The Night Stalker 1972 Rapidshare Movies
The '1970s Made-for-TV Horror Movie' remains a unique and much less traveled side road in the study of the horror film genre. When I say 'the 1970s', I'm talking about the decade between 1969-1979, starting with Paul Wendkos' Fear No Evil in 1969 and ending with Tobe Hooper's adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot in 1979. What falls between are some of the most memorable and nightmare-inducing movies ever made and it was the medium of television itself that made them so effective.I don't know if there was ever a more compromised narrative form than the made-for-television movie. Of course, all network television programming is the result of forced parameters.
Commercial breaks for floor cleaners don't exactly help with the dramatic flow. But as it's been said many times, creativity often flourishes with restrictions. The made for television horror film was forced to develop new narrative strategies. With Standards and Practices forbidding any potentially offensive content, television horror had to be less explicit and more suggestive. But the films were often more disturbing because of it.The economics of production even affected the visual style. Short production schedules forced directors to stage scenes simply and directly, while composing shots specifically for the small screen.
This placed a premium on closeups over wide shots where the action would be harder to read and ended up prioritizing characters over spectacle. Consumer television sets of the '70s could not effectively display scenes shot in low light, so the lighting was often brighter than expected. This resulted in more inventive scenes of daylight horror and often a reliance on the convention of day-for-night shooting to suggest scenes shot at night. By its very paradoxical nature, 'day-for-night' photography looks completely surreal, like Magritte's, which depicts a street in the dead of night and under a bright blue sky at the same time.But more importantly, television in the '70s was a comforting medium with mostly safe programming.
From brightly lit sitcoms and cozy police procedurals with tidy conclusions to medical dramas that usually just hinted at the horrors of mortality, prime time TV was a warm flickering fire for the family to huddle around. But for this one decade in particular, there was something sinister that was sneaking into their homes between the sitcom and the 11 o'clock news where the real horrors played out.( / ).
Going to a horror movie in the cinema was a different experience. You went to those movies fully expecting to be scared. But the television horror film was like an intruder into your home. It took over your television and unleashed werewolves, demons, gargoyles, psychotic killers, evil Zuni fetish dolls, killer trucks, killer bulldozers, possessed children, haunted houses that wouldn't die, satanic coeds, and of course, vampires.Vampires were a specialty of the most prolific producer of television horror, Dan Curtis.
The Night Stalker 1972 Rapidshare Movies Free
Curtis was the creator of the popular soap opera, which focused on the tortured vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). But Barnabas was not really scary because he was a reluctant vampire and a victim of circumstance. Curtis would take a different approach when he was offered an unpublished novel by Jeff Rice called 'The Kolchak Papers'. It was about a particularly nasty vampire/serial killer stalking prostitutes in Las Vegas and the wise-cracking reporter who pursues him. Adapted by the equally prolific Richard Matheson ( I am Legend), the film would be retitled The Night Stalker and premiere on ABC in 1972.Dressed in a wrinkled seersucker suit and straw boater hat, Darren McGavin would help make wise-cracking reporter Carl Kolchak into a genre icon and would go on to play the role in a second television movie The Night Strangler (Curtis, 1973) and the short-lived TV series Kolchak The Night Stalker.Kolchak is an obnoxious but resourceful reporter whose beat is the Vegas strip.
He's after a big story that will get him out of this journalistic purgatory and back on a real big-city paper. But he's also a real thorn in the side of the corrupt authorities and this will turn out to be his blind spot.Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak. Kolchak runs around town juggling tape recorders and cameras while chasing down leads in a series of local homicides he feels are connected.
All of the victims are found with bite marks on their necks and their bodies mysteriously drained of blood. He spends his days arguing with editor Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) and his nights hanging with his girlfriend Gail Foster (Carol Lynley,) who may just be a call girl. If so, Kolchak is getting her for free.It's Gail who first suggests that Kolchak look into vampire lore, since the killer seems to be acting just like a vampire. It doesn't take longer than a commercial break or two for Kolchak to go all-in on the vampire theory and suggest that the local police holster their guns and use stakes and crosses instead.This lack of mystery surrounding whether or not Janos Skorzeny (Barry Atwater) is a vampire is what makes The Night Stalker feel so modern. As obvious as Christopher Lee's 1948 feral Dracula, Skorzeny has fangs, drinks blood, and is so unnaturally strong he can take on an entire police force singlehandedly.
