House of Shadows Appears Just in Time for Halloween

Just in time for Halloween, Rhode Island PBS premieres a new film, House of Shadows, by local filmmakers Michael and Karen Iacobbo of Providence Lyceum, LLC. Tune in Wednesday, October 28 at 10 p.m. for this one-night-only treat.

Filmed at some of Rhode Island’s most beautiful and important historical sites, the hour-long Gothic romance House of Shadows is inspired by the television series Dark Shadows. And, in fact, Connecticut actress Beverly Hayes, who plays Patience Silverfield, the 19th Century mistress of Silverfield Hall in House of Shadows, appeared in Dark Shadows. 

Beautifully filmed as it moves between present day and 1893, the story explores the strange events that unfold - and the force that manifests - after the mansion in the family of famous Victorian poet Nathaniel Silverfield is taken by eminent domain in 2012 for a planned flood. 

Rhode Island locations showcased in the film include the Governor Henry Lippitt House Museum in Providence, the Malbone Estate in Newport, the Governor William Sprague Mansion in Cranston, the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, and the Roger Williams Park in Providence.

With a strong Rhode Island connection through its film locations, the film's cast, too, has local ties. House of Shadows stars Welsh-born actor and former Massachusetts resident Joe Michael Phillips, as Victorian-era poet Nathaniel Silverfield. Actress Jami Tennille of Massachusetts stars as Nathaniel’s fiancée, Victoria Noble. Connecticut actress Suzanne McCormick narrates House of Shadows and stars as Buffy Silverfield, mistress of the 21st Century estate. Young actor Olivia Sage Pentell, who plays heiress Annabel Lee Silverfield, is also from Connecticut.  Rhode Island actor Kevin Cahill plays the villain: Gerard Hawthorne.  Other Rhode Island actors include Lawrence  O'Leary as Jeffrey Silverfield, Linda Colvin as Aunt Lacey Silverfield, Josh Passarelli as Toby, Adam Buxbaum as Julian Murk, and Peggy Passarelli as the doctor.

Click here for stills from the film, as well as more information about the filmmakers and some of their other projects. 

updated October 8, 2015
Casting information provided by Providence Lyceum, LLC

Spooky Specials

No tricks, just treats this week leading up to Halloween on WSBE Rhode Island PBS!

Night owls will love A Cemetery Special at 4 A.M. overnight tonight (technically tomorrow) Thursday, October 27, or 2 A.M. on Saturday October 29. The rest of you can watch it at more civilized hour at 10 P.M. tomorrow night, Thursday, October 27. A Cemetery Special takes a look at graves, monuments, family plots, sculpture, and the way cemeteries interconnect with many aspects of modern American culture. Traveling from Key West to central Alaska, the program features examples of burial grounds as special sites where history and art are preserved, where flowers and trees can be important attractions, where people make pilgrimages to the final resting places of the famous and the familial, and where old and new traditions often combine in fascinating ways. The documentary is by Rick Seback - the same artistic mind that has delighted us for years with such quirky but charming documentaries as Sandwiches You Will Like, An Ice Cream Show, Great Old Amusement Parks, and A Flea Market Documentary.

On Friday at 4 A.M., we bring back Lizbeth: A Victorian Nightmare, a documentary by local filmmaker Ricardo Rebello, about what is arguably the region's most infamous unsolved double murder and the woman at its center: Lizzie Borden. Lizbeth: A Victorian Nightmare also airs on Saturday, October 29 at 7 P.M.as part of WSBE's ongoing series, Rhode Island Stories.

On Sunday night at 10, we encore Haunted RI, the darkumentary that explores the vampire legend of Mercy Lena Brown in Exeter, and visits Ramtail Factory in Foster.

On Halloween night, October 31, tuck the kiddies into bed after a fun-filled and safe evening of trick or treating, and tune in for your own treat: Haunted RI airs at 8 P.M.