didn't live 10 minutes into the second episode as her character of Collins cousin Daphne is killed off, seduced and bitten again by Barnabas, yet returning as a vampire herself, and out to drink the blood of boyfriend Joe Haskell (Michael T. Weiss) after appearing to cousin David (Joseph Levitt-Pickett). The second episode now has different credits, the classic score heard as the cast are superimposed over shots of various locations made to look like Charles Addams drawings.
There are lots of pastels of blue and green here to give an almost other worldly feel to it, and it works perfectly. This is a throwback to Hammer horror films of the 1960's, and with that mixing with early 90's TV technology, it's a perfect gel of several themes. One of the problems that the show has is the abundance of characters so a few of them (notably Jean Simmons' Elizabeth and Barbara Blackburn's Carolyn) don't get a lot to do. Sam and Maggie Evans, major players in the original series, also suffer. A little bit of story is given to Roy Thinnes as Roger, but his character seems to be the least defined, a contrast to the role Louis Edmunds played on daytime.
But the presence of Ben Cross and Barbara Steele is what guides the show, and young Joanna Going is a likeable heroine, just as she was on various daytime serials. In fact, the cast is overloaded with actors from the soaps including the talented Juliana McCarthy who may not be young and restless but commanding with her wise presence. As Steele's Dr. Hoffman becomes suspicious of Barnabas, he senses her curiosity about him, and a great rivalry of two terrific foes is set up. There is just too much going on here, beautiful to look at, but like an opera with too big of an ensemble, unfocused and unsettling.
There are lots of pastels of blue and green here to give an almost other worldly feel to it, and it works perfectly. This is a throwback to Hammer horror films of the 1960's, and with that mixing with early 90's TV technology, it's a perfect gel of several themes. One of the problems that the show has is the abundance of characters so a few of them (notably Jean Simmons' Elizabeth and Barbara Blackburn's Carolyn) don't get a lot to do. Sam and Maggie Evans, major players in the original series, also suffer. A little bit of story is given to Roy Thinnes as Roger, but his character seems to be the least defined, a contrast to the role Louis Edmunds played on daytime.
But the presence of Ben Cross and Barbara Steele is what guides the show, and young Joanna Going is a likeable heroine, just as she was on various daytime serials. In fact, the cast is overloaded with actors from the soaps including the talented Juliana McCarthy who may not be young and restless but commanding with her wise presence. As Steele's Dr. Hoffman becomes suspicious of Barnabas, he senses her curiosity about him, and a great rivalry of two terrific foes is set up. There is just too much going on here, beautiful to look at, but like an opera with too big of an ensemble, unfocused and unsettling.
