Movie review: ‘The Night Stalker’

FloridaGator80

One of the first TV movies that I can recall as a real enjoyment is a vampire thriller from 1972: “The Night Stalker.” It features one of my favorite actors, Darren McGavin; it has thrills; it has chills; and it earned the highest-ever ratings for a TV movie to that date and the mark stood for nearly two years. Being a TV movie from that era, “The Night Stalker” relies on tension and surprise for its terror, not through blindingly disgusting CGI gore. The two are a very effective combination when used correctly, as they are in this one. You can easily find “The Night Stalker” today. Make sure that you find it and watch it … and then begin to worry if there really are vampires out there …

‘The Night Stalker’
(1972; 74 minutes; rated NR; directed by John Llewellyn Moxie and starring Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley and Simon Oakland)

‘THE NIGHT STALKER’ REVIVED THE VAMPIRE GENRE VIA TV

(NOTE: I expanded this review with more opinion, additional trivial and the updating of links on Feb. 15, 2017. I again expanded this review in the same manner on Oct. 27, 2018. I again expanded the review on May 8, 2021 and again on Feb. 10, 2025.)

Scaring the audience is a staple of movies and TV from the dawn of each of those media. One of the most venerable genres is about vampires – you know, those nocturnal creatures with a taste for human blood. The first film titled “Dracula” was in 1931, according to IMDb.com, but today I’m taking a look at “The Night Stalker” from more than two generations later.

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“The Night Stalker” knocked the TV world on its ear in 1972. Emerging from an era of variety shows and westerns, “The Night Stalker” snagged a 33.2 Nielsen rating for ABC with more than half of all televisions tuned in to it on that Jan. 11. The top rated TV show that year was the iconic “All in the Family” and it earned a top rating of 34. In comparison, the highest-scoring TV program in the 2013-14 season was Sunday Night Football at 12.8. Yikes! I didn’t include more recent “viewership” numbers since “watching tee-vee” changed so much in the following decade with streaming services, etc.

“The Night Stalker” is based on the then-unpublished novel “The Kolchak Papers” by the late Jeff Rice (it would be published after the success of the TV movie and would earn Rice honors with writing awards).

The plot of “The Night Stalker” is easy enough: A vampire has arrived in Las Vegas and begins to hunt. Las Vegas is a perfect town for a vampire … everything’s always open and there are always people wandering around at night. A newspaper reporter, once was a big shot in New York but who has fallen on hard times, begins reporting about the murders. After first believing the killer to be just a run-of-the-mill psycho attacking women at night, he comes to realize that – horrors! – a vampire must be at work.

Of course, the reporter has a difficult time getting anyone, especially the authorities, to believe him, but they finally do after a chase where officers shoot the vampire dozens of time without any apparent effect. The reporter winds up tracking the vampire to his lair and pounds a stake through his heart – and thereby gives authorities the ability to cover it up with the threat of a murder charge for the reporter. Who’d believe there ever was a vampire, right?

Now, here’s my look at some of the principal cast:

