Kolchak

Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. The series followed wire service reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those involving the supernatural or science fiction, including fantastic creatures. The series was preceded by the two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). Although the series lasted only a single season, it developed cult status in syndication. The Night Stalker is an American made for television horror film which aired on ABC on January 11, 1972, as their ABC Movie of the Week. In the film, an investigative reporter, played by Darren McGavin, comes to suspect that a serial killer in the Las Vegas area is actually a vampire. The Night Stalker set a record for the most viewed made-for-TV film. It was followed by a sequel, The Night Strangler, and a television series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, both of which had McGavin reprise his role as Carl Kolchak. A series of murders plague the Las Vegas Strip. All of the victims had their bodies drained of blood. Carl Kolchak, a veteran reporter who has been fired from newspapers across the country due to his tenacious and unprofessional approach, thinks the killer believes himself to be a vampire. His managing editor, Tony Vincenzo, refuses to run the story under the vampire angle without proof, arguing it could cause a panic and soil the paper's reputation. When a man attempts to rob a hospital of its blood supply, the police are called in. The thief is shot multiple times without effect, and escapes, outrunning a police car and motorcycle. From eyewitness testimony, the police positively identify the thief as 70-year-old Janos Skorzeny, who is the prime suspect in multiple homicides extending back years, all involving massive loss of blood. Kolchak's girlfriend, Gail Foster, a casino "change girl", urges him to explore vampire lore. The evidence persuades Kolchak that Skorzeny is a real vampire. Following another failed attempt to capture Skorzeny, the authorities strike a deal with Kolchak to eschew traditional investigative methods for his vampire-centric approach in exchange for giving him exclusive rights to the story. Acting on a tip, Kolchak locates Skorzeny's safe house and pursues the story on his own, wanting unhindered access to the evidence. He photographs stolen blood packets in the refrigerator, a coffin with native soil inside, a victim bound and gagged to a bed with an intravenous line drawing blood, and other incriminating evidence. Compromised when Skorzeny returns, Kolchak is wrestled to the floor. His friend, FBI Agent Bernie Jenks, arrives and joins the fight. Realizing that dawn has broken, Kolchak and Jenks pull back the shades and stake Skorzeny, just as authorities burst through the front door. Kolchak writes the story for the newspaper and proposes to Gail, telling her that they will move to New York City. The authorities, however, unwilling to publicly admit that Skorzeny was a vampire, print a false version of the newspaper story with his byline and threaten to charge him with first-degree murder unless he quietly leaves Las Vegas. Gail has already been forced to leave the city for being "an undesirable element". Kolchak exhausts his savings placing personal advertisements across the country in a futile attempt to find her. Kolchak, sitting in a hotel room, listens to a replay of his dictation of the Skorzeny case. He explains that if anyone tries to verify the events, they will find that all witnesses have either left town, are not talking, or are dead. Skorzeny and all his victims have been cremated, destroying any further ability to investigate the matter and eliminating the possibility that those killed by Skorzeny would rise as vampires. The Night Strangler is an American made for television horror film which first aired on ABC on January 16, 1973, as a sequel to The Night Stalker.[1] In the film, an investigative reporter assigned to series of killings comes to suspect the murderer is an immortal with superhuman strength. The Night Strangler, though not as popular as its predecessor, garnered both strong ratings and positive reviews, eventually prompting ABC to order a TV series. Neither writer Richard Matheson nor producer/director Dan Curtis was involved in the TV series. In the United States, the TV movie ran (without commercials) approximately 74 minutes. ABC planned to release the film overseas as a theatrical release and had additional footage shot, rounding out the movie to 90 minutes. Reporter Carl Kolchak of Seattle, Washington is assigned by his editor, Tony Vincenzo, to cover a series of killings in which the victims, all exotic dancers, are strangled. Kolchak learns from the coroner's report that the victims' necks were actually crushed (a feat no human is strong enough to accomplish), they were drained of a few ounces of blood, and there were traces of rotting flesh on their necks. Kolchak consults researcher Titus Berry, who discovers that there was a similar rash of killings in 1952. Kolchak is stonewalled by the police, who want to have details of the murders kept secret. Out of "burning curiosity," Berry researches further back, and learns of another series of murders in 1931. Berry and Kolchak discover that similar murders have been occurring every 21 years since 1889, with each series of murders taking place over a period of 18 days. Kolchak determines that the killer needs the blood for an elixir of life which keeps him alive for 21 years at a time. No one believes Kolchak. Berry uncovers further clues in an interview with Mark Twain leading to a Dr. Richard Malcolm, a surgeon in the Union Army during the Civil War, who was one of the original staff at Seattle's Westside Mercy Hospital; the doctor claims to have found immortality with the help of blood. Though the hospital is long gone, Kolchak goes to the clinic standing on the site, in the hope that it might still have the hospital's old records. Inside the front door he finds a painting of the clinic's founder, Dr. Malcolm Richards, who is the spitting image of Richard Malcolm. Kolchak calls Berry to meet him there and proceeds to alter the painting to make the similarity more obvious. Berry is amazed, but the police are less than impressed, and Kolchak is arrested. Finally, Kolchak and Berry convince the police (and their boss) that the killer really is practically immortal, and that he will kill again. Kolchak and Louise, a psychology student who works as an exotic dancer to make ends meet, want to stop the killer before he completes his elixir and disappears for another 21 years. In the Seattle Underground under the old clinic, Kolchak finds the preserved ruins of Westside Mercy Hospital and sends Louise to summon police. Kolchak finds the latest victim of the Night Strangler-an old tramp he had seen earlier during a tour of the Seattle Underground. Dr. Malcolm/Richards is alerted by Kolchak's stumbling. Malcolm admits having first tried the elixir in 1868 and that he hoped to spread the knowledge of immortality, but in 1889 he started aging and his family died in the 1889 Seattle Fire. He says he is working on making the elixir's effects permanent, but Kolchak thinks Malcolm is deluding himself and that he will continue the 21-year cycle indefinitely, so he smashes the elixir beaker. Malcolm starts strangling Kolchak, but without his elixir he begins rapidly aging to his true age of 147 years, which causes his hands to cramp up. Police burst into the room and witness Malcolm commit suicide by jumping through a high window. Vincenzo redacts the supernatural elements of Kolchak's story, leaving it to state that the killer was found but his identity is unknown. Kolchak argues with Vincenzo and storms out in a fury. To keep the incident under wraps, Vincenzo is fired and Louise is expelled. Once again unemployed, Kolchak bickers with Vincenzo and Louise as Kolchak drives the three of them to New York City.

Director

Dan Curtis, Jeff Rice