At the same time, he drives around the city in a nice car, hangs out at the casino, and seems to have a very clever modern vampire plan on how to make the best use of his blood supply.As Tim Lucas suggests in his commentary, it seems that Skorzeny keeps one young lady imprisoned in his house just so she can be used as a human blood warmer for the blood he keeps refrigerated. He gives her transfusions of the refrigerated blood and then drinks from her. Now that's one of the most ghoulish ideas I've ever seen in a vampire movie.Carol Lynley as Gail Foster, Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak. Make microsoft windows xp pro sp3 32bit genuine scooter. It's hard to convey how good Darren McGavin is as Carl Kolchak.
McGavin had played the role before, in the TV series of the same name (ABC, 1974-75) and would have a long career afterward in films such as A Christmas Story (Clark, 1983) for which he will always be remembered for pronouncing the word 'fragile' as 'FRA-GEE-LAY'. But no role ever fit his acting DNA so well as Kolchak.The reporter begins like a stereotype out of a 1930s newspaper flick. The hustling, wise-cracking cynic who's seen it all.
But McGavin doesn't play it as a joke. He makes Kolchak human by playing it straight and emphasizing the character's desperation to get out of this low rent job. Kolchak is often funny but we don't laugh at him.
We are with him for the ride and root for him to one-up the corrupt bureaucrats who just want to chew him up and spit him out. I found the Vegas officials to be more sinister than the vampire. At least he's honest about his motives.McGavin is surrounded by a cast of great character actors. Very few horror films made for the big or small screen can equal the cast of The Night Stalker.
Most of them are veterans of classic Hollywood cinema. Simon Oakland ( Psycho), Ralph Meeker ( Kiss Me Deadly), Kent Smith ( Cat People), Claude Akins ( Rio Bravo), Charles McGraw ( The Narrow Margin), and Elisha Cook, Jr. ( The Maltese Falcon) deliver Matheson's sharp dialogue with style. The one actor without any lines is Barry Atwater, but his powerful presence as Janos Skorzeny is all that needs to be said.The Night Stalker was directed by veteran British filmmaker John Llewellyn Moxey ( Horror Hotel). Moxey takes all of the restrictions of television and turns them to his advantage.
Unable to afford elaborate stunts or special effects, Moxey shoots the vampire action realistically. We merely observe Skorzeny jumping out of third-story windows, running down alleys, and tossing police officers around like rag dolls. All of this is shot in a loose, almost documentary manner with a casual air that makes it look all the more startling.Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak. The Night Stalker was the highest-rated made-for-TV movie up to that point, with an estimated 70 million viewers. It's hard to imagine that large an audience for anything these days; at least on the initial airing.
Streaming and 'binge-watching' have changed the way we watch television and it's becoming increasingly difficult to even say what 'television' is anymore. The parameters which defined the '1970s Made-for-TV Horror Movie' are largely gone now, but I don't know if that's proven to be such a good thing. Few modern television 'shows' or 'movies' are as lean and effective as The Night Stalker.Kino-Lorber has released The Night Stalker on Blu-ray in 4K restoration. It looks so good it almost belies its origins as a television movie.
The extras include an eight-page special edition booklet by film critic Simon Abrams, a trailer for Dan Curtis's later film, Burnt Offerings (1976), and interviews with director John Llewellyn Moxey, composer Bob Cobert, and producer Curtis. Moxey discusses his experience making theatrical and television films and stresses his work as a craftsman. The 94-year-old Robert Cobert has an amazing memory about his work on the production. He discusses the role of the composer in movies and television and his work for Dan Curtis.The music of Billy Goldenberg and Robert Cobert has always defined '70s TV horror for me.
The minute you hear Cobert's music you will immediately be transported to this old world of television thrills and chills. Curtis talks about the origins of the project and his initial problems with writer Richard Matheson. You get the impression that Curtis regrets not directing the movie himself but he's full of pride regarding everyone's work on it.As usual, the best extra is the commentary by film historian Tim Lucas. I think I've praised Lucas' commentaries a few times before but this one is as good as any he has recorded.
I've seen The Night Stalker about 783 times since I was nine-years-old, but his commentary made me see the film from a completely new perspective. I was really surprised that so many of its innovations eluded me.Barry Atwater as Janos Skorzeny.
When I was 13-years old I made a three-minute vampire film called Fangs shot on glorious Kodachrome 40 Super 8mm film. I'm not sure if I was conscious of the fact that the 'story' was nothing more than the climax of The Night Stalker reset in my parents' suburban home. Instead of just using the house as a suburban home, I worked hard to try to make it look like an old, dark mansion. Listening to Lucas' commentary I realized how influential that climax was to my humble amateur film and so many horror films that would follow.Kolchak doesn't confront Skorzeny in some modern Vegas apartment, but rather an isolated gothic mansion. For some reason, this never seemed odd to me, but since the rest of the movie takes place in such a modern world (for 1972) the obvious way to end the film would be to confront Sorzeny in some luxury high rise or even a casino hotel suite. But instead, the film moves us back in time to the old world of classic horror films.Kolchak enters the old dark house and confronts the vampire himself like Peter Cushing in any number of Hammer gothic horrors.
