By Maria Loreto Published Sep 28, 2026, 12:00 AM EDT What to Watch And it's free to on YouTube
Image: NBC Sign in to your Polygon.com account Add Us Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap A young woman embarks on an unexpected journey. Despite the excitement and possibilities of her future, there’s also fear. She boards a train that will take her to a new home atop a stormy cliff at the edge of the sea, a place defined by the fog and its history. She’s a governess, and she’ll be responsible for teaching and caring for a wealthy boy.
This premise might sound like it’s from a classic Gothic story like Jane Eyre or The Turn of the Screw . But it’s actually from 1991’s Dark Shadows: The Revival, an NBC series that distilled the long-running original Dark Shadows soap opera into a 12-episode melodrama . It’s the best way to enter the world created by horror icon Dan Curtis, and it’s streaming in full on YouTube.
Image: NBC/Everett Collection Dark Shadows: The Revival follows Victoria Winters (Joanna Going), a governess who takes a job in the fishing town of Collinsport, Maine. She’ll reside in Collinwood, a manor owned by the Collins family, a generations-old dynasty. As Victoria settles into her new position, the supernatural kicks in: the groundskeeper unknowingly awakens a malevolent creature, putting the whole town in danger.
Barnabas Collins is one of television’s most memorable creations. Introduced as a 200-year-old vampire, he became the unexpected center of the Dark Shadows franchise, and the star of Hollywood adaptations (including Tim Burton's 2012 movie), novel tie-ins, and more.
Jonathan Frid in ABC's Dark Shadows Image: ABC In the revival, Barnabas (Ben Cross) introduces himself to the family as a distant cousin from England, inviting them into his manor while stalking the town at night for new victims. He also develops a fixation on Victoria, who can’t help but be intrigued by him.
The original Dark Shadows played a key role in the way horror is now depicted on television. It pioneered daytime horror and introduced more complex supernatural creatures than audiences were used to. Still, it aired half-hour episodes every day and ran for six seasons, relying on the filler that soap operas are infamous for. ‘60s Barnabas was introduced nearly a year into the series as a last-ditch attempt to raise viewership and keep the soap opera afloat. His ‘90s counterpart is biting locals before the first commercial break.
Image: NBC/Everett Collection "The essential characters and relationships are the same, but the things they do are different," Curtis told The New York Times in 1991. "I thought I could rely on those old scripts, but I found that they were full of crazy plots that we couldn't use. So all the incidents are different; we arrive at similar points through a much different route.”
Dark Shadows: The Revival also has the benefit of a stunning cast, one far more star-studded than the original’s. Ben Cross, who previously starred in the Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire , turns in a romantic yet cruel version of Barnabas, making for a much more frightening vampire than what was available on TV in the ‘90s. Barbara Steele, star of horror classics like Black Sunday and Castle of Blood , plays Julia Hoffman, a delightfully scheming doctor who falls for Barnabas and…