THE NIGHT STRANGLER

		Review by E.C. McMullen Jr.
RICHARD MATHESON THE NIGHT STALKER MOVIE REVIEW KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER COMIC REVIEW THE NIGHTSTALKER - 1972 USA Release: Jan. 11, 1972 MGM / American Broadcasting Company Rated: USA: NR

Made for television Horror Movies. Ha! Was there ever a time when American television was scary?

Yes there was. There were certain episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, THE OUTER LIMITS, and certain episodes of THE NIGHT GALLERY. And, of course, the TV movie, THE NIGHT STALKER. What all of these share in common is the fact that the scariest television ever written was by Richard Matheson (THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, HOUSE OF USHER [1060], THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM [1961], Boris Karloff's THRILLER [TV - THE RETURN OF ANDREW BENTLEY], NIGHT OF THE EAGLE, TALES OF TERROR [1962], THE RAVEN [1963], THE COMEDY OF TERRORS [1963], Rod Serling's THE TWILIGHT ZONE [TV - LITTLE GIRL LOST1, STEEL, NIGHTMARE AT 20,000 FEET, DEATH SHIP - 16 in all], THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, FANATIC aka DIE! DIE! MY DARLING!, STAR TREK [TV - THE ENEMY WITHIN], THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, THE OMEGA MAN, DUEL, Rod Serling's NIGHT GALLERY [TV - THE DIARY, PROFESSOR PEABODY'S LAST LECTURE, GREEN FINGERS, THE FUNERAL], THE NIGHT STALKER, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, SCREAM OF THE WOLF, SOMEONE IS BLEEDING, THE STRANGER WITHIN, TRILOGY OF TERROR, THE STRANGE POSESSION OF MRS. OLIVER, DEAD OF NIGHT, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, JAWS 3D, AMAZING STORIES [TV - THE DOLL, ONE FOR THE BOOKS, MISS STARDUST], STIR OF ECHOES, I AM LEGEND, THE BOX, and way more).

KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STRANGLER has Karl Kolchak (FEAR [1946], SOMETHING EVIL, THE NIGHT STRANGLER, THE DEMON AND THE MUMMY, CRACKLE OF DEATH, HANGAR 18, DEAD HEAT, CHILD IN THE NIGHT, BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT, HAPPY HELL NIGHT) out of Las Vegas and in Seattle.

Not only Karl, but as blind luck would have it, his soon to be suffering former boss, Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland: PSYCHO, THE SATAN BUG, THE NIGHT STRANGLER, KOLCHAK [TV], THE DEMON AND THE MUMMY, CRACKLE OF DEATH), who was unceremoniously fired right after Karl. Neither knew of the other moving to Seattle and Vincenzo, lucking into a new job with a Seattle paper owned by a person with the (hugely Matheson) name of Llewellyn Crossbinder (John Carradine: BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, INVISIBLE INVADERS, MUNSTER GO HOME!, SHOCK WAVES, THE MONSTER CLUB, THE SECRET OF NIMH, THE HOWLING, HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS), decides to celebrate his meager rescue from a complete fall with a drink at the local press club. He doesn't have a chance to take a sip before he hears a familiar loudmouth who is both interviewing for a job and insulting the person who would make that decision.

Sure enough, the bigmouth blowhard is Carl Kolchak.

Vincenzo, as if resigned to his fate, walks over to the blustery idiot. Carl is guardedly delighted to see Tony and, when he realizes that Vincenzo isn't going to punch him, but is an editor at a local Seattle newspaper, he presumptuously assumes that Tony will hire him.

Tony, trapped by his love hate relationship with Carl - who is a great reporter but a lousy employee - does hire Carl only after he secures promises from the man that he will straighten his act up and cover the jobs he's assigned.

Carl promises he will with a "Sure, sure, sure." which means he won't, won't, won't.

There's unsolved murders of strippers in the famed Pioneer Square quarter of Seattle and Carl is drawn to it like a buzzard to a corpse. The fact that it's both a mystery and beautiful women are involved (an impossible combination for Kolchak to resist), means that Tony's assignments will take a flying leap as Carl tries to solve the latest mystery.

And of course a mystery it is as the police are clearly holding back information on the strangulations in the city and the rest of the complacent press corps sit like hushed cabbage heads, eager to bow before the mayor and Police Chief and simply copy paste the press releases they've been given.

While the Night Strangler is similar to the previous outing's Night Stalker in size and strength, and an unusually long life, Richard Matheson (as much as the producers allowed), wasn't about to retread the tire, and neither was Producer Dan Curtis (DARK SHADOWS [TV], THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS, THE NORLISS TAPES [TV], THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY, THE INVASION OF CAROL ENDERS, SCREAM OF THE WOLF, DRACULA [1974], TRILOGY OF TERROR, CURSE OF THE BLACK WIDOW, DEAD OF NIGHT, BURNT OFFERINGS), who took the reigns as Director for this second outing. Talk of a TV series was in the air and the green light to that depended entirely on whether or not Dan, Richard, and Darren could make lightning strike twice with a second KOLCHAK movie.

In THE NIGHT STRANGLER, Carl is explored in greater depth, making him more sympathetic and less tolerable. Tony is likewise explored for an audience curious as to why he would risk his career on a pompous windbag like Kolchak.

Actor Jo Ann Pflug (CYBORG 2087, FANTASTIC 4 [TV - 1967], SCREAM OF THE WOLF), as university student Louise Harper, who is working her way through college as a stripper, and Richard Anderson (FORBIDDEN PLANET, SECONDS) as the malevolent Richard Malcolm, both took their characters to heart and breathed seemingly real people into TV movie characters. Something often unseen in 1970s Movie of the Week shows.

All of which makes for a sequel worthy to its original and an excellent start to a TV show that still draws in new fans, decades after its demise.

Four Shriek Girls

This review copyright 2023 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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