Lucas points out that this would be seen in many films in the genre afterward including Salem's Lot (Hooper, 1979). Salem's Lot takes place in a modern small town but by the end, we return to the old Marsten House sitting up on a hill and existing far outside the time and space of that story.
And it took a TV movie to achieve this feat. But there's no denying the powerful intersection of screen writer Richard Matheson, producer Dan Curtis, and Darren McGavin in perhaps his best role (after A Christmas Story). Ably assisted by Jeff Rice's original novel, Night Stalker works on every level. The humor is there, but a bit subdued. The vampire is a feral beast who is strong, invulnerable, and drinks blood.and that's it. No lame transformations into a bat: The script's portrayal of Skorzeny the Vampire echoes that of Christopher Lee (Hammer also resisted displaying much of Dracula's superhuman abilities).
Skorzeny has none of the sexuality or personality of Dracula, but in a sense the movie isn't about him even if he's the 'Stalker' of the title. It's a movie about Carl Kolchak, reporter and undeterred seeker of truth. He could be stalking a story about corrupt politicians, or mobsters, or whatever. The only difference is here, he's after a vampire. This extra supernatural element rises it above what few dramatic reporter-featured movies there are out there. Item - Take one modern setting such a Las Vegas and tell a story of vampirism set there.
Item - Add one eccentric, cynical reporter out for a good story with a great personality. Item - Add supporting characters that are interesting. Item - Add a fine cast headed by Darren McGavin as the relentless reporter Carl Kolchak.
And Simon Oakland as the head of the newspaper Kolchak works for. Also add great supporting stars such as Barry Atwater, Larry Linville, and Claude Akins. Item - Have one of the kings of horror fiction.Richard Mathseon write a script based on the excellent novel by Jeff Rice. Item - Add the final ingredient of artful direction and you have one great movie that was made for television and that spawned a sequel and a television series on the title character.
The Night Stalker is easily one of the best horror films ever made and certainly one of the best ever produced for television. The 1970s produced a large volume of made-for-TV movies, and, unlike today, they did not have to be about relevant social topics or preach political correctness. Back then, TV movies could actually be made with no intent other than to entertain-what a decade! The Night Stalker is one of the very best of these made-for-TV films.
Be warned, the production values are not as good as a feature film, but the story, the writing, the acting, and the director's mastery of creepiness make up for any other faults. From McGavin on down the line, the acting is terrific! In fact, Carl Kolchak may be McGavin's finest role. Richard Matheson's writing is up to his usual standards of excellence.
The Night Stalker Movie
Barry Atwater is a great bit of casting as the vampire. If there is one fault, and it has to be laid at the feet of the director, it is the inept use of a stunt man as a substitute for Atwater during the action scenes. In some scenes it is painfully obvious that it is not Atwater; it's a wonder the scenes weren't clipped. But this is the price that is paid for a TV movie with a short shooting schedule. As a whole, The Night Stalker is one of the very best vampire movies ever made. Don't let a few faults deter you from an otherwise classic bit of horror film-making. Remember, this is a TV movie; if you want lots of gore, don't waste your time.
At one point in the 1970's ABC movie of the week was the king of television movies. The Night Stalker was one of those reason why movie of the week reigned supreme. This along with movies like Duel and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and others I can't think of off hand were the reason. The Night Stalker is probably the best of these movies. It was a good story, with a very good and experienced cast of actors.
While many were character actors and second bananas, they played their roles well.All of the actors were believable in their roles.The movie was believable and the vampire element was kept simple with little or no special effects.It was not needed. I will grant some of the criticisms about how a middle-aged reporter like Kolchak was able to battle the vampire whereas the police had trouble have merit.However, this doesn't take away from the story. Remember, Kolchak was the only one armed to fight a vampire in the first place.Also, remember it was a made for t.v.
Movie and plus do you really think Peter Cushing could match Christopher Lee evenly in all of the Hammer Dracula movies, I mean there was a size and strength difference there too. Suspend your belief just a little.The movie was perfect for the times, towards the end of Vietnam and right before Watergate when we were skeptical of everything. This is one of the very few movies from the 70's that I remember fondly.The ending was perfect for the times as well. The Night Stalker as both a story and a movie has to rank in the top ten vampire movies bar none. This is a vampire classic that you can sink your teeth into with great satisfaction!
