The Night Stalker … 1972 Film

Before we dive into the TV show, we will cover the two movies that lead up to Season 1. You don’t often see an actor embody a character like Darren McGavin; he IS Carl Kolchak. 

Alright, let’s dim the lights, cue up some eerie harpsichord, and head back to 1972, when ABC aired a made-for-TV movie that changed the whole game for supernatural thrillers on television. I’ve seen this described as a noir-horror movie, and that hits the mark. The movie moves at a good pace. You see action right away, and the story doesn’t stall. Mixed in with the thrills is the humor of Kolchak, and that mixes well in the two movies and the TV series. 

People were dropping all over Las Vegas with bite marks and loss of blood. Carl Kolchak was a rumpled shirt reporter who would not give up on the truth. He finds clues, and the police shoo him away. He is a thorn in their side, and his boss, Tony Vincenzo, played by Simon Oakland, suffers daily. Although Kolchak is telling the truth, Vincenzo is very hesitant to OK stories to print about a real vampire. 

The thing about The Night Stalker is it hasn’t lost its punch. The pacing is different from modern movies, but with the seedy Vegas strip, the sterile hospital halls, and the dusty police files, it feels real. And because it feels real, when the vampire strikes, it’s genuinely unsettling. It’s not gothic castles and bats flapping in the fog. It’s neon lights and the smell of asphalt in the air. That contrast is what makes the horror work.

Carol Lynley plays Kolchak’s girlfriend, and I remember her from the Poseidon Adventure. Claude Akins and Larry Linville are also featured in this movie. This is not your typical TV movie; its quality was better than many horror movies I’ve seen around that time. Kolchak’s character draws you in. It is as if he walked in from a 1940s noir movie. 

When The Night Stalker aired on January 11, 1972, it pulled in a staggering 48 share of the audience, which translates to more than half of all TVs in America being tuned to McGavin chasing a vampire around Vegas. It became the most-watched TV movie up to that point. People weren’t used to seeing something this dark and this scary on their living room screens.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

38 thoughts on “The Night Stalker … 1972 Film”

    1. Thank you Dana! I think I can supply every full length movie and episode I feature. If it’s not on YouTube it’s on Dailymotion
      I really apprecicate you following along. I hope you like it.

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      2. Oh I know! He was over reahing with Lynley! She was beautiful! Sounds like you liked it…or I hope you did…thanks for giving it a try Dana!

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    3. More than decent, especially for a TV movie. The casting and pacing worked very well. (I laughed a little at the scene in the Casino where all the passing people look askance at the tall dark clad Vampire. In the few times I went to the Casino pale red-eyed desperate looking losers were 10 a penny.🙄 )

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      1. I can imagine how many there were!
        I thought it was a good movie and a really good character. I like that character though I would hate to be his boss!

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  4. for a while networks made some good movies for themselves, then for three decades or so no, but now once again – if you count the Streamin services like HBO as such, it seems MOST of the quality movies are coming that way.

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    1. Yes it has come full circle and this one was just as good as a theater movie in a lot of ways. It had everything you would want.

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  6. There were a lot of telemovies then. Whip up a script, get half a dozen character actors together, toss in a pre-Kotter Travolta or an Angie Dickinson, hit the beach or a studio set that wasn’t being used this week and crank out a movie-of-the-week. But sometimes you put all the bits together and get a ‘Duel’ or something much better than you might have expected.

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    1. This I think and the next one really was. The writing and acting was really good in this. Like Dave said…it’s come full circle now because HBO and others are coming out with movies as good as what I call…theater movies.

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    1. It is really good…the good thing is I think everything I will feature in this I can post the complete two movies and all the tv shows. 75 million people watching…TV people would do anything to get that now lol.

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  9. Max, sorry I’m late on commenting. It’s been a hell of a couple of weeks in many ways. Please accept my apology. That said, watched The Night Stalker last week on YouTube — so much better without commercials than back then on the 3-4-channel TV of back then! — and had a notebook to write in as I watched it. Observations:
    1) It’s a time capsule! So strange to think it aired over 50 years ago.
    2) Kolchak’s pinstripe suite and straw hat — if that ain’t panache, nothing is.
    3) His sony hand-held recorder. What would he have done without it?
    4) The Cars! It’s worth watching just for that. I did notice one scene where every car is blue!
    5) Kolchak’s job is to find and report on monsters. Every journalist must have that ethic.
    6) He is warned again and again NOT to report his findings. Sound familiar for modern times?
    7) Rotary dial phones — I don’t think these exist outside of cinema and museums anymore.
    8) The methods of leverage used by the white male patriarchy to shut him up are worth noting.
    9) Bell bottoms! Remember those?
    10) “There’s nothing I can do.” forgot why I wrote this one down. Not sure who said it…

    The plot is compelling and quite scary in places, especially when he goes into the lair of the beast.
    I really like Lynley as his girlfriend. Um him thanking her for how well she irons makes me smile.

    Thanks for dedicating yourself to the movies and the series. I will try to have them watched ahead of time each week.

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    1. No need to apologize Lisa…Dana said a lot of things on the 70s stuff…I watch these movies like other people watch modern movies…so I’m totally used to it and I love it! I feel at home…and I’m SO glad there are no cell phones…it makes the plot a little more tension filled because there is no call that will just get you out of trouble.
      He IS that character isn’t he? He was born to play it. Journalists today are one sided…period…depending on what side they are on….. I have a rotary phone…a green one right beside my desk at home! Of course it’s not hooked up but I love the look of it.

      Thank you for bringing this up or it would not have happened! This was a quality movie and just cool and different. I can see the X files clearly.
      Thanks again for reading Lisa!

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      1. Max, about the phones and Kolchak’s girlfriend. I thought that was funny what he said. I won’t give away any spoilers, but I hope you know what I’m talking about. Cool you have a rotary phone. I like the sound they make as you dial.

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      2. One day I’ll do a post on my music room…from the guitars to all of the 70s nick nacks on the shelves and walls. I’ll do it before we move.
        I think I know what you mean on what he said.

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  11. Creepy subject with chilled bottles of blood and all. Good performances. I think I will like the more compact series shows when they start. I will try to follow along.

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    1. I do appreciate you trying it. Yes there were some creepy parts to it. It still works and I love that the seventies that surround it

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