JOANNA GOING AND REBECCA STAAB IN A NEWER 'DARK SHADOWS'

Joanna Going in Dark Shadows Year: 1991 Rating: ***1/2

Dan Curtis turned his daytime soap DARK SHADOWS into a nighttime soap/miniseries that holds up pretty well with a younger Barnabas Collins in Ben Cross, seeming more like a lovelorn college professor than vampire, but he does bare his fangs enough times into the likes of Rebecca Staab for a Body Count element that ups (and progresses) the terror and suspense, mostly taking place in an old seaside manor where Collins rises/returns to an eccentric family that only knew him through a looming portrait from many, many years ago...

And it's no wonder the poor fella falls so quickly in love with the newly arrived (yet very familiar) babysitter of troubled boy Joseph Gordon-Levitt — and Joanna Going is the most beautiful actress to ever hit the small screen, ever, and is what makes this DARK SHADOWS intriguing and worthwhile. 

Also like the original, we go back in time to Collins' own turf, the 1700's where snaky/flaky uncle Roy Thinnes can act sinister with the other family members, all somewhat benign before the Salem Inspired/Religious Zealot transition. But the show hits a big wall with the otherwise talented Lysette Anthony as an all-knowing/all-seeing phantom/wraith so powerful, vicious and vile, Collins loses his bite, and purpose (a young girl ghost is also a cop-out). Although by the end of the one and only season, Going and Cross's romance keeps the viewer intrigued... as we shall be, for eternity.

Rebecca Staab in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Veronica Lauren as flirtatious Veronica Lauren with hammy Jim Fyfe

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

 Lysette Anthony as the cop-out wraith in DARK SHADOWS

Rebecca Staab in DARK SHADOWS

Rebecca Staab in DARK SHADOWS

Rebecca Staab in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS with Ben Cross

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS with Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS

Joanna Going as Victoria Winters in DARK SHADOWS