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Customers who rented Kolchak: The Night Stalker - The Complete Series [1974] also enjoyed...
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Synopsis
The cult television series that inspired THE X-FILES, KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER was not nearly as successful as that later show yet still maintains an influence. The show, which ran in 1972, follows the creepy adventures of Carl Kolchak, a scruffy, cynical reporter played by Darren McGavin. When Kolchak finds that the murderer responsible for a series of bloody murders plaguing his home city of Las Vegas is a member of the undead, a vampire out for food, he undertakes a quest to defeat the bloodsucking fiend. Gritty, dark, and dramatic, KOLCHAK was described by many critics as too scary for television!
From The Studio
Carl Kolchak (McGavin) is a reporter for Chicago's Independent News Service; a magnet for situations involving the supernatural. Kolchak turned his investigative skills to vampires, werewolves, zombies and all manner of legendary creatures.
Customer Reviews
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Stalking the night creatures, 31 Mar 2008
The mid-1970s produced a pair of unlikely hit TV movies, called "The Night Stalker" and "The Night Strangler," chronicling the supernatural investigations of a quirky reporter.
And you can guess what happened next -- the TV spinoff "Kolchak - The Night Stalker" debuted, reintroducing audience to Carl Kolchak, a threadbare reporter who is working in Chicago. He also has a tendency to bump into ghoulies, ghosties and things that go bump in the night -- all with a tinge of humor and lots of researching.
In this series, Kolchak encounters more than just vampires and serial killers: he battles bizarre aliens and "missing link" primates, a possible Jack the Ripper, a call girl returning from the dead, a malevolent doppelganger causing people to burn to death, and voodoo zombies, haunted armor, succubi, werewolves, demons, killer robots, ghosts and goddesses who are sucking the youth from various attractive young men.
The supernatural is everyday on TV now, with movies and television happily focusing on everything from A (animal spirits) to Z (zombies). But "Kolchak - The Night Stalker" has the advantage of being the grandaddy of them all, with a fresh outlook and plots that owe nothing to anyone -- and a delicious black comedy bite to some of its episodes.
While the horror parts can be a bit campy, the originality of its plotlines can't be denied. Sure, it mines everything from Aztec gods to voodoo, Hindu demons to underground lizards -- the latter is the biggest flaw of the series, since it's pretty obviously papier-mache. But it also comes up with plots that no legend could come up with, such as the idea of Helen of Troy still alive and beautiful, and sucking the youth from modern young men.
It also has what few supernatural series have: a sense of humour. There's that entire episode about a headless motorcycle driver -- a modern update of the "Headless Horseman," maybe? And, of course, the brilliant twist of having diabolical help during a political campaign. Seriously, how could some of these politicians -- including certain presidents -- be elected otherwise?
Not to mention the dialogue: we are informed by Kolchak that, "Captain Leo Winwood and I had a relationship that was long and bloody, like the Crusades, only without the chivalry." That's not the wittiest line of the series, either.
Darren McGavin -- who twice played a similar character in "The X-Files" -- did an excellent job as Carl Kolchak. He plays Kolchak as a crusty, slightly crabby reporter in a white suit and odd hat -- an everyman for the supernatural. He's not handsome, not athletic, not charming, and he rubs the cops the wrong way. Therein lies his rough charm.
The original "Kolchak - The Night Stalker" remains a delicious cult classic, and despite some hoky costumes, it still stands up well. Witty, dark and bizarrely original.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Not that exciting or scary, 12 Jan 2008
While it's nice to have these episodes available again, sadly, watching a few of them in one session shows - in my opinion - that they just weren't as good as we remember. The best (e.g. Horror in the Heights) have inventive scripts but pedestrian direction and often amateurish-looking "monsters". The worst come across as rather boring, despite good performances from McGavin and the rest of the cast, and a refreshing sense of humour.
The episodes are well presented, with clean, steady images and clear sound, but there is no "added value". It would have been nice to have the odd extra like commentaries or interviews with surviving cast or crew. Jimmy Sangster (one of the better writers) is still living and apparently healthy as I write this.
