Double Feature: Kolchak ’72 & ’73
Long before agents Mulder and Scully took on government cover-ups, and even longer before Sam and Dean Winchester hit the road in search of monsters and demons, there was veteran reporter Carl Kolchak. Always on the hunt for a good scoop, Kolchak had a knack for getting himself into hot water with not just his long-suffering editor but also local law enforcement and a host of unsavory creatures and ghouls. If there was something strange going on in the city, you could count on Kolchak to find out what it was and how to stop it, even if no one ever believed his wild stories.
The world was first introduced to Kolchak (played by the unparalleled character actor Darren McGavin with more sarcastic bluster than you can shake a stick at) in the 1972 “ABC Movie of the Week,” The Night Stalker. Riding off the success of what was assumed would be a one-off, ABC produced a second Kolchak film in 1973 called The Night Strangler, which in turn led to a series that ran from September 1974 to March 1975.
In the first film, directed by John Llewellyn Moxey, our intrepid investigator finds himself neck-deep in a serial killer case that involves workers on the Las Vegas Strip. Eventually, Kolchak comes to the conclusion that the perpetrator is a vampire (yes, a real blood-sucking vampire), something his editor Tony Vincenzo (played with “one step away from a heart attack” gusto by Simon Oakland) and the Las Vegas PD find utterly preposterous. Of course, Kolchak is right, but instead of adulation, he’s considered a pariah and gets himself run out of town.
The Night Strangler, the second film in the series and directed by Dan Curtis, finds Kolchak and his editor in Seattle, where they uncover a brutal series of murders being committed against exotic dancers. This time, Kolchak’s research uncovers that a similar epidemic of murders has taken place every 21 years, dating at least back to the Civil War (Pennywise the Clown, anyone?). Naturally, the highly determined Kolchak can’t help but rub everyone in town the wrong way, resulting in yet another ousting from the city’s journalism community. Our dear Kolchak, it seems, can’t catch a break.
The franchise, however, did catch a break in the form of a weekly television drama. Unfortunately, the series failed to connect with audiences and was canceled after just one season, but Kolchak’s influence can’t be understated. Everything from the above-mentioned X-Files and Supernatural to Stephen King’s It and on through virtually every “Monster of the Week” television show made since the ‘70s owes a debt to the bumbling Kolchak, and it’s high time he got his due.
While The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler might lack the flair and gore associated with modern horror (or even the kind of horror that would come along less than a decade later with the rise of slasher films), both Kolchak films nevertheless deliver where they need to. Their mixture of lighthearted comedy, grim subject matter, and gritty urban settings blend so well together that it’s easy to forgive many of the technical deficiencies and plot holes. As an anthology, the casts are largely interchangeable, but the two constants, McGavin and Oakland, are a perfect television odd couple.
The Kolchak films might fall on the goofy side of horror, but for a pair of early ’70s made-for-TV experiments in spine-chilling small screen drama, they pack a surprisingly worthwhile punch.
The Night Stalker (1972). Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey. 3.5/5 stars.
The Night Strangler (1973). Directed by Dan Curtis. 3.5/5 stars.
