Mike Flanagan Meets Ryan Murphy In TV’s Original Gothic Horror Masterpiece

Published Sep 10, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT

Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once.

TV’s original Gothic horror show is one of the most influential shows of all time, and it feels like a perfect combination of the best works of Mike Flanagan and Ryan Murphy. The horror genre has brought some of the best TV shows of all time, through which it has proven its versatility, as it gives artists a lot of creative liberty. Shows like The Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, and The X-Files are some examples of the best horror TV shows, but even some of them have a lot to thank others for.

Every decade has had notable horror TV shows that have shaped the genre into what it is now, and the 1960s were a key decade. The 1960s gave us now-classic shows like The Addams Family, The Munsters, The Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits, but it also saw the emergence of horror soap operas. The latter category brought Dark Shadows, a Gothic soap opera created by Dan Curtis and developed by Art Wallace.

Dark Shadows premiered on ABC in 1966, and it gradually built a loyal cult following, becoming especially popular among teenage viewers. Dark Shadows ran for six seasons, ending in 1971, and throughout its run it leaned more and more into supernatural horror, introducing one of TV’s most famous vampires: Barnabas Collins. Dark Shadows is now a classic Gothic horror TV show, and the genre has a lot to thank it for.

ABC's Dark Shadows Redefined TV Horror In The 1960s

Dark Shadows introduced the audience to the wealthy Collins family, living in Collinsport, Maine. Various supernatural events happen in town, and the family is often involved in them. The show begins with the arrival of Victoria Winters, a young orphan and governess hired by the Collins family to look after young David Collins, but Victoria is also on a personal journey as she wants to learn about her past.

In its first storylines, Dark Shadows mostly covered family secrets, ghosts, and other mysteries before exploring other supernatural elements, which led to the introduction of its most famous character in 1967. Barnabas Collins was brought in to improve ratings, so he was planned to have a short run, but he was kept due to his popularity, becoming the show’s most notable and best-remembered character.

Dark Shadows was very unique when it was released, as it blended melodrama with horror, with long-form serialized storytelling that is now the most common narrative style in horror shows. Dark Shadows brought horror onto daytime TV, and with its soap opera elements, it made horror accessible to a wider audience. Barnabas Collins also left his mark on horror TV, proving that horror characters don’t have to be evil monsters and can be complex and have depth, being key in the development of future TV vampires.

Dark Shadows is one of the most influential TV shows of all time, so much so that, of course, it was revived a couple of times – first in 1991 (lasting only one season), in 2004 with a pilot that was never picked up, in 2012 with Tim Burton’s film adaptation, and in June 2026 an adult animated reboot was announced to be in development.

Dark Shadows Feels Like Ryan Murphy Combined With Mike Flanagan

Looking back at the original Dark Shadows TV show now, it feels like a perfect combination of the best elements of the works of Mike Flanagan and Ryan Murphy. Flanagan’s works have a clear Gothic influence, as seen in shows like The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, with atmospheric horror reminiscent of Dark Shadows.

Ryan Murphy has also been heavily influenced by Dark Shadows, as revealed by himself in different interviews where he has cited the TV show as shaping his approach to storytelling, character design, genre-blending, and more. Murphy has cited Dark Shadows as a major influence for American Horror Story, and it definitely shows, mostly through its serialized storytelling, supernatural elements and characters, and mix of horror and drama.

The horror genre on TV wouldn’t be the same without Dark Shadows, and it’s a must-watch for fans of horror, fantasy, and soap operas.

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  Grayson Hall

  Julia Hoffman

• Joan Bennett

  Elizabeth Collins Stoddard / Naomi Collins

• David Selby

  Quentin Collins

• Lara Parker

  Angelique Bouchard Collins