Las Vegas is a town where the unusual is considered normal.However when former top reporter Carl Kolchak played by Darren McGavin meets with police reluctance while covering the murder of a showgirl his curiosity is aroused.Suddenly there is a series of murders apparently committed by the vampire killer.The closer Kolchak gets to the truth the less he is able to reveal and the more frightened he becomes.' The Night Stalker' is a taut and suspenseful mix of vampire horror and comedy.The cast is superb with McGavin playing Kolchak like a 1940s' reporter who has emerged from a time capsule into the 1970s.The portrayal of vampire Skorzeny is positively bone-chilling.I'm not deeply into made for TV horror,but 'The Night Stalker' is very good. Decades after it's original broadcast on ABC, this exceptional 72 minute made-for-television masterpiece has lost none of it's power to frighten and enthrall an audience.
From the startling discovery of a girl's body stuffed into a garbage can, to the blood chilling image of two black eyes gazing upon an intended victim, or the heart-pounding jolt received when the vampire discovers Kolchak hiding behind a closet door, this movie is filled with unforgettable moments that still resonate with potency. Much credit belongs to John Llewellyn Moxey for his solid, assured direction. 'Dark Shadows' legend Dan Curtis was a fine choice to produce this, certainly the best film of his television career. And, of course, Darren McGavin's right-on-the-nose performance as reporter Carl Kolchak is the cornerstone of this remarkable thriller. In another time (and another genre), McGavin's work as the cynical, wisecracking news hound would surely have earned him an emmy. Likewise, Simon Oakland deserved recognition for his work as the hardboiled news editor Tony Vincenzo, and the on-screen chemistry between these two actors was instant and undeniable. Barry Atwater must also be singled out for his creepy embodiment of the role of Janos Skorzeny.
The cold, feral craving he displays as the vampire, like some ravenous animal, is achieved entirely through behaviour (he utters not a single word in the entire film) and it sure is effective. Screenwriter Richard Matheson's straight forward approach to the material lends a remarkable feeling of realism and authenticity to this supernatural-themed tale, adapted from a story by Jeff Rice, to whom all Kolchak fans owe thanks. Without his original inspiration and memorable characters, the entire 'Night Stalker' phenomenon would never have come to be. It's ironic, but it really wasn't supposed to be anything special; just another made-for-TV movie. But instead, it turned out to be an unforgettable vampire story, a seminal hit that served as the template for all the subsequent Kolchak adventures (not to mention inspiring hit shows like 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' and 'The X-Files'), and remains, arguably, the best horror film ever made for television. Anyone who might be interested in the 'Night Stalker' TV series can click the alien link above for reviews all of 20 episodes. Long a staple of late night television schedules, `The Night Stalker', is a memorable slice of seventies horror.
Darren McGavin is fantastic as Carl Kolchak, an eccentric, down at heel reporter covering a series of murders which are not what they seem. He is backed by a fine cast of familiar faces who help reinforce genre veteran Matheson's quality script and the atmospheric direction of John Llewellyn Moxley, which hides the made for television origins of this movie. If this has a weak spot, it lies in the bad guy', who is basically all teeth and snarls. Lacking character (and plainly odd) it's surprising that he wasn't spotted long before he arrived in Las Vegas (incidentally, the location adds a certain charm to the story).
I have never been a great fan of Darrin McGavin.But here HE is obviously having the time of his life!As 'Karl Kolchak' McGavin has the job of convincing his TV viewers that HE is convinced that a real-life Vampire killer is running loose in modern-day Las Vegas! And 'the Night Stalker' is just the right mix of atmosphere and scariness and doubt to keep it's TV viewer on the edge of the seat!Maybe it even works BETTER as a TV movie!! We the viewer are left with that final puzzling question.try to tell yourself 'it couldn't happen here'! Of course,this wouldn't be possible without Darrin McGavin's performance.He took the best of an opportunity late in his career,paving the way for a future TV horror series.I don't think the series was nearly as good as the original.But only Darrin McGavin could have carried it at all!!! Let me begin by saying that it should be eternally regretted that this excellent TV movie was not made as a big budget theatrical feature. The very fact that The Night Stalker (the film.not the series) was able to rise so far above its meager budget to become the classic it is today, is proof that it was not just another 'horror' movie.
Darren McGavin was a wonderful actor in any role he took on but as Carl Kolchak, he was inspired casting. In fact, every actor is this film did his/her best to make it the kind of film that you never forget. I have worn out two VHS copies of it, & finally picked up a fresh tape from Amazon.com. I only wish it would come out on DVD.
