There are some people who say I have a lot in common with Darren McGavin's character Carl Kolchak in the 1974-1975 television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. They either mean that I'm bold, unafraid to do what's necessary to get at the truth of a situation, and tenacious, or obnoxious, brash, and clumsy....I'm not about to hazard a guess which they are thinking of.

Kolchak attempted to weave suspense and horror together with mystery and sci-fi elements, and, although it didn't quite get where the producers wanted it to go, it has a comfortable, somewhat quirky niche of its own. The series was created by Jeff Rice and was based upon two made for television movies written by Rice and Richard Matheson, The Night Stalker, and a year later The Night Strangler. After the huge response to both movies, the series was released in 1974 and ran for one season. It suffered from low budgets, campy plots, and far-fetched ideas, but during the short time it ran, it was quite a ride.

Carl Kolchak is a reporter for the Chicago-based Independent News Service ("INS") who seems to have a knack for stumbling into the strangest stories ever encountered; which are as follows: In The Ripper he investigates a series of murders and discovers the killer is actually the real Jack the Ripper; in The Zombie bizarre violent deaths of mob figures leads to the discovery of a zombie killing them one by one to get revenge for his past life, in They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be (aka UFO) the first of two episodes where the monster is never seen,an invisible alien force is destroying Chicago and sucking the bone marrow out of people and animals; The Vampiredeals with a Las Vegas call girl who is also a vampire.

The pace never lets up. Further episodes include The Werewolf, where Kolchak is covering the final cruise of a luxury ocean liner and discovers a werewolf among the passengers, Fire Fall has a ghostly presence that kills people via Spontaneous Human Combustion; The Devil's Platform involves a senatorial candidate who has made a pact with the devil; (not exactly as unusual as you may think these days)Bad Medicine has "the diablero"; a ghostly cliff-dwelling medicine man condemned to walk the earth forever collecting jewels; The Spanish Moss Murders revolves around a giant creature from the Louisiana bayous stalking around Chicago crushing people to death; The Energy Eater is the second of two episodes where the monster is never seen and involves an invisible spirit that thrives on electricity and is killing the staff and patients of a newly constructed hospital; and Horror In The Heights introduces us to "the rakshasa", a Hindu demon that kills people by taking the form of the person they trust the most to lure them into its grasp.

As the series progressed, horror began to degenerate into more humor, but many of the episodes were still exceptional. Mr. R.I.N.G. was my favorite episode of the series, and involves a highly intelligent robot that killed its creator to avoid being shut down and was hiding in the Chicago alleys trying to survive; The Primal Scream (aka The Humanoid) had bizarre apes that were a government experiment gone awry rampaging through the Chicago sewers; The Trevi Collection was perhaps the spookiest episode and involved a coven of witches systematically destroying Chicago's fashion industry; Chopper was perhaps the silliest episode because of the poor quality of the special effects and had a headless man on a motorcycle cruising around decapitating former gang members; Demon In Lace involved a succubus killing young men on a college campus; Legacy of Terror brought us an ancient Aztec cult sacrificing people to try to resurrect its deity, "Nanautzin, the Lord of the Smoking Mirror"; The Knightly Murders (another very silly episode)involved a haunted suit of armor that murdered people with medieval weapons; The Youth Killer involved the young people at a singles club suddenly dying of old age, ands the killer turned out to be Helen of Troy, who would kill them to steal their youth and beauty; and the final episode, The Sentry dealt with unexplained deaths at a governmental archival facility with the bodies literally ripped apart, by a large bipedal lizard creature protecting its eggs.

It's a shame it only lasted for one season, because a bizarre little vehicle for a series this was indeed...yet it worked for twenty episodes. It's definitely showing its age today, but despite the 1974 fashions, vehicles, music and special effects, it holds its own very well. Darren McGavin was awesome in the role of Kolchak...he managed to look and act simultaneously cynical, tired, shocked, wiseacre, and frightened all at once without missing a beat. Other regular cast members included Simon Oakland in a superb role as irascible editor Tony Vincenzo, both Kolchak's best friend and greatest nemesis, Jack Grinnage as foppish Ron Updyke, and Ruth Devitt as sweet yet sassy senior citizen reporter Emily Cowles. I want to have a grandmother just like her.

Guest stars included such notables as Richard Keil in fine performances as the creatures in Bad Medicine and The Spanish Moss Murders, Scatman Crothers and Antonio Fargas in The Zombie, Dick Gautier in a superb performance as a smarmy playboy in The Werewolf, and William Daniels as a world-weary detective in The Vampire.

It definitely never reached the heights of "The Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits", or even "Dark Shadows", but, for a time,Kolchak:The Night Stalker held a place of honor in television horror programming, and still holds it today.

My thanks go to Psychovant for adding this to the Epinions database.

Yours until I run across a monster the next time I go outside;

Hugh U. Kidden















Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older