The Enemy Within

Dark Shadows Dramatic Readings, Audiobooks #35

by Will Howells

Dark Shadows Legend continues in this audio drama.

Cyrus Longworth has a secret. On the outside, he's a quiet handyman helping out with odd jobs. But his neighbors don't know about the voice inside his head.

Sabrina Jennings has a secret. She's just moved in across the street, here to teach at the local school. But her husband is nowhere to be seen.

They could live happily ever after. But the dark secrets of Collinsport cast long shadows....

Genres: Gothic, Horror

Audio CD

First published July 1, 2013

Reviews

[Stephen Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cyrus Longworth was a character in the parallel time storyline in the original Dark Shadows series. We never saw him in the "regular" timeline. Well, Big Finish has given Cyrus life again, voiced, of course, by Christopher Pennock. And, being Dark Shadows, Cyrus doesn't have an easy life. The "other" Cyrus was a Jekyll/Hyde character. Present time Cyrus is a Damien/Omen type character, with an evil voice in his head which Cyrus refers to as John (voiced by James Unsworth, who does a marvelous job). Cyrus has a new neighbor: Sabrina Stewart Jennings, who has secrets of her own. I love how Howells expanded the character of Sabrina, giving actress Lisa Richards a chance to stretch. And there's an afghan joke! (We had a Sunday night Dark Shadows group, and we always laughed at how the same afghan showed up in various homes in various time periods!)

[Vincent Darlage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story that expands on characters that got very little screen time (or, in the case of Cyrus Longworth, only in Parallel Time). In the TV show, Sabrina Stuart left Collinsport with her fiancée, Chris Jennings with Chris' sister, Amy Jennings, in tow (episode 1075, mentioned in passing). The werewolf subplot was left unresolved, but "The Enemy Within" resolves it with backstory: a gypsy spell moves the werewolf curse from Chris to Sabrina, but she kills him.

Lisa Richards reprises her role of Sabrina (Stuart) Jennings, and Christopher Pennock plays Cyrus Longworth. Nancy Barrett returns as Carolyn Stoddard. I love that these audio dramas use the actors from the TV show.

Sabrina and Chris got married, so Sabrina goes by Sabrina Jennings now. It's 1973 and she moves to Bangor, Maine. She meets Cyrus Longworth. In the original show, Cyrus Longworth only appeared in Parallel Time, as a Jekyll and Hyde dual personality. Here he shows up in Regular Time for the first time, and he is more of a Damien character (from the Omen), carrying the essence of Satan within him. The title essentially refers to the hidden monster within BOTH of the main characters, and how they help each other.

I enjoyed the storyline, and I liked that it tied up loose ends from the show (the actor who played Chris Jennings became ill and left the show during the Parallel Time plotline, and so the werewolf subplot was just dropped when the characters returned to regular time).

[Danny Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sabrina Jennings after the loss of her husband moves into Bangor where she meets Cyrus Longworth a charming but sweet man. But unbeknownst to each other, they both hide an enemy, an enemy within... Soon there will be murders and soon both of them will discover their secrets.

This was a fantastic story that really develops Cyrus Longworth and Sabrina Jennings into really fleshed out characters of problems of their own and tragic backstories, but two characters that can overcome the dark side. There was some nice creepy vibes in this, helped by it's soundtrack. I also really liked the scenes with Carolyn Stoddard and Jim Hardy. Overall a fantastic story that's a joy throughout! 9/10

[Debra Cook · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a great story. Didn't finish.