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
once again i have been denied telling what really happened, 7 Sep 2007
carl kolchak is a news reporter for chicago independent news .
his boss tony vincenzo wants him to get the facts & give him a front page
exclusive,but there is a problem ; kolchak always seems to come up with
strange stories about vampires,werewolves,zombies etc. the cops wont let him print the stories for fear of a public panic ,so they make up stories & bury the truth,this angers kolchak & he argues with his boss repeatedly.
this classic 20 episode dvd was the blueprint to x-files etc.
plenty of action,scares & laughs on the way,it always ends where kolchak
is talking into his cassette recorder saying" but it couldn t happen again could it ? this is carl kolchak signing off"
the series was made for tv material low budget but it still is great stuff! buy it !
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A lost gem!, 26 Feb 2007
'Kolchak: The Night Stalker' is a lot of fun, combining Columbo with Lou Grant and the X-Files to produce an original and enjoyable series. Although somewhat formulaic, the performance of Darren McGavin ensures that each episode is enjoyable, no matter how many times the downbeat reporter gets thrown out of a police press conference. This quirky series is really worth checking out!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
kolchak: The Night Stalker, 22 Jan 2007
I remember watchng this as a teenager in the mid eighties. I used to watch Prisoner Cell Block H at th same time. It reminds me of a more innocent time when my grandparents were still alive. This is an entertaining show with good acting and poor creature effects. Best watching late at night when sitting alone with the lights off. Classic American 70's show along with Columbo and the Rockford Files.
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
KOLCHAK IS BACK TO FIGHT THE MONSTERS !!, 12 Jul 2006
Where monsters tread , only Karl Kolchak dares to follow, the down at heal reporter with a gift for snappy patter and a nose for the supernatural. Barely tolerated by his grumpy Editor Tony Vincenzo & despised by the cops. Kolchak only armed with a tape recorder , into which he narrates his mission for truth. He follows the monsters , Ghosts , Vampires in this 20 part series. He never gets taken seriously by his peers so he never gets his story on the front pages. Kolchak is brilliantly played by Darren Mcgavin which really lifts this otherwise dated series from the rest. The special effects are now quite comical and not very scary but the stories themselves sre well written and have stood the test of time since 1974.
So here finally we have this series on Dvd from Universal Pictures. All 20 , 50 minute episodes which I hope are un-cut in this issue. This is a must for all x-files fans and Kolchak alike and is a real treat to see at long last.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
At Last!!!, 9 Jul 2006
Finally the UK is to get this fantastic series on DVD.
I'm not talking about the recent rehash but the original 1970's classic starring Darren Mcgavin.
For those who don't know this is the show spawned from two of the most successful tv movies ever made- 'The Night Stalker' and 'The Night Strangler' and is noted as the inspiration behind 'The X-Files'.
Only one season was made of this creepy series due to US networks reluctance (at the time) of providing a geniunely scary weekly tv show, favouring the bog standard cop shows of the time.
Each week Carl Kolchak, a reporter of a newspaper investigated supernatural cases involving vampires, werewolves, monsters and the like much to the bewilderment and frustration of his editor and the relationship between these two characters provided some comic relief in a show that once seen is never forgotten.
British tv at the time didn't know how to take it and only a few regions actually screened it. It wasn't until years later that the majority of the UK got to see it and even then it was treated unfairly. Shown by the BBC on 'Night Train' - a late night combination of this and horror films in general, presented by Richard O'Brian, the show hacked off half of the opening credits and dropped the closing ones completely for the first 6 or 7 episodes before it finally got the respect it deserved and even now not many people have seen the entire series and probably half the population still don't even know of its existance.
Having recorded 16 of the 20 episodes made and having seen each one countless of times I'm so glad that at last I'll be able to see the missing 4 from my collection and to have them all on DVD.
For those of you in the know I'm sure you are all looking forward to finally getting one of the most influential TV programmes ever made.
Reserve my copy now!!
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