The plot was original and very well done, the comedic bits were funny without being campy, & the supernatural elements were really creepy and scary without the use of buckets of fake gore. I won't give away too much here, except to say that the Vampire turns out to be the real deal, not just a crazed psycho.the scene where a bunch of police officers trap him in a pool area & battle him with guns, clubs & fists is truly a masterfully done piece of film. If you haven't seen this one because it was 'just' a TV movie, put your petty prejudices aside & go rent, borrow, or buy a copy. I promise you a very entertaining evening that will make you wonder how you would handle such a situation.knowing what is out there & being unable to convince anyone to believe you. Fine acting, a great story, & a plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Different in tone from the TV series that followed, The Night Stalker movie is a little harder edged, darker, and pessimistic.
There is little of the comedic interplay between Vincenzo and Kolchak, which, alternatively, would characterize the series. How could it be otherwise, when Kolchack, as a reward for saving Las Vegas from the ravages of a vampire, is thrown out of town at film's end, his job lost and his girlfriend literally stolen away from him by the police? And as the credits begin to role at the end, there is nothing but silence-no music-and just the feeling that government and media have it within their power to completely bend the perception of reality to their own desires.
Made when producer Dan Curtis was at the height of his career, The Night Stalker lifts many touches directly from Curtis' hit TV soap opera, Dark Shadows (and its two feature film spin-offs), which was just ending its run, especially the musical leitmotifs, the Barnabus Collins-like appearance of Skorzeny, the vampire, and chiaroscuro lighting that animated the mansion occupied by Skorzeny. Richard Matheson has scripted some of the finest fantasy to ever grace the screen (big and small) and this one, based on the then-unpublished novel by Jeff Rice, took us all by surprise in 1972.
I remember the feeling of unease that crept over me as the tale unfolded that night so long ago. I remember a pale man dressed in black, robbing bloodbanks, and the not-so-heroic reporter who dogged his trail, determined to find the truth of the matter, no matter what the cost.
I was mesmerised. And greatly satisfied, on all counts. Try watching this one alone, at night, and you'll experience the sheer terror that only the best fright films can engender.
Right after his long stint working on DARK SHADOWS (the TV show and two theatrical releases) Dan Curtis returned to produce this excellent TV movie, which benefits from top-notch acting, good location work and a witty, suspenseful script by Richard Matheson (based on an unpublished Jeff Rice story). He also brought over talented British filmmaker John Llewellyn Moxey (HORROR HOTEL) to direct. In Las Vegas, unstoppable reporter (and, as his harried boss puts it, 'amateur bloodhound') Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) gets assigned to cover a story involving a young woman found dead completely drained of blood and with puncture marks on her neck. More victims follow and fit the same m.o., as Kolchak tries in vain to convince the authorities that what they are actually dealing with is a 70-year-old, super-strong vampire named Janos Skorzeny (Barry Atwater). He ends up right in the middle of 'the largest manhunt in Las Vegas history,' but the district attorney (Kent Smith), county sheriff (Claude Akins), police chief (Charles McGraw) and others want to cover it all up and 'don't want to cause a panic.'
Kolchak is just interesting in uncovering the truth and bears witness to the vampire robbing a blood bank, taking dozens of bullet hits, throwing cops around with ease and keeping a victim tied to a bed in his home for quick late-night snacks. McGavin is great fun in this role; energetic, quick-witted, no-nonsense, sardonic, pushy, courageous and his rapid-fire sarcastic exchanges ('What do you want? A testimonial from Count Dracula?' ) with flustered, screeching editor-in-chief Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) are highlights. Atwater's silent bloodsucker is pretty creepy, too, especially in close-up. After the success of this TV movie, Curtis, followed with THE NIGHT STRANGLER, the second pilot film for the eventual television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
The MGM DVD contains both films and two interesting interviews with Curtis. For those who remember this television show, re-visiting it on VHS or DVD is a nostalgic experience. Darren McGavin was a likable, funny guy as 'Carl Kolchak,' a reporter for an independent news service who chases after vampires and assorted weirdos. In this pilot show, 'Kolchak' goes after a vampire in Las Vegas.
Ah, a good place for any bloodsucker. Since this was on television back in the early-to-mid '70s, you see a thriller with no gore and no profanity and you also get to see the beautiful Carol Lynley's face again. Darrin McGavin was an underrated actor, a guy who always seemed to make whatever character he was playing an interesting guy. He was great in this short (2 years, I think) television series. The only annoying part of the this film and the TV series is all the hostility toward Kolchak, particularly by his loud and obnoxious employer, 'Tony Vincenzo,' played by Simon Oakland.
