The Night Strangler (1973)

The irrepressible, stubborn, trouble making investigative reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is back in the thick of things. Now working in Seattle - where he is once again working alongside long suffering editor Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) - he discovers another baffling case. Young women are being strangled, but that's not all. They're ALSO having small amounts of blood extracted from their bodies. Acquiring a kindred spirit in a quirky records keeper named Berry (Wally Cox), Kolchak realizes that similar murder sprees have occurred throughout the city's history - every 21 years.Producer & director Dan Curtis wasn't about to muck with a winning formula, having accomplished a solid blend of humour and horror with 'The Night Stalker', the original made for television movie about the Kolchak character. Once again, he crafts a tale with a fair number of hearty laughs as well as some pretty damn effective suspense. Richard Matheson wrote the script, which makes great use of this whole other "world" in Seattle, its underground domain. Naturally, our killer is drawn to this environment. Longer, and meatier, than 'The Night Stalker', 'The Night Strangler' gets some real sparks going out of every encounter that Kolchak initiates, with his bull-in-a-china-shop approach winning him very few friends. Our favourite reporter is already behaving as he would on the subsequent, sadly short lived series, having no problem accepting the most utterly fantastic of stories.'The Night Strangler' is impeccably cast from top to bottom. Some of these excellent actors really have no more than brief cameo roles, but they make the most of them. Jo Ann Pflug is lovely and appealing as a belly dancer and university student who becomes a willing participant in Kolchaks' schemes. Oakland is wonderful as always as he and McGavin butt heads and scream at each other. Scott Brady plays the obligatory lawman who quickly loses his patience with Kolchak. Cox is fun, as are Margaret Hamilton as a professor specializing in nutty subjects, and Al Lewis as an amiable tramp. Richard Anderson plays our antagonist, and he's subtly chilling. Thankfully, he's not really seen until the climactic confrontation, helping to keep the character somewhat mysterious.Must viewing for lovers of the made-for-TV horror films of the 1970s.Eight out of 10.

THE NIGHT STRANGLER is a better Kolchak movie than the original THE NIGHT STALKER for the following reasons.1.) Production values are obviously much higher. The sights of Seattle and the local color are much richer and the cinematography is much better.2.) Better supporting cast. Wally Cox is unforgettable as Titus Berry, Kolchak's greatest research assistant ever. But Al Lewis as the tramp is also brilliant, and so is Joanne Pflug, much funnier than Carol Lynley and just as sexy as Kolchak's love interest. And the old lady professor is brilliant. And the villain, aka Malcolm Richard, or Richard Malcolm, or Oscar Goldman. And of course Simon Oakland rules as Vincenzo. And don't forget Hollywood legend John Carradine as the feared Crossbinder! 3.) Much better story for the villain. While the vampire in THE NIGHT STALKER is just a one-dimensional hissing baddie, the tragic doctor in this movie has a backstory and a heartbreaking personal history. And his quiet sadness and horror at what he has done makes the horrifying climax even more upsetting. This is no common mad scientist, but a tragic hero on the level of Dr. Faust! 4.) Much more subtlety and dimension to the chilling horror. Watch the scene where Kolchak paints the mustache on the doctor's portrait. It's broad daylight, and a whole crowd of people are laughing, but as you start to see what Kolchak sees -- the man long dead is clearly still alive today -- a chill runs down your spine. Ditto the scenes were Kolchack and Mr. Berry are hunting old newspaper headlines. Couldn't be funnier, yet as the pattern develops it becomes quietly chilling.5.) Don't mess with Vincenzo. The chemistry between Kolchak and his boss is just as explosive here as in the original. "All right, I'm willing to buy that these two sets of murders might be connected. I'm even willing to buy that they might have been committed by the same man. But a man, Kolchak, a man. Not some sort of a SUPER DEAD MAN!"

