9/18/2023 0 Comments Looks like simon oakland![]() ![]() There’s Claude Akins as the aptly named Sheriff Butcher, who also butchers the English language. The film enjoys a fine supporting cast, led by Carol Lynley as Kolchak’s girlfriend Gail Foster. THE NIGHT STALKER is the superior film, by far. 1972 (1972) as a modern-day vampire tale set in 1970s London rather than the usual 1890s period piece. The success of THE NIGHT STALKER also influenced Hammer Films to make their next Dracula movie, DRACULA A.D. In fact, Atwater’s performance as Skorzeny is even more visceral and violent than Lee’s Dracula. Barry Atwater makes for a chilling vampire, hissing and dashing in and out of the shadows a la Christopher Lee, and like Lee in some of his Dracula portrayals, Atwater has no dialogue. The vampire scenes in THE NIGHT STALKER are second to none. He then researches the supernatural, and before you know it, he’s the one who’s telling the police about crosses and wooden stakes through the heart. For him, it was just a story, and at first, he didn’t even think it was a real vampire until he saw with his own eyes the vampire in action. What I’ve always liked about Kolchak in THE NIGHT STALKER is unlike other heroes in vampire movies, Kolchak knew absolutely nothing about vampires. The film does a nice job building to the inevitable climax where Kolchak finally tracks down Skorzeny.Ĭarl Kolchak was a perfect role for Darren McGavin and it’s no surprise he’s most known for the part. He’s a type of vampire seldom seen in the movies, and to 1972 audiences he made for a violent shocking killer. The vampire, Janos Skorzeny (Barry Atwater) possesses superhuman strength and performs such feats as hurling doctors through windows, tossing police officers about like twigs and outrunning police cars. Their verbal exchanges are some of the liveliest parts of the movie. Vincenzo recognizes that Kolchak is a top-notch reporter but grows increasingly frustrated that he can’t control him. The only point I wonder about is why his mother didn’t leave too.” The story may be apocryphal, but I believe it. Kolchak describes his boss in a voice-over, “Rumor has it that the day Anthony Albert Vincenzo was born, his father left town. Kolchak’s efforts come much to the chagrin of his hard-nosed irritable editor, Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) who has a love/hate relationship with his reporter. The authorities want this information kept out of the news to avoid a panic, but reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) sees this story as his ticket back to the big time, as he’s been fired from one major newspaper after another, due to his in-your-face abrasive style. In 1972 Las Vegas, young women are being murdered, their bodies drained of blood. The legendary Matheson wrote a ton of movies and so it would be difficult to call THE NIGHT STALKER his best screenplay, but I will say that for me, it’s probably my favorite Matheson screenplay. THE NIGHT STALKER boasts a fantastic script, and you would expect no less since it was written by Richard Matheson, based on an unpublished novel by Jeff Rice. There isn’t an ounce of fat on this baby. Amazing.Īnd it really is a superior horror movie, which is no surprise since it was produced by Dan Curtis, the man behind the Dark Shadows phenomenon. It’s also an incredibly lean production, as it clocks in at just 74 minutes. This movie earned such high ratings when it premiered on television on Januthat in a largely unprecedented move, it was released theatrically afterit played on TV because the film was thatpopular. THE NIGHT STALKER starred Darren McGavin in the role that most of us consider to be his signature role, the inexorable reporter Carl Kolchak. ![]() ![]() The best of the lot was THE NIGHT STALKER. THE NIGHT STALKER (1972) is not only one of the best horror movies from the 1970s, it’s also one of the best horror movies period.Įven more impressive, it was a made-for-TV movie, which isn’t surprising for the early 1970s, as that part of the decade was a great time for made-for-TV horror movies. Films like THE NORLISS TAPES (1973), GARGOYLES (1972), and TRILOGY OF TERROR (1975) were all made-for-TV shockers. So says reporter Carl Kolchak to his editor Tony Vincenzo, as he tries to convince him to publish his story. Here’s a reprint of an IN THE SPOOKLIGHT COLUMN from 2018: ![]()
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