About KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER
In 1970, Jeff Rice wrote a novel called THE KOLCHAK PAPERS. Set in Las Vegas, it followed journalist Karel "Carl" Kolchak as he investigated a series of murders whose victims were drained of their blood. As one bizarre occurrence followed another, Kolchak eventually came to believe that the serial killer was a bona fide vampire.
In 1971, ABC optioned the unpublished book for adaptation to TV. The screenplay was written by the veteran horror/sci-fi author, Richard Matheson. The film, now called THE NIGHT STALKER, was produced by Dan Curtis. It starred Darren McGavin as the dumpy, sloppily dressed, middle-aged Kolchak and Simon Oakland as his beleaguered editor, Tony Vincenzo. ABC ran the film on January 11, 1972. It was a smash hit that pulled in a 33.2 rating and a 54 share.
Encouraged by that success, Curtis hired Matheson to write a second Kolchak script. THE NIGHT STRANGLER found our hero, having been blackballed from Las Vegas, now living in Seattle and again working for Tony Vincenzo. His first assignment is a series of stranglings in which the victims each suffered a small loss of blood. The killer, Dr. Richard Malcolm, is 144 years old and must kill every 21 years to make the elixir that unnaturally prolongs his life. ABC aired THE NIGHT STRANGLER on January 16, 1973. Like its predecessor, the film returned highly favorable ratings.
Curtis commissioned Matheson to create a third Kolchak story. THE NIGHT KILLERS was set in Hawaii and involved an alien invasion in which the extraterrestrials planned to kill off world leaders and replace them with acquiescent android lookalikes. However, THE NIGHT KILLERS was never produced as ABC instead opted for a weekly Kolchak series. At this point, both Dan Curtis and Richard Matheson pulled out of the project.
ABC premiered KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER on Friday night, September 13, 1974. The series was set in Chicago and had Carl once again working for Vincenzo--but this time for a shoestring wire service called the INS (Independent News Service). It ran for 20 episodes that pitted Carl against a second vampire, a werewolf, a zombie, a prehistoric apeman, invisible space aliens, a succubus, two Native American apparitions, the original Jack the Ripper, a swamp monster from Louisiana, a shapeshifting Hindu demon, a headless motorcycle rider with a sword, a giant erect-walking lizard, an Aztec mummy, and even Helen of Troy.
The quality of these 20 episodes varied greatly, but the show was years ahead of its time. Without "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," there might never been "The X Files," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," "Supernatural," or "Grimm."
In 1971, ABC optioned the unpublished book for adaptation to TV. The screenplay was written by the veteran horror/sci-fi author, Richard Matheson. The film, now called THE NIGHT STALKER, was produced by Dan Curtis. It starred Darren McGavin as the dumpy, sloppily dressed, middle-aged Kolchak and Simon Oakland as his beleaguered editor, Tony Vincenzo. ABC ran the film on January 11, 1972. It was a smash hit that pulled in a 33.2 rating and a 54 share.
Encouraged by that success, Curtis hired Matheson to write a second Kolchak script. THE NIGHT STRANGLER found our hero, having been blackballed from Las Vegas, now living in Seattle and again working for Tony Vincenzo. His first assignment is a series of stranglings in which the victims each suffered a small loss of blood. The killer, Dr. Richard Malcolm, is 144 years old and must kill every 21 years to make the elixir that unnaturally prolongs his life. ABC aired THE NIGHT STRANGLER on January 16, 1973. Like its predecessor, the film returned highly favorable ratings.
Curtis commissioned Matheson to create a third Kolchak story. THE NIGHT KILLERS was set in Hawaii and involved an alien invasion in which the extraterrestrials planned to kill off world leaders and replace them with acquiescent android lookalikes. However, THE NIGHT KILLERS was never produced as ABC instead opted for a weekly Kolchak series. At this point, both Dan Curtis and Richard Matheson pulled out of the project.
ABC premiered KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER on Friday night, September 13, 1974. The series was set in Chicago and had Carl once again working for Vincenzo--but this time for a shoestring wire service called the INS (Independent News Service). It ran for 20 episodes that pitted Carl against a second vampire, a werewolf, a zombie, a prehistoric apeman, invisible space aliens, a succubus, two Native American apparitions, the original Jack the Ripper, a swamp monster from Louisiana, a shapeshifting Hindu demon, a headless motorcycle rider with a sword, a giant erect-walking lizard, an Aztec mummy, and even Helen of Troy.
The quality of these 20 episodes varied greatly, but the show was years ahead of its time. Without "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," there might never been "The X Files," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," "Supernatural," or "Grimm."
