Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler (1972 -1973)

"This is news, Vincenzo, news! We are supposed to print news, not suppress it." Carl Kolchak

This is a real treat, a 1970s TV movie that has held up over time. Even better, it consists of two TV movies, both The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler on either side of the DVD.

A Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows) Production, The Night Stalker stars Darren McGavin as pushy newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak, who has been fired from almost every big city newspaper in America - sometimes more than once.

Kolchak is stuck in Las Vegas when an apparently routine murder turns out to be the basis for a set of serial killings. As evidence mounts, the only possible perpetrator must be a vampire. As Kolchak's questions to authorities become ever more shrill, their cover-up becomes ever deeper. Can't panic the tourists - that would be bad for business. The ending comes with Kolchak agreeing to leave town in order to avoid a trumped up prosecution for murder - but the viewer, along with Kolchak knows that the "victim" was already dead; undead, in fact.

The Night Strangler finds Kolchak surfaced in Seattle, again reunited with his editor Vincenzo whom we learn also had to leave Vegas after the Night Stalker murders. Another routine murder leads to a series and Kolchak is again on the trail of a supernatural monster who has killed repetitively over an unfathomable number of years. The authorities predictably deny his evidence and force him and his editor to leave town.

Both movies are strong, with The Night Stalker a bit better because the story was new and fresh. The Night Strangler basically reprised the original story with a few extra twists that didn’t really add much except about 15 minutes to the running time. The movies are thrillers that give frequent nods to the film noir genre, with voiceover narration by McGavin who explains the story as we proceed.

Besides the strong stories, both movies benefit from a superior cast, including Darren McGavin, as Kolchak, dressed in a rumpled seersucker suit and straw fedora about twenty years out of date. Supporting cast is equally good with Simon Oakland (Psycho), Ralph Meeker (Paths of Glory), Elisha Cooke, Jr. (Maltese Falcon), Richard Anderson, Claude Akins, Scott Brady, Wally Cox, Jo Anne Pflug, Margaret Hamilton (Wizard of Oz), Kent Smith (The Spiral Staircase), Charles McGraw (The Narrow Margin), Carol Lynley, Barry Atwater (Pork Chop Hill) and Al Lewis (The Munsters). These Kolchak movies spawned a short-lived series but paved the way for future prime-time supernatural thrillers like The X Files and Buffy, Vampire Slayer.

The MGM DVD presents one movie on each of the two sides together with a featurette by Producer/Director Dan Curtis on each movie. Skeptics who don't believe a TV movie could be good viewing are excellent candidates to see this DVD.

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV