Local libraries offering DARK SHADOWS for free

Hulu recently added a ninth "season" of DARK SHADOWS to its archives, raising the number of episodes available on the streaming service to 360. The selection spans the introduction of Barnabas Collins in episode 210, to episode 573, roughly in the middle of the Adam/Dream Curse storyline.

Hulu has made episode 210 available for free, but you need a subscription to watch the rest of the series. If you're not interested in adding a Hulu subscription to your monthly bills, there's a way to see these episodes online that's both free and (gasp!) legal.

Hoopla, a digital entertainment service that has partnered with public libraries in the U.S. and Canada, has made the first nine DVD collections of DARK SHADOWS available in their archives. It's the same selection of episodes currently available on Hulu, though Hoopla's structure allows them to also offer music, eBooks and comics. That means users can "borrow" Danny Elfman's score to the 2012 DARK SHADOWS film, "The Original Music From Dark Shadows" from 1969, and the DVD anthologies "The Haunting of Collinwood" and "The Vampire Curse."

What's the catch, you ask? Well, there are two: your local library must offer Hoopla; and you must have a library card. If you can clear those two hurdles, all you have to do is log into Hoopla using your library card/pin number to begin borrowing titles. Files are automatically returned when the due date arrives.

Hoopla does not currently offer a Roku app, meaning you can only watch digital media using computers, smartphones, tablets and other devices. Luckily, the good people at the Las Vegas/Clark County Library District have provided a guide explaining how to connect these devices to your television. You can read it HERE.

(And don't forget, there's a good chance your local library keeps  DVDs of DARK SHADOWS on their shelves.)

Via: Hoopla Digital