Good stuff here as modern-day vampirism gets a respectable TV-movie treatment that managed to bring something original to the mixture by having the story told from the point of view of a weary reporter. Darren McGavin is unforgettable in a telefilm that set the record for ratings shares in its day. His reporter, Carl Kolchak, becomes a believer in the supernatual when he investigates a series of murders where the (female) victims are drained of blood. Kolchak uncovers the truth-the murders are the work of a 'real live vampire'-and the truth is quickly covered up again by the Las Vegas police department, who don't want the news of a vampire to interfere with business (one is forced to consider that the ultimate proof of bonafide supernatural goings-on would ultimately be of more importance, but that would spoil the fun). The film is delightfully dated in its fashions and styling, but otherwise the treatment of the material is surprisingly contemporary, which goes to show just how far ahead of its time 'The Night Stalker' really was. 70s genre buffs will be thrilled to see plenty of familiar faces among the cast, including Carol Lynley and Elisha Cook, Jr. The finale, where Kolchak makes the classic spooky-movie mistake of confronting the monster in his own lair, manages to be both tongue-in-cheek and hair raising at the same time.
A real example of how storytelling and creativity can render a big budget unnecessary. Made-for-TV movies in the horror genre seem doomed by the fact that they are interrupted every few minutes by commercials. But when you get an interesting concept (a vampire stalking Las Vegas) and a world-class writer like Richard Matheson (who wrote 'The (Incredible) Shrinking Man' and numerous classic 'Twilight Zone' eps) you have a formula for success.
When you add producer Dan Curtis, the creator of 'Dark Shadows', the possibility of a kick-ass TV horror movie becomes a reality. When a woman is murdered, reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is called back from a vacation to cover it. A two-day old story, Kolchak tells editor Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) that it doesn't seem to be worth pursuing. But Vincenzo insists, and off he goes. He finds, through his contacts, that the victim lost a lot of blood. Another victim is found in the middle of an unmarked expanse of desert sand. Also drained of blood.
(The phrase 'massive loss of blood' becomes a sort of in-joke.) Kolchak's girlfriend (Carol Lynley) tries to get Carl to accept the possibility that the killer might be an actual vampire. He resists at first, but as the victims and evidence mounts up, he becomes convinced. The story builds to a satisfying climax, but the kicker is in the way that the story is hushed up and censored.
Matheson's script is atmospheric and witty. The interplay between Carl and Tony is worth the price of admission (or the DVD). The movie spawned a sequel 'The Night Strangler' and a series 'Kolchak: The Night Stalker'. The series (available on video tape) was the inspiration for Chris Carter to create 'The X-files'.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies. It had a great plot, good characters. A reluctant hero and one of the best TV movie villains ever.
Of course, you have to have a good villain to make a story work and Janos Skorzeny certainly fits the bill. And Barry Atwater plays Skorzeny with the perfect amount of venom and snarl, not going way over the top, which would have been easy to do. Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak was also a role he was born to play. The rumpled suit, the trademark straw hat (which he incidentally wore along with a tuxedo to a Dean Martin celebrity roast!), the almost Columbo-like dogged questioning and pursuit.
His 'High Noon' showdown with Skorzeny was as good as it gets. No one else was willing or able to take down the bad guy so the character least likely to do it reluctantly decides to save the city from a maniac. The characters who worked for Las Vegas law enforcement were more interested in protecting their backsides and practicing CYA after being made to look foolish and incompetent by a reporter willing to consider something beyond their imagination. By sending the only people who knew the truth - Kolchak, his girlfriend and his editor, Tony Vincenzo - either out of town or threatening them into silence, the cover-up of the truth was completed. Persistent rumors exist that there are plans to remake this into a big screen movie. I hope not, I am having problems imagining contemporary actors who could play these roles better than the original cast. This movie premiered on TV when I was in fourth grade - the commercials advertising it had been going on for weeks, and the night it aired, I think every kid in my school planned to watch it.
The only TV that worked in my house at the time (and we only had two) was in my parents' bedroom. So my parents, my younger brother and I all parked on the rug in there, with the lights out, to watch what we had been looking forward to for weeks.
This was long before cable and VCRs, so it's hard to understand today what a HUGE event this was. And, unlike a lot of highly touted TV flicks, The Nightstalker did not disappoint. IT WAS SCARY!! And funny, when it wasn't being scary. And overall, just enormously entertaining. Darren McGavin, who is in my top ten list of most under-rated actors, is just so much fun to watch.
When it was over, all four of us went downstairs at the same time, practically on top of one another, we were so scared stiff. My older brother, who had a night job at a label factory had watched the movie there, and before leaving to take the trolley home, put a two-by-four in his back pocket, just in case.