  • A Primetime Emmy nominee (not for this one), Darren McGavin plays “Carl Kolchak” and does the arrogant, superior and annoying reporter very well. He’s also the movie’s narrator and his rumpled suit and porkpie hat are as dated as his time in the spotlight and he’s looking to make it back to New York. It’s perfect casting and perfect costuming. McGavin breezes through this one with an ease that only comes from his deep well of talent. McGavin is probably best known as the father in “A Christmas Story” (click here to read my review) and has also been in the superlative “Turk 182!” (click here to read my review) as well as dozens of TV shows including “Mannix,” “Magnum P.I.” and “The Love Boat” (I especially like “The Love Boat” – click here to read my look at that kitschy show). McGavin earned his nomination for a two-parter on TV’s “Murphy Brown.” One of Darren’s best, but least-recognized works, was a TV movie in 1970 in which he played a commando in a fight-to-the-death duel over a satellite (yes, that’s the story). It was called “The Challenge.” McGavin died at 83 in 2006.
  • Veteran character actor Simon Oakland plays newspaper editor (remember those?) “Tony Vincenzo” and is McGavin’s irascible, volcanic boss. He is longsuffering and caught between his arrogant, insistent reporter who wants to write the truth and the authorities worried how the truth will hurt Las Vegas’ commercial efforts. Oakland is solid, but doesn’t really distinguish himself here, although he does blustering pretty well. He was also in “West Side Story,” the Steve McQueen classic “Bullitt” (click here to read my review) as well as dozens of TV shows including “The F.B.I.” and up to “Quincy M.E.” the year before his death of cancer at 68 in 1983.
  • It’s obvious that two-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one) Carol Lynley is tossed in for her looks and the need for a female lead. Lynley’s certainly not as spectacular as a “Bond girl” of the era, but brings an attractive quality to the role. It certainly wasn’t for her acting ability as “Gail Foster” – yeah, her acting’s pretty grim in this one. Lynley plays a call girl who is McGavin’s girlfriend and is … well, not much more but window dressing. Unfortunately, she didn’t stand a chance of elevating the character because of the stereotypical components of a character given to women back in the day. Lynley was also in “The Poseidon Adventure” as well as … you guessed it … dozens of TV roles from “Charlie’s Angels” to “Fantasy Island.” Linley’s Globe nominations came for “Best Newcomer” in 1959 and 1960. I guess you can be a “newcomer” twice!
  • Claude Akins plays “Sheriff Warren A. Butcher” and does his usually good turn as a vocal law enforcement official. However, like other supporting roles, Akins’ time on screen is limited. Akins has had quite a varied career from “The Caine Mutiny” with Humphrey Bogart (click here to read my review) to “A Man Called Sledge.” He, too, is a veteran of just about any TV show you watched in the ’60s or ’70s. Akins died at 67 of cancer in 1994.
  • It was a busy 1972 for Larry Linville, who you will remember best as “Maj. Frank Burns” in the classic TV series “M*A*S*H.” From that hit to “The Night Stalker” to “Adam-12,” Linville notched seven TV roles that year. As “Dr. Robert Makurji,” he’s called the “boy coroner” by McGavin and knocks this brief role out with a workmanlike effort. Oddly enough, Linville, despite years on “M*A*S*H,” was never nominated for an Emmy for making “Maj. Burns” quite iconic in TV history. Sadly, he died young(ish) at 60 in 2000 from complications following cancer surgery.
  • As for the vampire, Barry Atwater plays “Janos Skorzeny.” Atwater, a veteran of “General Hospital,” is very deliberate in his creeping around at night; at a hospital’s blood bank; and is vigorous in his big fight with police. In the most scary moment of the film, you first see his reddened eyes in the rearview mirror of his car as he’s about to kidnap a woman to use as a living blood bank. Atwater was also in “F.I.S.T.” and he, too, was in dozens of TV roles in his career. He died at 60 in 1978 after suffering a stroke.

One of the treats of “The Night Stalker” is the scenes in Las Vegas from more than 40 years ago and the way that McGavin went about his reporting duties:

  • For reporters, there were no Tweets, Facebook posts or updates to the newspaper’s website (that kind of technology resided only in science fiction of the day). In fact, McGavin’s editor actually wants CONFIRMED facts before publishing anything. What a change in just two generations!
  • The development of Las Vegas is obvious, but for those who remember what it was like 50 years ago … this is a good one to see the sights!

“The Night Stalker” had a sequel called “The Night Strangler” the next year (click here to read my review – it is really creative, too) and McGavin starred in a “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” TV series that lasted one season 1974-75 and another revival as simply “Night Stalker” in 2005 that lasted only 10 episodes, but became a cult favorite.

The No. 1 film of the year was “The Godfather” with $133.6 million at the box office, according to Wiki. Since “The Night Stalker” is a TV flick, it wasn’t ranked. Here are other films from 1972 that I’ve reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • McGavin’s birth name was William Lyle Richardson; Lynley’s birth name was Carole Ann Jones; Oakland’s birth name was Isidor Simon Weiss; Meeker’s birth name was Ralph Rathgeber; Akins’ middle name was Marion; and Linville’s middle name was Lavon.
  • Legendary stunt man Buddy Joe Hooker has an uncredited appearance as “intern” in the hospital fight scene. Hooker has been one of the best and most prolific stunt men in the movie business and had an uncredited role in Burt Reynolds’ “Hooper” (click here for my review) and that film is basically an homage to Hooker (“Hooper,” get it?).
  • “The Night Stalker” won an Edgar in 1973 at the Edgar Alan Poe Awards for best television feature or miniseries.
  • Producer Dan Curtis was amazed at how unconcerned casino patrons were during some filming so he had Atwater wander through one casino in full makeup – and no one even blinked, according to Curtis.
  • In addition to McGavin, other actors here who appeared on “The Love Boat” include Lynley, Akins and Linville. I give a hearty “thank you” to each one for doing an episode of this great series.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “In the scene where he is exploring Skorzeny’s house, Kolchak opens up a refrigerator and finds one of the bottles of blood stolen from the hospital. The bottle is labeled, “Richards, Benjamin”. This appears to be a leftover prop from The Immortal: Pilot (1969), a TV-movie (later a series, The Immortal (1969)) about a man named Ben Richards whose blood makes him immune to aging and disease.”

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