The Night Stalker (1972)

An abrasive Las Vegas newspaper reporter investigates a series of murders committed by a vampire.

Director:

John Llewellyn Moxey

Writers:

Richard Matheson (teleplay), Jeffrey Grant Rice (story) (as Jeff Rice)

Stars:

Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Darren McGavin	...	Carl Kolchak
Carol Lynley	...	Gail Foster
Simon Oakland	...	Tony Vincenzo
Ralph Meeker	...	Bernie Jenks
Claude Akins	...	Sheriff Butcher
Charles McGraw	...	Chief Masterson
Kent Smith	...	D.A. Paine
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Mickey Crawford
Stanley Adams	...	Fred Hurley
Larry Linville	...	Makurji
Jordan Rhodes	...	Dr. O'Brien
Barry Atwater	...	Janos Skorzeny

Storyline

Carl Kolchak is a newspaper reporter with an abrasive personality that has gotten him fired ten times from various big-city papers. Now he's reduced to reporting for a relatively small-time paper in Las Vegas. It's here he gets the story of his life. But will the local sheriff, or the D.A., or even his own boss, let him print it? He has an ally in the FBI agent brought in to investigate this strange case. It seems someone is biting the necks of young girls and draining their blood. Can this killer with supernormal powers really be a 70-year-old Romanian millionaire? Can he really be a vampire? And can an aging reporter do anything to stop him?

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Plot Keywords:

serial murder | 1970s | las vegas | nevada | reference to dracula | 

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 January 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Kolchak Papers

Filming Locations:

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$450,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ABC Circle Films, Dan Curtis Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The music from the 1970 movie House of Dark Shadows was used towards the end of the TV movie Night Stalker. It is particularly noteworthy towards the end of the movie as Kolchak and Bernie Jenks (Ralph Meeker) are fighting Janos Skorzeny (Barry Atwater) in the vampire's house.

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Goofs

When the vampire is in the hospital stealing from the blood bank, a nurse is thrown against a wall, and knocked unconscious. But as the scuffle continues, the "unconscious" nurse, moves her legs - twice - to avoid being stepped on.

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Quotes

Carl Kolchak: [picking up phone] Kolchak.
Dr. John O'Brien: Hi, Carl. I just thought you'd like to know I heard the Parkway Hospital was knocked over.
Carl Kolchak: Yeah? Knocked over for what? Cash, drugs, equipment, what?
[shocked reaction to the response]
Carl Kolchak: Blood?
Dr. John O'Brien: That's right. Every container in the place. Their entire stock.
Carl Kolchak: What about blood type?
Dr. John O'Brien: Seems blood type and Rh factor didn't much matter

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Connections

Featured in Svengoolie: The Night Stalker (1999)

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Soundtracks

Manhattan
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Lorenz Hart
Performed by Darren McGavin

User Reviews

The Golden Age of Wampyr

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.