I saw the movie again several years ago, and it was just as good as it was way back in 1972. Unlike today's horror movies, which are usually just gross or violent, this one is truly scary, and manages it with a minimum of gore and violence. Okay, well when this premiered on ABC or was it NBC on January 11, 1972 I was 8 years old and at my friend Todd's house.
We turned on whatever channel it was on and sat down to watch some movie our friends said they saw TV spots for it that day. When the girl at the beginning was attacked I had to walk out of the room. See, I wasn't a big horror fan and I hated horror movies. I came back in and watched one of the best TV movies, let alone horror movies ever. The sequel came out 1 year and 5 days later, I was 9, and I thought the sequel was scarier than the first. I love this movie and that's why I gave it a 10/10.
SUMMARY: Carl Kolchak, reporter in Las Vegas, investigates a series of murders that seem to be caused by a vampire. People don't believe him and he finally meets up with the vampire. G Great suspense, nice acting, violent, and since it started me on horror movies, I give it. stars. THE NIGHT STALKER, the telefilm adapted from the then unpublished novel THE KOLCHAK TAPES by Jeff Rice, presents viewers with a most frightening and utterly BELIEVABLE vampire, Janos Skorzeny (Barry Atwater), a creature who resembles a tormented heroin addict more so than the glamorized, two-dimensional vampire fare of Anne Rice and Buffyland. Darren McGavin's gritty portrayal of Carl Kolchak, the intrepid newshound on the vampire's trail, is certainly the most inspired role of his career. Of all the horror films in existence, THE NIGHT STALKER is certainly at the top of this genre's list for its surrealistic, cinema verite photography, first-rate acting, top-notch directing (John Llewelyn Moxey) and for its 'The Front Page Meets Dracula' screenplay by fantasy veteran Richard Matheson.
This is a telefilm that chills as well as offers a parable about political corruption and deceit. Now how timely is that? Darren McGavin gives a wonderfully robust and engaging performance as Carl Kolchak, an abrasive, impetuous, impulsive, and excitable down-on-his-luck newspaper reporter who uncovers the scoop of a lifetime after he finds out that Janos Skorzeny (a genuinely frightening portrayal by Barry Atwater), the man responsible for a vicious series of baffling murders in Las Vegas, is an actual vampire.
Expertly directed with topmost brisk efficiency by John Llewllyn Moxey (who also gave us the well-regarded early 60's gem 'Horror Hotel'), with a sharp and witty script by noted writer Richard Matheson, a constant frantic pace, plenty of tension (the big confrontation between Kolchak and Skorzeny is especially harrowing), a wickedly amusing sense of cynical humor, several rousing rough'n'tumble action set pieces, and a realistic downbeat ending, this bang-up little winner makes for an incredibly gripping, scary, and flat-out entertaining treat. The first-rate acting from a stellar cast of seasoned pros constitutes as another significant asset: Carol Lynley as Kolchak's loyal, concerned gal pal Gail Foster, Simon Oakland as Kolchak's irascible, long-suffering superior Tony Vincenzo, Ralph Meeker as affable FBI agent Bernie Jenks, Claude Akins as the huffy Sheriff Warren A. Butcher, Charles McGraw as the crusty Police Chief Ed Masterson, Elisha Cook, Jr.
As wormy informant Mickey Crawford, Kent Smith as the severe District Attorney Tom Paine, Larry Linville as puzzled coroner Dr. Robert Makurji, and Stanley Adams as fast-talking used car salesman Fred Hurley.
Michael Hugo's crisp, polished cinematography accurately nails the blinding gaudiness of the Las Vegas setting (said Vegas setting is a truly inspired stroke of genius, with the city's notorious reputation for sucking tourists' wallets dry serving as an ideal counterpart to Skorzeny's literal bloodsucking rampage). Bob Cobert's groovy-spooky score likewise hits the funky spot.
Moreover, the violence is really brutal and intense for an early 70's made-for-TV picture (Skorzeny calmly breaks a large dog's neck in one particularly chilling scene!). With his battered straw hat, rumpled suit, and aggressively opportunistic go-getter sensibility, McGavin's Carl Kolchak qualifies as a highly likable, if unlikely and pretty scrappy everyman hero. Totally worthy of its cult classic status. As a kid growing up in the '70's I absolutely loved the television show 'The Night Stalker,' and have never really understood how it lasted only one season. Probably because I was a couple of years younger, I never saw the original pilot movie for the series, also called 'The Night Stalker.'
As far as I recall, today was the first time I've ever seen the movie and it did not disappoint. It's funny (you have to love Darren McGavin as Kolchak) it has excitement and action, it's scary in a creepy sort of way.
