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Such a frustrating disappointment

Simply Perfect

Simply A Masterpiece

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

So is the tongue-in-cheek of Darren McGavin in this Sensational 1970's TV Thriller that spawned a sequel and a brief TV series. I remember watching the series as a kid, and remember being disappointed that it only lasted a short time. However, in seeing the TV movies years later, I can understand why McGavin decided to call it a day when the TV series became simply too camp to be taken seriously. It was if "Dark Shadows" had taken over the streets of the modern big city, with every kind of creature of the night possible. Like "Dark Shadows", this focuses on a fearsome vampire, and like that classic daytime soap opera, even the same composer (Robert Cobert).A string of bloody murders are befuddling the Las Vegas police department, giving indication of something evil, possibly supernatural and maybe even undead. The killings themselves are truly gruesome, and once you see the culprit, you might wonder too if vampires still roam the earth. McGavin is delightfully subtle in the tongue in cheek way he delivers his dialog, surrounded by such familiar faces as Simon Oakland, Claude Akins and Carol Lynley. The Vegas officials don't want the rumors of possible vampirism spreading around and scaring the tourist trade away. But when a victim is unable to prevent her horrid death with the protection of a fierce doberman, the truth is going to get out. This never lets up, flying by in just 75 minutes. I can see why it was the most popular TV movie up to that time because it's simply no nonsense good fun that more than 40 years later still holds up.

It's hard to imagine now, but by the early 1970s the vampire was, cinematically speaking, something of a dead issue. (Rimshot.) True, the UK's Hammer Studios were still plugging along with their Dracula Variations, starring Christopher Lee and a parade of bosoms in period costume, to increasingly musty effect. Attempts to modernize the concept, as in Dracula AD 1972, did not exactly catch fire.New motifs dominated the scene. Hitchcock's Psycho kickstarted the enormously profitable psychopath industry, Romero's irony-laced Night of the Living Dead established a taste for gore with social awareness. Polanski's Rosemary's Baby made even the presence of the Devil as imminent as a neighbor ringing the bell. The crux was immediacy -- vampires wore capes and came from the Old World. They were just so 19th century. Who would be scared?Curiously enough Richard Matheson, one of the industry's most prolific pros, had both reinvented and doomed the vampire as a credible agent of horror in 1954, by writing the novel I Am Legend. An tale of a lone human in a world taken over by vampires, it changed the field by making vampirism a scientific phenomenon instead of a supernatural one, and directly paved the way for Romero's visceral apocalypse. When the novel was filmed as The Omega Man in 1971, that hokey v-word had been taken out entirely; they weren't Nosferatu, just mutants.So it makes poetic sense that Matheson should help rescue the genre by scripting one of its modern classics: The Night Stalker. Adapted from an unpublished story by Jeff Rice, this whipsmart TV movie recharged the batteries by keeping it real.In a modern (1970s modern, that is) and believably seedy Las Vegas, a series of odd murders begins. The police call it the work of a serial killer. But as the anomalies pile up, our protagonist, a down-on-his-luck reporter named Carl Kolchak, forms a different opinion. "I hate to say it," he informs the chagrined authorities (and he doesn't hate to say it either; he's sitting on the scoop of the century and he's grinning like a Cheshire Cat) "But it looks like we've got a real, live vampire on our hands."Kolchak, as played by the wonderful Darren McGavin, is a masterstroke of characterization. With his cheap suit and outsize ego he's a walking irritant, and his exchanges with the police and his weary editor Anthony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) are rich with comic detail. (The sheriff informs Carl that he is present by "the mutual suffrage of us all." "Sufferance," corrects Kolchak.) He makes the perfect hero here by having almost nothing of the heroic about him, except a certain hard-headedness that serves for courage. He *knows* he's right, and he might just get himself killed to prove it.Terrifically entertaining, The Night Stalker became the highest-rated TV movie of its time, spawning a sequel and a short-lived but quite fun series with a disproportionately large footprint. The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, Fringe-- all these shows can count themselves as Kolchak's progeny.For better or worse (generally for worse, although see Let the Right One In) vampires now crowd the screens again, and through inflation are once again a devalued commodity. In movies like Blade or From Dusk till Dawn or 30 Days of Night they appear in hordes. But as The Night Stalker reminds us, one vampire ought to be enough for anybody.

'The Night Stalker' is a 1972 T.V. movie based on Jeff Rice's ( then ) unpublished novel. When shown originally in America, it garnered the highest ratings of the season, inspiring not only a sequel - 'The Night Strangler' - but also a series which Chris Carter later acknowledged as the major inspiration for 'The X-Files'. I myself saw it late one Saturday night on I.T.V. - possibly around 1975 - and it struck me as unusually scary for a television product. On the school bus on Monday morning, it was the main topic of conversation.Set in present-day Las Vegas, the police are baffled by a series of horrific murders. In each case, the victim is young, female, and completely drained of blood. Human saliva is found in their veins. Carl Kolchak ( Darren McGavin ), an eccentric news reporter, tries to get at the truth, but is thwarted at all turns by the authorities, who are trying to cover up the presence of a vampire in the town. When said vampire - Janos Scorzeny ( Barry Atwater ) - is caught trying to steal blood supplies from a hospital, the police close in. Kolchak witnesses at first hand the killer effortlessly swatting the men away like flies. It seems he is also gifted with superhuman strength...Intelligently written by Richard Matheson, 'The Night Stalker' combines horror and humour to great effect. In his book 'Danse Macabre', Stephen King is rude about Rice's novel, but in fact it is as good as many of his works. Las Vegas, a city that never sleeps, is a perfect place for a latter-day vampire. No cobwebbed castles or horse-driven carriages for Janos. He stalks the casinos and even drives a car! The cast, particularly McGavin and Simon Oakland as his bad-tempered editor 'Tony Vicenzo' - are fantastic. But Atwater is the one you will remember. He does not say a word, but conveys menace with his eyes. I had a heck of a job getting off to sleep after originally seeing this! Also around are Ralph Meeker ( 'Bernie Jenks' ), Claude Akins ( 'Sheriff Butcher' ), Kent Smith ( 'D.A. Tom Paine' ), and Elisha Cook Jr. ( 'Mickey Crawford' ) all of whom provide first-rate support.The cherry on the cake is the twist ending. Having dispatched 'Scorzeny' with the customary stake through the heart, Kolchak then finds himself arrested for murder! With no solid proof that the vampire existed, the reporter is ordered to leave town forever. Even his girlfriend, Gail Foster ( the lovely Carol Lynley ), is kicked out too! There's ingratitude for you! Though the spin-off series is available on D.V.D. in the U.K., neither this nor 'Night Strangler' is, and that's strange. Vampires now tend to be thought of as children's literature fodder. Watch this and you will see them from an era in which they were frightening! Directed with great style by Britisher John Llewellyn Moxey.

This film is timeless. By timeless, I mean the story could not have been told any better. Of course the clothing and the cars, as well as the score seems dated, but so are these same features in Halloween, The Exorcist and a host of other classic horror films. Jeff Rice's idea of putting a vampire in a night-life city like Las Vegas was pure genius. The film itself is paced very well and we are completely absorbed within the atmosphere. The character of Kolchak, the reporter who figures out and tries to convince us all that this is a real vampire, is flawlessly portrayed by the always great Darren McGavin. I could go on about the movie, but it would become overkill since all of the other posters have hit it on the head. Do yourself a favor and BUY this film for your collection. If you are old enough to remember this movie as a pilot and then recall the series, you will have a blast watching it again. Great memories!