The Night Stalker

1972 television vampire movie

Rating: 14/20

Plot: A reporter tries to get to the bottom of a series of Las Vegas murders.

This is long overdue as it's a movie that Cory really loves. I'm currently working on a "Best of 1973" list and noticed that the sequel--The Night Strangler--is on Cory's top-ten list. The Night Stalker is on his 1972 list, and I've known he's liked these for a while but have never gotten around to watching them.

It's got a little more grit than what you'd normally expect from a made-for-television movie, and that's likely because it's got the stink of the 1970s all over it. With a script by the great Richard Matheson, a good story can at least be expected. This delivers, maybe not because of how interesting or original the plot is but how much wit is in the storytelling. A lot of the appeal is Darren McGavin in the lead performance as a the protagonist, a sort of anti-hero reporter named Carl Kolchak. More than any character in recent memory, this is one I wouldn't mind sitting down and having a few drinks with. He's got to cool hat, and McGavin also brings this brand of cool to the screen, almost in this effortless way. He's fun to watch when he's a step or two ahead of the other characters, when he's at odds with the other characters, when he's lost patience with the other characters, when he's smooth-talking other characters, when he's celebrating some minor victory, or when he's beleaguered. I can even put up with large chunks of this being narrated, especially since he's saying cool noirish things like "Cheryl Hughes. . .on route to her doom." He's just great, and I imagine a lot of the appeal of this for Cory is McGavin's performance.

The action scenes are a little goofballish, but the Whitman's sampler product placement and the realization that hospitals just keep bottles of blood in refrigerators made up for that. I also liked a used car salesman played by Stanley Adams. Add in just the right amount of style, including some sly camera work in a climactic sequence when McGavin is exploring a house, and you've got a television movie definitely worth checking out.