With 'The Night Stalker' proving the highest-rated T.V.
While I really didn't think there was enough of a formula for an entire series, producer/director Dan Curtis shopped around three different TV movies hoping to be able to eventually get the go ahead for a series. First, Darren McGavin starred in "The Night Stalker".
THE NIGHT STRANGLER is a better Kolchak movie than the original THE NIGHT STALKER for the following reasons.1.
Originally airing on ABC on January 16, 1973, this sequel to The Night Stalker was just as popular as the original film. Richard Matheson would come back to write, Dan Curtis would produce and direct, and Darren McGavin would be Carl Kolchak again.
A reporter (Darren McGavin) hunts down a 144-year old alchemist (Richard Anderson) who is killing women for their blood."The Night Strangler" proved almost as popular as its predecessor garnering strong ratings and eventually prompting ABC to order a TV series (though neither writer Richard Matheson nor producer/director Dan Curtis was involved in the TV series).
"The Night Strangler" was screenwriter Richard Matheson's sequel to "The Night Stalker," completed in Aug. 1972, only seven months since the original was broadcast, Darren McGavin returning as intrepid reporter Carl Kolchak, Simon Oakland also back as his 'bilious grouch' editor Tony Vincenzo.
Stubborn reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is back. This time in Seattle and again locking horns with his former editor Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland.
A sequel to The Night Stalker (1972), this superior TV movie first aired on ABC on January 16 1973, and sees reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) relocating to Seattle from Las Vegas where he is hot on the trail of a killer who seems to be strangling his victims every 20 years and taking a little of their blood. Kolchak's quest takes him to a hidden underground city beneath Seattle ( a real life network of underground passageways and basements in downtown Pioneer Square known as the Seattle Underground which is popular with tourists), and the bizarre residents therein.
Ham acting, ham handed directing, what is supposed to pass for comedy is over the top All In The Family type screaming.It is atmospheric.
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