The Night Strangler

This was a second pilot for a television series that aired after this movie was shown. Another pilot, "The Night Stalker," a year earlier. This one actually kicked off the series, called "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," which ran only two years. It seemed to be popular so I don't know why it didn't last longer.

At 90 minutes, this was longer than the first pilot but very similar in plot. The only major change is in the cities. Here, our intrepid reporter-hero "Carl Kolchak" (Darren McGavin) is hunting down a serial-killer werewolf in Seattle instead of Las Vegas.

He has the same common opponents, meaning his newspaper boss "Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) and a hostile police chief (played by Scott Brady). Along the way you get to see a bevy of beauties including Jo Ann Pflug and Nina Wayne. You also have brief appearances by somewhat-famous actors John Carradine, Margaret Hamilton, Al Lewis and Wally Cox.

The story will keep your interest and has good suspense at the end. The only annoying part - at least for me - is the overdone yelling between McGavin and Oakland, and McGavin and Brady. Every single time - every time - that pairing is on screen it is nothing but a shouting match. Can you say "abrasive?" It's just too much. Thankfully, on DVD, I can use the English subtitles and mute the sound button so I can turn off these screaming lunatics. Unfortunately, those shouting sessions take up a good chunk of the movie.

The Night Strangler is the follow up to the successful 1972 TV movie 'The Night Stalker'. Aside from featuring similar titles, the films also share similar plot lines, and it could be said that this is something of a remake of the first film with a slightly more in depth story. I won't profess to be a big fan of the first film in the series, although I found it to be a more than decent TV movie and I did enjoy it. This film isn't a big improvement over the first one, although I would say it's an improvement; with a longer running time and a more well thought-out plot, this one delves into it's subject matter more and feels more like a proper movie than a made for TV movie. Darren McGavin once again plays Kolchak; a maverick reporter who this time finds himself in Seattle after being ran out of Las Vegas (probably for annoying everyone with his constant persistence!). Coincidence strikes and pretty soon he's on the trail of yet another vampire! He discovers that every 21 years for over a hundred years, a group of people have been killed within a small time period and thinks the murders are connected.

The thing that stands out most about this film is most definitely the central performance from Darren McGavin. His portrayal of the stubborn reporter is great to watch and always ensures that the film is entertaining. A lot of the film consists of our unlikely hero trying to convince the relevant authorities that his suspicions are fact and them disbelieving them. These scenes are fairly clichéd, although they are fun to watch; and again it's mostly because of McGavin's excellent impersonation of the central character. Since the film is really about the detective on the trail of the vampire, there's not a great deal of actual bloodshed or bloodsucking in the film, although that isn't much of a hindrance because as a thriller it works very well and director Dan Curtis does manage to create several moments of suspense that kick the action up a level. It's always obvious where it's all going, and the ending doesn't come as a surprise; but it's a fun time getting there. This film and the first one were pilots for a TV series and obviously they did the trick because Kolchak was solving more mysteries in his own TV series a year after this film was released.

Having seen this movie when it originally appeared on TV in the '70's, I can still remember the chills I got watching it. Seeing it again on video recently, those old chills returned and were just as enjoyable. Kolchak is one of my all-time favorite heroes, a bumbling regular guy who has enough faith in himself to follow his beliefs despite the road blocks thrown in his path by the authorities, who believe only they know the right way. The villain is not your run of the mill monster but as evil, lurking and despicable as the best of them. The premise of the movie that these things can and do exist unbeknownst to the gullible public is what makes this movie so much fun to watch. It makes you want to pull your covers up over your head on a dark stormy night just the way a great horror film should.

Follow-up to the 1972 TV movie "The Night Stalker". Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is now in Seattle. It seems women are being killed and drained of their blood. It also seems this happens every 21 years. Kolchak investigates helped by a wacky woman (Jo Ann Pflug).

This is nowhere near as good as "The Night Stalker" despite having most of the same crew involved. The story is kind of vague and the comedy and scares don't really work. Still it looks fantastic, has great atmosphere and good acting. McGavin and Simon Oakland reprise their roles and are great. Pflug is too but her character is annoying. This lead to a TV show called "Kolchak the Night Stalker" which was not a hit but has a cult following now. So this is an OK movie elevated by good acting and atmosphere.

The intrepid reporter Carl Kolchak (McGavin) returns to familiar paranormal territory as he uncovers a case of an apparently 'undead' fiend, maniacally bumping off hot models for their blood. Typically, his agitator brand of journalism and puritanical pursuit of integrity, rubs his superiors the wrong way leading to another double edged sword. Not as good as the predecessor ("The Night Stalker"), but still entertaining fare with another capable cast and effective chills.

The characterisations are, essentially, the same as the aforementioned picture, with different actors in the respective parts; Scott Brady is in the Claude Akins role, John Carradine vice Kent Smith, Richard Anderson vs Barry Atwater, Jo Ann Pflug in for Carol Lynley etc etc. Despite the carbon copy, the set design is superior here, and the storyline involves a few more angles, even if the comedic tone is more pronounced. Dialogue remains taut and functional, and Simon Oakland is again borderline self-parody as Kolchak's long suffering editor, Tony Vincenzo. Overall, the key distinction here is that director Curtis (who served as producer on the first picture) treats the subject matter with much more humour.

In spite of its age and relative confinement (TV scale), brevity keeps things absorbing and the appearance of beauties Pflug, Nina Wayne and Anne Randall (in a prominent cameo as a feisty policewoman) is a welcome sight amid all the macabre.