The night Strangler is a better film in ways than 1972's The Night Stalker, and, of course, is the second TV-film featuring Darren McGavin as the seedy but ever-determined reporter Carl Kolchak. This film set up the comedic elements more strongly which carried-over into the TV series the following year. I must admit that Jo Ann Pflug is a heroine more to my taste than Carol Lynley(if something of a motormouth). she does seem a bit old to be a psychology undergraduate, not that it shows a bit in her belly-dancing scenes, of course.As others have noted, Richard Anderson's Dr. Malcom Richards is perhaps his best role, if fairly-brief - I do tend to think he is a somewhat sympathetic villain, much more so than Janos Skorzeny in the first film. He seems to have started out with a noble goal in mind before madness overtook him. His elixir of life does seem to make him bulletproof as well as giving him superhuman strength, and agility, else many of Seattle's police force are remarkably poor shots.In the novel by Rice, it is strongly hinted at that Richards is much older than in the film, and probably the historical figure Count St. Germain. Germain was an alchemist believed by some to have perfected something similar which extended his lifespan several times over a normal range for those interested in looking into him.I have wondered what it was Kolchak tosses throw Vincenzo's office window near the climax - a desk clock? To give Vincenzo credit, he did, indeed, try to publish the real story this time, though - I think in the series, only other instance of this was in "Primal Scream." have to love the closing scenes with Louise in the car along with Carl, and Tony! Clearly they never made it farther east than Chicago, but always wondered where Louise ended up...

Carl Kolchak(Darren McGavin) is a reporter-for-hire relocated to Seattle, getting a new job and his first story is to follow the leads in regards to a series of night stranglings(victims are go-go girls, belly dancers, you know, the "night entertainers"). As you'd expect, he turns up some extraordinary evidence of the supernatural..the killer, believe it or not, could be a dead man! Not jostling you, dead flesh was found around the throats of the dead! Digging deeper(as Wally Cox later points out.."Research..that's where the real meat is"), Kolchak discovers that the current stranglings are eerily similar to those in 1952..could they actually be related? Or, better yet, could the strangulations be committed by the same killer? Pioneer Square seems to be the killer's favorite hunting ground, and if young women find themselves walking in that area all alone..And, it doesn't stop there, there's a peculiar pattern..the women seem drained of blood, and, thanks to research, Kolchak discovers that the strangulations even go back further, to 1887! Thanks to an eyewitness, who can put a face to the killer, we get a chance to see what he looks like..let's just say, he's a little worse for wear. And, interesting enough, underground Seattle(or as Kolchak calls it "the tomb of old Seattle")could very well be where the killer lives and moves about.I love the Kolchak character if just because the dogged reporter annoys the hell out of everybody. He's passionate, determined, always prying and vocal about what he uncovers, irksome for the police who might wish to keep certain facts from the public, especially if the murders are of an unusual quality. He drives his poor editor bananas because most of the news stories he encounters wind up being "far fetched" and unprintable for the paper..how could their readers accept such tabloid type headlines? Such as the one scene where Kolchak informs him of the "elixir of life", a type of brewed cocktail whose ingredients include human blood among other things(such as meat, sweat, and hair), whose power derives from alchemy. Kolchak pops up, recorder and camera, in-your-face with rapid-fire questions, demanding answers from those in authority, flabbergasted that his employers won't print what he comes up(despite how ludicrous such details might sound, Kolchak always stands his ground and barks loudly at why they will not print the news as he delivers it). In this second television film, Jo Ann Plug is Louise, a belly dancer who agrees, against her better judgment, to help Kolchak find the killer. And, of course, Simon Oakland portrays long-suffering Tony Vincenzo, Kolchak's editor who must endure every possible hardship and embarrassment contending with his irritating reporter who expects him to jump through numerous hoops to print preposterous stories most of the reading public wouldn't take seriously. Scott Brady is Captain Schubert of the Seattle Police Department, who locks horns with Kolchak often. John Carradine(as the Seattle Chronicle's head honcho), Margarette Hamilton(as an eccentric professor with knowledge of the occult)and Al Lewis(as a bum who lives in Old Seattle)all guest star. The ending features a really cool set where the killer, an actual surgeon in the Union Army, lives in an old west city, in ruins(with lots of cob webs, rats, not to mention the skeletal remains of the killer's family)underneath the clinic named after him.