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Dark Shadows Audiobook Drama #1.1
Dark Shadows: The House of Despair
After years of wandering, Quentin Collins is coming home.. But the Collinwood that awaits him is no longer the sanctuary he remembers. As the inhabitants of the town of Collinsport hide in fear from other worldly powers. Quentin vows to unite old friends and reclaim the Collins family stronghold.. The Dark Shadows legend continues in this all-new hour-long audio drama, reuniting the cast of the classic ABC-TV series.
Audiobook
First published September 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 23, 2025
My name is Quentin Collins. I come from an old family, and old families have long held secrets. Long ago I might have prided myself on being one of their oldest. Now I'm beginning a journey I hoped I’d never make, back to my home town of Collinsport. I thought that if I ran fast enough I need never turn back. But now I find myself compelled to return, just as I always knew I would be. Soon I shall return to a lonely place at the ocean’s edge, high atop Widows’ Hill. Where the house of Collinwood awaits me.
Dark Shadows: The House of Despair ~~~ Stuart Manning
I've decided to revisit my past by returning ~~ once more ~~ to Collinwood
After decades of wandering the world, Quentin Collins is on a train heading to Collinsport. He encounters a stranger; they talk about the Collins family. The man issues a warning to Quentin to avoid Collinsport ~~ especially Collinwood. He speaks of the evil that permeates Collinwood. The man knows of what he speaks ~~ it's Adam ~~ the creature created by Dr Eric Lang in his laboratory, and brought to life by Julia Hoffman and Barnabas Collins.
This is the first of Big Finish Productions' full-cast Dark Shadows audio plays, Dark Shadows: The House of Despair takes place in 1995, sometime 25 years after we last saw the present-day TV characters in 1970.
Dark Shadows broadcast between 1966 ~~ 1971, featured the usual mix of soap elements: family dramas, affairs, murders ~~ only this one also included vampires, werewolves, time travel parallel universes and the supernatural as well. Dark Shadows seemed like a natural for Big Finish Productions. They decided to only feature a small handful of the cast from the series, in contained, hour-long stories ~~ Dark Shadows: The House of Despair was the first of these. While it doesn't sell the series to new listeners, it does a great job of picking up the story 30 years later.
Dark Shadows: The House of Despair focuses on Quentin and Angelique ~~ while the spirit of Barnabas haunts much of the adventure like a ghost. The discovery of his signet ring is significant and stirs long forgotten feelings inside the witch, Angelique and the reader.
Quentin Collins is a very complicated character with a long history of bad decisions ~~ he’s existed as a killer ghost, a zombie and yes, a werewolf. Quentin anchors this story bringing such authority and prowess to his return to Collinwood. Likewise, the delightfully wicked Angelique ~~ she a conniving creature like no other. They bring this story alive in a way that enthralls those familiar with the original Dark Shadows.
My only complaint is the story was rushed. This single episode felt like it could have and should have been four hours rather than one ~~ the villain was defeated in minutes. But this did serve as a fine re-introduction to the universe of Dark Shadows.
All in all, this episode is a fine start to the series.
Dark Shadows: The House of Despair ~~~ Stuart Manning
I've decided to revisit my past by returning ~~ once more ~~ to Collinwood
After decades of wandering the world, Quentin Collins is on a train heading to Collinsport. He encounters a stranger; they talk about the Collins family. The man issues a warning to Quentin to avoid Collinsport ~~ especially Collinwood. He speaks of the evil that permeates Collinwood. The man knows of what he speaks ~~ it's Adam ~~ the creature created by Dr Eric Lang in his laboratory, and brought to life by Julia Hoffman and Barnabas Collins.
This is the first of Big Finish Productions' full-cast Dark Shadows audio plays, Dark Shadows: The House of Despair takes place in 1995, sometime 25 years after we last saw the present-day TV characters in 1970.
Dark Shadows broadcast between 1966 ~~ 1971, featured the usual mix of soap elements: family dramas, affairs, murders ~~ only this one also included vampires, werewolves, time travel parallel universes and the supernatural as well. Dark Shadows seemed like a natural for Big Finish Productions. They decided to only feature a small handful of the cast from the series, in contained, hour-long stories ~~ Dark Shadows: The House of Despair was the first of these. While it doesn't sell the series to new listeners, it does a great job of picking up the story 30 years later.
Dark Shadows: The House of Despair focuses on Quentin and Angelique ~~ while the spirit of Barnabas haunts much of the adventure like a ghost. The discovery of his signet ring is significant and stirs long forgotten feelings inside the witch, Angelique and the reader.
