Chopper

Episode aired Jan 31, 1975
51m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

503

YOUR RATING

Supernatural Horror Horror Mystery Thriller

Land development disturbs the final resting place of a headless, sword-wielding cyclist who hunts down and beheads the rival gang bikers who killed him.Land development disturbs the final resting place of a headless, sword-wielding cyclist who hunts down and beheads the rival gang bikers who killed him.Land development disturbs the final resting place of a headless, sword-wielding cyclist who hunts down and beheads the rival gang bikers who killed him.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

503

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
As Kolchak searches the Cook County warehouse for Baker's body, he finds the name on a tarp that also includes the name "Backus." Jim Backus was a guest star.

Goofs
Kolchak's narration states that it's February, but no only is no snow or no sign of it being cold, there are no bare trees to show it's the middle of winter.

Quotes
Carl Kolchak: There's an old simple axiom about the dead: Don't disturb them, not for any reason at all. Well, I decided to ignore that, and, so, I was almost beheaded by a phantom sword.

Connections
Referenced in The Real Ghostbusters: The Headless Motorcyclist (1987)

User reviews12

Review

Featured review

5/10

Kolchak: "Chopper"

PLOT: Kolchak investigates deadly attacks by a resurrected headless biker who preys on the rival gang who killed him in the mid-50s. The attractive Sharon Farrell plays a grieving widow while Jim Backus (Mr. Howell on Gilligan's Island) is on hand as a motorcycle dealer.

COMMENTARY: Critics understandably complain about the look of the headless motorcyclist, which is just a stuntman with a leather jacket pulled up over his head, but what do you expect for pre-CGI early-70s television? While the plot is interesting, "Chopper" is unfortunately hindered by a talky, campy execution. This is only one episode so I can handle the change in tone, but it's decidedly cartoonish compared to the serious horror of the pilot movie and episodes like "The Vampire," "Horror in the Heights" and "The Trevi Collection."