Kolchak: The Night Stalker – Zombie

September 20, 1974 Season 1 Episode 2

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This episode was written by David Chase, yes, the same David Chase who would go on to create The Sopranos; the script is one of the tightest of the entire run. You can already see Chase’s fascination with mobsters, moral issues, and revenge from beyond the grave.

In the first two movies and the first episode, we have been visiting different cities in each one. This time, it opens with a string of mob-related murders and he is still in Chicago. At first, the killings look like standard gangland executions, but Kolchak quickly uncovers that something darker is at play: the mob has wronged a Haitian family, and in retaliation, a dead man has been raised from the grave to exact revenge.

This episode leans more on pure horror than the others. Where the pilot movies (The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler) established Kolchak’s mix of noir and horror, The Zombie proved the series could have frights. The scenes of the zombie slowly rising in the mortuary are classic TV horror, low budget, yes, but brilliantly lit and paced.

When this was aired, blaxploitation movies were all the rage, and this does borrow some from them. One actor in this one was Antonio Fargas, who would later become widely known to television audiences as restaurant owner and informant Huggy Bear on Starsky & Hutch. 

In a comedy subplot, Vincenzo wants Kolchak to show an executive’s niece from New York the ropes of journalism. Little does she know that it will involve seeing the mangled corpses of mob enforcers lying in the street. This was creepy, moody, and more disturbing than network TV usually allowed in the mid-1970s. A must-watch for fans of horror television.

Well, I had found a full episode of this one, but they took it down. Most of them I will be able to supply, but I struck out on this one. If any of you find it, please tell me. 

Here is a video of someone talking about the show, but it plays a lot of the show. I would put my version here, but I know I would violate some copyright. 

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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.

19 thoughts on “Kolchak: The Night Stalker – Zombie”

  1. Sounds creepy but more interesting than most zombie flicks. BTW, I don’t know if you’ve mentioned – is the series available on DVD for those so inclined? I doubt that would be me, but some of your readers might I expect

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    1. Thanks Randy…MY FAULT on the link…I fixed it now…I had it coming back to me! It should work now…sorry! I get what you are saying…I have those troubles as well.

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      2. Maybe the owner I don’t know but what makes no sense…it there are others up and been up for a long time…he/she might have got in trouble with another video and they took his account down.

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  6. I’ll check it out if it works for me. (Why do people take down stuff like this when others viewing it can only be in the owners interests?) Unless the owners of the show are the Eagles it makes zero sense to block others from seeing a 50plus year old TV show.

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  8. Pingback: Kolchak: The Night Stalker – Firefall – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

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