Quentin Collins is a very complicated character with a long history of bad decisions ~~ he’s existed as a killer ghost, a zombie and yes, a werewolf. Quentin anchors this story bringing such authority and prowess to his return to Collinwood. Likewise, the delightfully wicked Angelique ~~ she a conniving creature like no other. They bring this story alive in a way that enthralls those familiar with the original Dark Shadows.
My only complaint is the story was rushed. This single episode felt like it could have and should have been four hours rather than one ~~ the villain was defeated in minutes. But this did serve as a fine re-introduction to the universe of Dark Shadows.
All in all, this episode is a fine start to the series.
February 15, 2017
This one is more radio theater than a book in its "audiobook"-form and more than halfway through I still wasn´t sure what was really happening. If one had seen the ABC-series it would probably have been another thing but from knowing nothing this was way to confusing for me.
I will not finish this series.
I will not finish this series.
June 20, 2020
Oh wow! I was VERY impressed with this! I really loved hearing the original actor voices for their characters, and I thought the way they brought Barnabas back with a new actor was clever. The story was haunting and sets up the new series well.
January 1, 2025
Ein guter Einstieg in die Hörspielserie. Bin auf die weiteren Folgen gespannt.
November 29, 2022
I remember discovering this continuation series advertised on the original series' DVDs and I had to check it out. Now I'd listened to Dark Shadows: Return to Collinwood and liked it, but I think I enjoy the Big Finish stories more, but the first time I listened to this I was bewitched and curious as to what had happened to Collinwood and the family, especially Barnabas.
I liked the characterizations and revisiting old friends with a mysterious new foe, though I thought it was a little short. Not the best Dark Shadows story, but definitely enjoyable and worth a listen.
I liked the characterizations and revisiting old friends with a mysterious new foe, though I thought it was a little short. Not the best Dark Shadows story, but definitely enjoyable and worth a listen.
November 11, 2015
Ah, to be back into that strange, strange world of Dark Shadows. Thank you, Big Finish, for these audio stories, and for bringing back David, Kathryn, John, and Lara to their original roles! This first story is really more to re-introduce the characters and to work a way into getting another character into the story, but it's still a good tale, moody and evocative. Kudos to the team for capturing the allure that is Dark Shadows!
October 7, 2023
Fun. Enjoyed hearing the familiar voices of the TV actors in this brief audiodrama.
December 7, 2022
A great start to this series.
January 18, 2022
A gruff man with a sordid past steps off a familiar train, and into a very rushed script...
This pilot episode is a fairly good gothic horror story bringing back the world of "Dark Shadows” to those who know what it is. It all starts with a man named Quentin Collins stepping off a train and back into his hometown of Collinsport. The story does a great job showcasing post-TV Collinsport, but it skirts around explaining any events of the TV show. Leaving those new to the franchise wondering why the people of Collinsport act the way they do to each other. The episode's primary focus is on re-introducing the old characters and planting them into new situations. So, you can still pick up on enough to keep yourself interested. You won't be completely lost hearing this without any knowledge of Dark Shadows, you'll just be missing pieces of context throughout.
The script nails the emotion of each event using Quentin's perspective. The town hates him, and you can tell he has many regrets he wishes he could erase. The concept of "The Lost" is also incredibly interesting and the main antagonist gave me chills. The cast does a brilliant job. This villain is played with just enough venom to be believable and threatening! The music was classic but sadly overused. One track, in particular, ran for around 5 minutes straight in a scene that didn't necessarily need music even. Fortunately, this issue was no longer present by story's end.
Now, onto the negatives. There are two main reasons why this episode didn't get a higher score.
1) It's hard to get into for newcomers. The episode doesn't tell you about the past events the characters went through during the TV show. The script’s only focus seemed to be on showing the characters not liking each other, but never states why. Angelique is constantly seen as an untrustworthy witch, but we don't know why. Barnabus is cursed by Angelique, but we don't know why. Willie is hated by the townsfolk, but we don't know why. Stuff like that crops up throughout the hour-long adventure. The script treats you as if you've already seen the hundreds of episodes of this 1960's Soap Opera, so no explanation is needed. This is mainly due to the fact that this Big Finish adaptation was written by fans of the original for fans of the original, instead of properly re-tooling it for a new audience.
