Barnabas Collins

Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, a featured role in the ABC daytime serial Dark Shadows, which aired from 1966 to 1971. Barnabas is a 175-year-old vampire in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette. The character, originally played by Canadian actor Jonathan Frid, was introduced in an attempt to resurrect the show's flagging ratings, and was originally to have only a brief 13-week run. He was retained due to his popularity and the program's quick spike in ratings, and became virtually the star of the show.

A defining feature of Barnabas' character development is his gradual but persistent transformation from a frightening creature of the night into the show's protagonist, who selflessly, heroically and repeatedly risks his life to save the Collins family from catastrophe.

In the 1991 NBC revival version of Dark Shadows, British actor Ben Cross played the role of Barnabas Collins. Alec Newman played the part in the unreleased 2004 pilot film. In the recent series of audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions, he is portrayed by Andrew Collins, while Frid returned to portray the role a final time in The Night Whispers. He is played by Johnny Depp in director Tim Burton's 2012 film, Dark Shadows.

TV Guide named him #8 in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time.

Barnabas Collins (portrayed by Jonathan Frid)

Barnabas Collins was a member of the late 18th century Collins family, from the fictional town of Collinsport, Maine. He was the son of Joshua Collins (Louis Edmonds) and Naomi Collins. Barnabas' many cousins included Millicent and Daniel Collins. During the flashback, Barnabas intended to marry an heiress from Martinique named Josette du Pres (Kathryn Leigh Scott), but had a brief affair with Angelique Bouchard (Lara Parker), Josette's maidservant.

Upon Angelique's arrival in Collinsport for the wedding, Barnabas was determined not to resume his affair. The spurned Angelique, a practitioner of witchcraft, used a number of spells to manipulate Barnabas and his family and force his agreement to marry her. Barnabas discovered Angelique's duplicity, and shot her. With what she believed to be her dying words, she took revenge on Barnabas by summoning a vampire bat from hell to attack him. Barnabas fell extremely ill and died. Angelique survived and attempted to rescind the curse, but was unsuccessful.

Dark Shadows (2012) Movie Poster

Barnabas shortly thereafter rose as a vampire, and immediately strangled Angelique. Collins later frightened his aunt Abigail (Clarice Blackburn) to death, and left the hatefully fanatic witch-hunter Reverend Trask (Jerry Lacy) entombed alive in the Old House basement. Sarah Collins died of pneumonia after a cold night spent hiding in the woods from her deceased brother. Adding to Barnabas' grief, his mother Naomi committed suicide after discovering his secret. Barnabas blamed Angelique for the deaths of both his sister and his mother, and also blamed Lt. Nathan Forbes (Joel Crothers), who had told Naomi about him. Barnabas strangled Forbes, and attempted to transform Josette into a vampire. Josette was willing, if not fully cognizant of what this would entail, until Angelique revealed a vision of what she would become. Fleeing from Barnabas, Josette leapt off the cliffs of Widow's Hill to her death.

Unable to bear what he had become, Barnabas asked his father, Joshua, to destroy him. Joshua was unable to slay his son, and ordered servant Ben Stokes (Thayer David) to nail a cross to the inside lid of Barnabas' coffin and to wrap chains on its outside, forever imprisoning the vampire in a secret room of the family mausoleum at Eagle's Hill Cemetery.

 Let the bloodbath begin! Celebrate Halloween all October long
with a new vampire post every day! Who's your favorite?

Angelique Bouchard

October has arrived, kittens. I'm an old child of all things goth, and there is no question that Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. So, I've decided that I shall do my very witchy best (or very witchy worst) to present one of my favorite vamps, vampires, wolfmen, witches, zombies, gremlins, ghosties and/or any and all other things that go bump in the night each and every day 'till All Hallow's Eve.

I remember growing up with Dark Shadows always playing somewhere in the background, thanks to my sister being quite a fan of the series. My fascination with vengeful, villainous divas began with this woman:

Angelique Bouchard
"Hell Hath No Fury...

Angelique Bouchard (portrayed by Lara Parker)

Angelique Bouchard is a fictional character from the gothic horror-soap opera and film Dark Shadows, in which she is the main antagonist. She is primarily portrayed as a powerful witch driven by her vacillating love and hatred for Barnabas Collins.

In the original TV series, the character was portrayed by Lara Parker, and appeared within several storylines of the series. Angelique was originally introduced to explain how Barnabas Collins became a vampire, but she proved popular enough in her own right to make many return appearances. She is portrayed by French actress Eva Green in the 2012 feature film directed by Tim Burton.

Dark Shadows is an American gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. It was unprecedented in daytime television when ghosts were introduced into the series about six months after it began. The series became hugely popular when vampire Barnabas Collins (portrayed by Jonathan Frid) appeared a year into its run. Dark Shadows also featured werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and a parallel universe. Ironically enough, the story bible, does not mention any supernatural elements.

Dark Shadows was distinguished by its vividly melodramatic performances, atmospheric interiors, memorable storylines, numerous dramatic plot twists, unusually adventurous music score, and epic cosmos of characters and heroic adventures. Now regarded as something of a classic, it continues to enjoy an intense cult following. Although the original series ran for only five years, its scheduling as a daily daytime drama allowed it to amass more single episodes during its run (1,225) than most other science-fiction/fantasy genre series produced for English-language television, including Doctor Who and the entire Star Trek television franchise!

Novels
In 1998, Lara Parker made her writing debut with the novel Angelique's Descent, which focused on Angelique’s early years in Martinique and her love affair with Barnabas Collins. In 2006, she released a sequel, The Salem Branch. She also wrote the introduction to the novel Dark Shadows: Dreams of the Dark (1999), written by Stephen Mark Rainey and Elizabeth Massie.

Let the witchery begin! Celebrate Halloween all October long
with a new witch post every day! Who's your favorite?