There's really very little in the way of blood and gore. Most of the violence is implied rather than shown, but it's still a great horror movie - and maybe those who make horror movies today could learn that lesson. It's not all about the blood and gore. It's about atmosphere.
'The Night Stalker' had plenty of that. Darren McGavin plays Carl Kolchak, a reporter for a Las Vegas newspaper who has a checkered career history (fired 10 times if I remember the scene correctly) in the past who yearns to find his way back to a big city paper. In the movie, he ends up being assigned to report on a murder investigation, and becomes convinced that the murders are being committed by what he calls 'a real, live vampire' (can you call a vampire 'live?' ) In pursuing this line, he battles the police, the district attorney, and his own editor, Vincenzo (played by Simon Oakland.) And, in the end, he's proved right, and he's the one who finally catches the vampire (played by Barry Atwater) and destroys it. It's a bit hokey, yes, and some parts are hard to accept - like the police receiving the report from the coroner and discussing details of the investigation right in front of the press, not to mention Vincenzo's unwillingness to run with the story because it might frighten people.
Kolchak put it well: 'this is news and we're a newspaper.' Hokiness aside, though, it's a lot of fun.
I appreciated an interview with producer Dan Curtis that was included in the DVD in which he really tore a strip off of modern made for TV movies, saying that today they all have to be big events, whereas when 'The Night Stalker' was made, all it had to be was good and entertaining. And so this was. Before Scully and Mulder were chasing after UFO's, vampires, and other strange 'unexplainable' anomalies, there was Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak. Each week Independent news service reporter Carl K Kolchak investigates the weird world of the supernatural. He is in a sense a hero to truth seekers, and those that 'want to believe'.
In the pursuit of the bizarre facts, Kolchack will often find himself at odds with the authorities. Uncovering the mysteries of the preternatural are often dead locked by politicians and other bureaucrats, not so inclined to divvy up the truth. Although Kolchak is an excellent and credible journalist (the antithesis of Dan Rather to be precise), his outlandish explanations often cause him to be made the subject of fun and ridicule. He is often found to be the source of his editor's (Tony Vincenzo) upset stomach. This is due to the fact, and a testament to Kolchaks refusal to dismiss what can not be explained. Even if the answer is something along the lines of a vampire, Kolchak will not waver. Not to mention the comic possibility's of Vinceno bellowing because of Kochak's explanation, concerning his latest fantastical investigation.
The cognitive story lines of The Night Stalker Series, were based partly on science, the paranormal, and folklore. The casting was top notch, as well as the dialog. Inauspiciously though, the shows ratings did peter out, and after just one season the ABC canceled the series. Although The Night Stalker ended it's run in the summer of 74, it is still missed these many years later. When the first Kolchak movie 'The Night Stalker' scored the highest rating for a Television movie ever in 1972, at its inception, it was a clear notion that investigating the supernatural was a winner.
The success of the X-Files, which premiered 20 years after Kolchak, and whose roots derived from Kolchak, is another testament to this series. Las Vegas reporter Darren McGavin (as Carl Kolchak) becomes involved in investigating a series of ghastly murders; in each case, the lovely young victims are drained of blood. Vampires aren't real or, are they? After the relative failure of his second 'Dark Shadows' feature film, Dan Curtis took the production team back to television; and, for several years, his shadowy films were made for TV. This is one of the best. McGavin is terrific in the title role; and, he is sported by a team of fine veterans. Wistful Carol Lynley (as Gail Foster) and surly Simon Oakland (as Tony Vincenzo) are notable.
Lynley seems very mysterious, at times; and, her relative youthfulness is a little strange. Oakland stuck with the series; and, like the others, performs ably. One of the reasons this movie was so wildly successful was its 'modern' look at the possibility of vampires among us (and, 'Dark Shadows'-starved fans surely caught the musical and thematic cues to tune in). The modern tone is lost, presently; making 'The Night Stalker' more of a nostalgic trip. Bob Colbert's music is terrific, as usual.
Kolchak The Night Stalker
The Las Vegas location footage (Michel Hugo) is beautifully atmospheric. And, Jeff Rice and Richard Matheson deserve much credit. Strangely, Mr. Curtis did not give himself the director's chair (for this one); and, no 'Dark Shadows' alumni appear (this time).
Over 30 years later, Curtis gave writer Mark Dawidziak permission to use the character 'Barnabas Collins' to more fully explain the origin of 'Janos Skorzeny'; his story merges the 'Dark Shadows' and 'Night Stalker' universes, while maintaining each series' integrity. Dawidziak's 'Interview with a Vampire?' Appears in the anthology 'Kolchak: The Night Stalker Chronicles'.
The Night Stalker (1/11/72) John Llewellyn Moxey Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Barry Atwater.