Just finished the MPC Barnabas Collins figure. This dude freaked me out when I was about 6! I used the resin replacement head sold by CultTVMan and also replaced the base with a resin one of very similar size to the styrene one in the kit - came from a Buffy the Vampire Slayer figure of unknown origin.
I tend to try to use all the greebles that come with kits. In this case, I really don't know what you were supposed to do with the bat - there's no tree or building for it to hang on. So I imagined Barnabas calling it like a falcon or something like that.