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JH
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2023
very disappointing
ED-SHOT
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2016
Love these TV series that were made earlier back in the eighties. Not excactly riveting but interesting to see the actors of the day doing their best to give the stories some meat. Well worth collecting if you enjoy this type of drama.
writer reviewer
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2015
I wish the quality of the film was better but I love these old stories especially The Lady's Maid's Bell.
barry diaper
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 24, 2015
first film quite scary but thats about it
Leon T.
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2015
Exciting DVD to Watch.
W. A. D.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 26, 2014
Six great adaptations of classic ghostly tales that are splendidly adapted, directed and cast. The audio and video transfers are solid for such "archival" material and although possibly not to the taste of some contemporary audiences this set of two DVD's are essential viewing for enthusiasts!
MISSYGIRL
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2013
THIS MOVIE IS A DISSAPOINTMENT. VERY BOREING AND KIND OF SILLY. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY. I DIDNT EVEN FINISH WATCHING IT I WAS SO BOARD.
NateMonroe
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2011
All these rave reviews, and I can't fathom why.Pros:The sets were nice and creepy. the acting was very solid.Cons:The stories were very dull. Some stories were interesting, but either had a dumb ending leaving you frustrated you sat through it just to get that kind of a lousy pay off, or the ending made no sense at all.When my family watched it, we ended up pulling a Mystery Science Theater 3000 and made jokes through the whole "The Maze" story just to make it interesting. This story was odd that everyone, even the men, wore bright red lipstick. Oh what fun we had with that! Plus, in every new scene, something was a brilliant red. Sometimes the little girl's hair bows, sometimes a car, sometimes the trims on clothing, etc.My advice? Buy something else.
John D. Cofield
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2007
Shades of Darkness is a British production which was shown in the US on PBS' "Mystery" about 1984. I enjoyed it then and waited anxiously but fruitlessly for a rerun, so I am glad that at last it is available on DVD.Each segment of Shades of Darkness is about an hour long and is drawn from short stories by Edith Wharton, Elizabeth Bowen, and other luminaries. The scripts are literate and faithful to the original stories.The most pleasing thing about these short films is their ability to create an atmosphere of creepiness mounting to horror without having to fall back on the old horror movie standbys of fanged monsters and bloodshed. These are stories of people going about their ordinary lives who gradually become aware of the presence of the supernatural. My favorite episode is "Afterward" by Edith Wharton, where the viewer, like the principal character, doesn't even recognize the ghost is a ghost when it appears.If you are accustomed to seeing horror delivered through the blows of an axe or by screaming monsters you will find Shades of Darkness just as frightening but far more equivocal and intriguing.
P. Grayson
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2007
I ordered this DVD because I saw it described in a PBS catalog. Some of the stories are suspenseful but most are not. It was a huge letdown. I suffered through all six stories because I had paid for the DVD, and I had hoped the stories would get better. They didn't. Ghost stories should be spooky. These stories definitely were not and I'm 64 years old.
I. Kenney
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2007
We ordered this DVD because we saw it described in a PBS catalog as having ghost stores with intricate, twisted plots. We're not into the blood and gore, slasher movies, so this seemed like a great alternative. On the positive side, some of the stories did build up the suspense. It was very hard to follow the plots to the stories,though, and there was always a huge letdown at the end. We suffered through all six stories simply because we had paid for the DVD, and we kept hoping the stories would get better. They didn't. Ghost stories don't need to be bloody, but they do need to be spooky. These stories definitely were not.Two ghost stories that do have twisted, intricate plots and are genuinely spooky are The Innocents, starring Deborah Kerr, made in 1961, and The Others, starring Nicole Kidman, made in 2001.
Kenneth Williams
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2007
I'd been wanting to see this series for years and now (most of) it's finally on DVD. Very gloomy, shot on-location ghosts stories: decaying country houses, seaside graveyards, muddy roads, but all done with the utmost respect for the material and the genre. I actually haven't watched the final tale ("The Demon Lover") yet.The story "The Maze" left me indifferent, and has an embarrassingly directed sex/wood-cutting scene, and lots of that awful tinkly piano music that's supposed to sound suspenseful. This is NOT characteristic of the other tales, whose music is much more appropriate and less distracting. The acting is actually quite good, but I just couldn't get into it. Even the hedge maze is disappointing--more like a halfhearted smattering of old bushes. Oh well."Afterward" is excellent (I'm quite a fan of the Edith Wharton tale): perfect location, period detail, just the right moodiness, smartly underused musical scoring, etc. The woman who plays the main character is outstanding, and we get a real sense of her choking, mute dread--the devastating truth she's unable to articulate or fully understand. The actor who plays her husband is stiff but serves his purpose and disappears soon enough."The Intercessor" and "Bewitched" are both beautifully done, BEAUTIFULLY acted, and more emotionally involving than might seem possible with ghost stories. I was really impressed. Eileen Atkins OWNS her role, and makes it something deeply ambiguous. These tales aren't really about ghosts; they're about the trials of the living, for which the ghosts provide poignant counterpoint. (Note: One of these two tales is so brilliantly told you might not even realize there's no ghost in it!)."The Lady Maid's Bell." Not the strongest of the tales, but very atmospheric. As the first on the lineup it provides a nice prolog to the others, establishing mood and tone. And I enjoyed the ambiguous ending.As stated in another review, the pacing of these six mini-movies is rather slow, but not too slow. We're allowed to absorb and contemplate the environments, and get the sense that the characters are moving through actual time, not skipping from one jarringly edited scene to the next. If you long for the days when you first read Poe, if you remember most fondly not Halloween itself but the bleak quiet weeks leading up to it, when you explored that old barn in the meadow or made up ghost stories around the fire, believing every word, these DVDs are for you.
Customer
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2007
We bought two copies, one for someone who had seen "The Maze" long ago and is still talking about it, and one for ourselves. I had never seen any of these before. They are all good, and some are even better than "The Maze" -- excellent cast and a distinguished list of authors too.
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