2) The plot was inconsistent and somewhat messy. This single episode felt like it could've been an entire four-hour set. Granted, this continuation was created before Big Finish came up with the concept of box sets, but it would've made more sense to make this grand re-introduction to the universe of Dark Shadows a longer, more in-depth affair. What ends up happening instead is the plot becomes rushed in certain places, and some of the intriguing mysteries/story concepts get brushed to the side to focus on the characters only. For instance, we never explore "the Lost” at all. Heck, we never even see them. We are just told they exist in one scene, and then an explanation is conveniently given in the final act. Sadly, this episode is another situation where the incredibly interesting villain is beaten in just a few minutes. Much like Series 12's "Can You Hear Me?" for the Doctor Who fans reading this. I hope that the other 3 episodes in this mini-series will flesh out past events more and fix the issues I mentioned here. Although, having not heard any of them yet, I can't say for certain.
All in all, this episode is a decent start to the series. Not the best, but it could've been much worse *cough* Dorian Gray *cough.* If you have an interest in Gothic horror, or want to try something new on Big Finish that isn't just a straight Doctor Who story again, this 4 episode mini-series seems like a good option.
This pilot episode is a fairly good gothic horror story bringing back the world of "Dark Shadows” to those who know what it is. It all starts with a man named Quentin Collins stepping off a train and back into his hometown of Collinsport. The story does a great job showcasing post-TV Collinsport, but it skirts around explaining any events of the TV show. Leaving those new to the franchise wondering why the people of Collinsport act the way they do to each other. The episode's primary focus is on re-introducing the old characters and planting them into new situations. So, you can still pick up on enough to keep yourself interested. You won't be completely lost hearing this without any knowledge of Dark Shadows, you'll just be missing pieces of context throughout.
The script nails the emotion of each event using Quentin's perspective. The town hates him, and you can tell he has many regrets he wishes he could erase. The concept of "The Lost" is also incredibly interesting and the main antagonist gave me chills. The cast does a brilliant job. This villain is played with just enough venom to be believable and threatening! The music was classic but sadly overused. One track, in particular, ran for around 5 minutes straight in a scene that didn't necessarily need music even. Fortunately, this issue was no longer present by story's end.
Now, onto the negatives. There are two main reasons why this episode didn't get a higher score.
1) It's hard to get into for newcomers. The episode doesn't tell you about the past events the characters went through during the TV show. The script’s only focus seemed to be on showing the characters not liking each other, but never states why. Angelique is constantly seen as an untrustworthy witch, but we don't know why. Barnabus is cursed by Angelique, but we don't know why. Willie is hated by the townsfolk, but we don't know why. Stuff like that crops up throughout the hour-long adventure. The script treats you as if you've already seen the hundreds of episodes of this 1960's Soap Opera, so no explanation is needed. This is mainly due to the fact that this Big Finish adaptation was written by fans of the original for fans of the original, instead of properly re-tooling it for a new audience.
2) The plot was inconsistent and somewhat messy. This single episode felt like it could've been an entire four-hour set. Granted, this continuation was created before Big Finish came up with the concept of box sets, but it would've made more sense to make this grand re-introduction to the universe of Dark Shadows a longer, more in-depth affair. What ends up happening instead is the plot becomes rushed in certain places, and some of the intriguing mysteries/story concepts get brushed to the side to focus on the characters only. For instance, we never explore "the Lost” at all. Heck, we never even see them. We are just told they exist in one scene, and then an explanation is conveniently given in the final act. Sadly, this episode is another situation where the incredibly interesting villain is beaten in just a few minutes. Much like Series 12's "Can You Hear Me?" for the Doctor Who fans reading this. I hope that the other 3 episodes in this mini-series will flesh out past events more and fix the issues I mentioned here. Although, having not heard any of them yet, I can't say for certain.
All in all, this episode is a decent start to the series. Not the best, but it could've been much worse *cough* Dorian Gray *cough.* If you have an interest in Gothic horror, or want to try something new on Big Finish that isn't just a straight Doctor Who story again, this 4 episode mini-series seems like a good option.
February 3, 2020
Quentin Collins returns to Collinsport to find his family are gone and on the streets people with forgotten pasts walk.
This was a good story, fairly simple but for an opener it works well. This was just really to re-introduce some of the characters from the show back into the audios, but also to try getting a well known character from the show back but in a new way. The cast were fantastic as usual with an atmospheric story that's not anything outstanding but starts off the range well. 8/10
This was a good story, fairly simple but for an opener it works well. This was just really to re-introduce some of the characters from the show back into the audios, but also to try getting a well known character from the show back but in a new way. The cast were fantastic as usual with an atmospheric story that's not anything outstanding but starts off the range well. 8/10
October 29, 2014
This was really, really good. I went into it not knowing anything about the franchise (before my time), but I able to pick it up really quickly. The atmosphere was great, the dialogue was sharp and it was all suitably spooky. Great stuff all round.
February 28, 2013
Too short!!!
November 14, 2016
Not Dark Shadows without my Barnabas!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews