It's been quite a while since I last listened to one of the Dark Shadows audio stories. Part of the reason is because the cd player/radio in my car only seems to work intermittently these days, but the bigger part of it is because these anthology CDs have not really caught my interest as much as the full cast audio stories did. However, I do have them all, and I do still love my Dark Shadows, so I finally got the wherewithal to sit down and listen to another set of short stories.
Haunting Memories features four new stories starring Josette Du Pres (as read by her portrayer, Kathryn Leigh Scott), Elias Trask (as read by his portrayer, Jerry Lacy), Angelique the witch (as read by her portrayer, Lara Parker), and Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (as read by Marie Wallace). Each of the four tales centers around memories that these characters would best leave forgotten and in the past, but which, in true Dark Shadows fashion, manage to worm their way out to be told. The stories are not connected to each other, but a couple of them to do manage to connect with stories from the television show and further expand and/or explain things that fans would have loved to have seen revealed in the show.
"Hell Wind," written by Mary Robin, tells the story of a very young Josette Du Pres, when she and her family lived on the island of Martinique. Told completely from the point of view of the child Josette, listeners get to hear the story of how Josette and Angelique first met, as well as the circumstances surrounding the death of Josette's mother. It is set during a horrific hurricane, and I do have to get the writer credit, she gave a pretty accurate description of what it is like during a hurricane. And considering this was set in the 1700s, it would be even more dangerous back then than it is today! The one thing I did notice about the story is there was not really too much supernatural about it - more just the tale of a young Josette and a young Angelique...
"Communion," written by Adam Usden, was a bit more interesting story. Elias Trask and his son, Gregory, are trying to escape the men who are chasing them down, wanting to kill them. (And anyone who knows the Trasks knows that they are definitely men who deserve to be killed!) They meet a young woman of ill repute, and Elias thinks that by rescuing her, he can "change" her - but ultimately, she is not what she seems to be! This story definitely had the supernatural twists to it, and it also had some humor, with the entire thing being told from Elias Trask's point of view as he continually prays to his Heavenly Father (and revealing his true, carnal nature in the process)...
"The Ghost Ship," written by Lara Parker (who IS Angelique), tells an unknown tale of Angelique's past, when she was still pining for Barnabas Collins and is feeling regret over making him a vampire. At this time, she is dead and nothing more than a spirit, but Nicholas Blair and some ghostly women waiting for their men to return from a sunken ship give her a chance with Barnabas that she never thought she'd have - but in the process, she, herself, becomes a vampire, and she beckons the spirits of the dead sailors to return home with the promise that their waiting wives will help her win Barnabas' love once and for all. This story was so-so, as I am not overly enthused about the whole "Angelique wants Barnabas to herself" saga...
"A Face from the Past," written by Kay Stonham, is by far my favorite of these four tales. The supernatural element in this story is subtle, but it's there. Elizabeth Stoddard Collins is returning to Collinsport after having been in Paris for some time (for those who listened to one of the other anthology audios, they might recall Amy going over to Paris to visit Roger and Elizabeth). But upon arriving in Collinsport, Elizabeth is drawn back into her own memories - memories of a love long past, a man whose heart she broke and who fathered her first child ... a child she gave birth to in New York and left at a fondling home ... and a man who strangely enough appears today exactly as he did nearly 40 years ago! Marie Wallace, who played other characters on the show but did not portray Elizabeth, does an outstanding job with expressing Elizabeth's emotions, her love, her loss, and her shock at finding her love once again. And to, once and for all, find out the truth behind Victoria Winters' parentage - well, that alone makes this story worth listening to!
Again, I'd much rather have the full cast audios, but I guess these short stories as told by single members of the cast will have to do until the sequel to Bloodlines and Blood Lust becomes a reality.
RATING: 8 cottages for sale out of 10 for revealing Victoria Winters' parentage, a secret that has been more than 50 years in the making!
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