Aquilone finds much to enjoy in Rice’s source novel and had fun revisiting it for the new edition. “I found that it still holds up. It’s a great look into the newspaper business of the 1970s. Jeff was a Vegas reporter himself, and the book reads more like non-fiction than a novel. It’s a great read on its own, but for a Kolchak fan, it’s definitely worth it for the extra details. Plus, the new Monstrous Books version adds illustrations by Russ Braun, a foreword by Late Night With the Devil star David Dastmalchian, an afterword by Killadephia writer Rodney Barnes, and a profile on Jeff Rice by Mark Dawidziak.”
Two TV Movies and a Cult TV Series
It’s hard to fault the two Kolchak TV movies, especially The Night Stalker: Matheson’s acerbic humour, the lashings of dark atmosphere, and Bob Cobert’s evocative, jazzy theme frame McGavin’s deliciously witty, laconic performance and showcase two compellingly creepy mysteries. The Night Stalker benefits from Barry Atwater’s terrifying embodiment of Janos Skorzeny, a terrifying yet oddly tragic vampire picking off his prey in the unfeeling streets of Las Vegas, where the lights are bright and the shadows long. Its follow-up, The Night Strangler, takes a banished Kolchak deep beneath Seattle, a city built on layers of history that will prove to be the key to solving the mystery of who is draining murder victims of their blood…
As for the short-lived TV show, there’s a reason it acquired a cult status and captured the imaginations of budding horror writers, most notably Chris Carter. The stories might have got repetitive, and the focus on humour over horror might not always have hit the mark. At its best, though, Kolchak: The Night Stalker ranks with the very finest the genre has to offer. Dawidziak’s pick of the episodes is one that tops most fans’ lists: the devastating tale of a beleaguered Jewish community living in dread of a killer that seems to embody anti-Semitic hatred. Featuring the legendary Phil Silvers, “Horror in the Heights” is about as good as TV gets. “There weren’t many actual horror writers working on the series, but Hammer veteran Jimmy Sangster wrote “Horror in the Heights”, and it gives us the gripping idea of a monster that comes to its victims in the form of the people they most trust. Just a great horror concept.”
Aquilone adds a few more recommendations for new viewers. “I recommend first watching the two movies — The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler. It’s hard to top the Richard Matheson scripts. As far as the TV show, I think the best episodes are “The Ripper,” “Zombie” and “Horror in the Heights.” But it’s “Firefall” that I find to be the creepiest. That doppelgänger still makes my skin crawl.” A grisly tale of apparently spontaneous human combustion, “Firefall” is a lesser-known chiller centred on Fred Beir’s memorable performance as a classical-music conductor menaced by his own leering image, as those close to him are inexplicably reduced to dust and smouldering ash.
The TV show has a charm all of its own; even when that week’s monster fails to pass muster, it’s endlessly watchable thanks to its sterling cast. Simon Oakland (Vincenzo) is the only actor to rejoin McGavin from the two movies, and their often hilarious banter is a consistent joy. The cast is rounded out by Kolchak’s coworkers at INS: his nemesis Ron Updyke (the wonderful Jack Grinnage), much-maligned nepotism hire Monique Marmelstein (Carol Ann Susi), and advice columnist Miss Emily (Ruth McDevitt), who has the honour of being the one person Kolchak trusts. Say it quietly – who knows what evil you might summon – but the prospect of spending an episode in this gang’s company without a hint of the supernatural in sight would be a very welcome prospect.
An Influence on Everything from The X Files to Supernatural
It’s that strange mix of the comic and the bloodcurdling that makes Kolchak: The Night Stalker so memorable: encapsulated by Gil Mellé’s theme tune which begins with Kolchak’s jaunty whistle (his first mistake, as M.R. James would have been quick to point out…) before taking a sudden plunge into the dark, as a sinister presence enters the INS office. The show’s writing talent’s also worth a mention; it included a number of names that would end up becoming touchstones in screen history, both big and small. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale gave us “Chopper”, with its headless biker terrorising his old foes, while David Chase was writing about mobsters in “The Zombie” way before Tony Soprano entered the pop-cultural pantheon. In terms of guest stars, Bond icon Richard Kiel lends his unique physicality to several of Kolchak’s unearthly foes, while Scatman Crothers and Antonio Fargas pop up in “The Zombie” and a pre-Alien Tom Skerritt takes centre stage as a corrupt politician who’s sold his soul to Satan in “The Devil’s Platform”, an episode that takes the murkier elements of Chicago’s politics down some very dark paths.