The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler (Double Feature)
by Dan Curtis, John Llewellyn Moxey
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Carol Lynley, Darren McGavin, Jo Ann Pflug, Scott Brady, Simon OaklandDirector: Dan Curtis, John Llewellyn Moxey
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Cinematographer: Michel Hugo
Producer: Dan Curtis
Producer: Robert Singer
Writer: Jeffrey Grant Rice
Writer: Max Hodge
Writer: Richard Matheson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 164 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-08-24
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler (Double Feature)
Movie Review: Same Story, Different City
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a second pilot for a television series that aired after this movie was shown. A year earlier, another pilot, "The Night Stalker," was shown but this one actually kicked off the series, called "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," which ran only two years. It seemed to be popular so I don't know why it didn't last longer.
At 90 minutes, "Strangler" was longer than the first pilot but very similar in plot. The only major change was in the locale. Here, our intrepid reporter-hero "Carl Kolchak" (Darren McGavin) is hunting down a serial-killer werewolf in Seattle instead of Las Vegas.
Kolchak has the same common opponents, meaning his newspaper boss "Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) and a hostile police chief (played by Scott Brady). Along the way you get to see a bevy of beauties including Jo Ann Pflug and Nina Wayne. You also have brief appearances by famous actors John Carradine, Margaret Hamilton, Al Lewis and Wally Cox.
The story will keep your interest and has good suspense at the end. The only annoying part - at least for me - is the overdone yelling between McGavin and Oakland, and McGavin and Brady. Every single time - every time - that pairing is on screen it is nothing but a shouting match. Other than that, it's very good.
Summary of The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler (Double Feature)
THE NIGHT STALKER THE NIGHT STRANGLERThe Night Stalker
Wisecracking Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is a rumpled news hound plucked from the fast-talking newspaper flicks of the 1940s and dropped into the swinging '70s. What makes the eccentric Kolchak even more unique, however, is his nose for the supernatural, a trait that leaves his editor (Simon Oakland) exasperated and the police less than amused. When he insists that a late-night Las Vegas serial killer (who leaves his victims drained of blood and sporting twin holes in the neck) is a modern-day vampire, he's practically run out of town by the local authorities. Naturally, he stalks the vampire himself, an unlikely Van Helsing armed with a silver cross, a wooden stake, and his ever-present tape recorder and flashbulb camera. Carol Lynley is his understanding girlfriend, and Ralph Meeker, Claude Akins, Kent Smith, and Charles McGraw costar as the Vegas cops and politicians Kolchak systematically alienates with his abrasive charm and smart mouth. Directed by Dan Curtis from a witty script by Richard Matheson, the quirky mix of horror and humor turned The Night Stalker into a ratings sensation that inspired a sequel (The Night Strangler) and a short-lived TV series (Kolchak: The Night Stalker). The X-Files creator Chris Carter acknowledges the show as a major inspiration, and has cast McGavin in a recurring role as a retired X-Files veteran with an acerbic personality and a familiar rumpled wardrobe. Kolchak lives! --Sean Axmaker
The Night Strangler
The Night Strangler finds down-on-his-luck investigator Carl Kolchak in Seattle, hot on the trail of a serial killer hiding in the underground city beneath the streets, a gas-lit fantasy world frozen in time (L.A.'s famous Bradbury Building--which has also appeared in Blade Runner and DOA--becomes the spooky city's architectural centerpiece). Exotic dancer and medical student Jo?Ann Pflug tags along as partner and bait, and the exasperated Simon Oakland returns as Kolchak's harried editor. Genre fans will enjoy the appearances of popular character actors John Carradine, Margaret Hamilton, Wally Cox, and Al Lewis. Noted horror and science fiction author Richard Matheson scripted this meandering, low-key thriller with plenty of humor, which McGavin delivers with deadpan delight. --Sean Axmaker
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