OK! It’s the season of Halloween 2022! I’m doing a countdown of my 17 favorite horror flicks that I’ve reviewed for my blog … and today’s finds us at No. 5: “The Night Stalker” and “The Night Strangler.”
“The Night Stalker” is simply the best-ever TV horror flick and is the story of a vampire that begins to hunt in Las Vegas (circa 1972 … and will have its 51st anniversary on Jan. 11, 2023). It was the most-watched TV movie of its time, with more than half of the televisions being monitored in the U.S. having been tuned it to it on the original broadcast date in 1972. “The Night Stalker” stars Darren McGavin as “Carl Kolchak,” a newspaper reporter whose story about a “vampire-like” killer isn’t deemed credible until he hammers a stake through the bloodsucker’s heart. It is mostly creative; has solid acting from its headliner and supporting cast including Simon Oakland; and is just terrific because it relies on tension and events to scare rather than gut-churning special effects.
I’m putting “The Night Strangler” in with “The Night Stalker” because it arrived a year later (TV wasn’t any more inventive back then; it pumped a cash cow for all it was worth even then) and, while not the original, was also creative. “The Night Strangler” is the story of a killer seeking immortality, spanning decades of murders in the Seattle area and, of course, McGavin, who is reunited with Oakland as his editor in the sequel, is the one who solves the mystery and outdoes the bad guy. You’ll also get the Margaret Hamilton, who played two bad characters including a witch in “The Wizard of Oz,” as a college professor who helps McGavin solve the case.
You’ll probably have some trouble finding both “The Night Stalker” and “The Night Strangler” at this Halloween time, but both have been released on Blu-Ray and I don’t know if they’re set for a run on the movie networks this year.
Check back tomorrow for No. 4 …
CLICK here … to read my review of “The Night Stalker”
CLICK here … to read my review of “The Night Strangler”
Here is my list to date for Halloween ’22:
6) “Terror Train” (slasher)
7) “Prom Night” (slasher)
8) “Salem’s Lot” (vampire)
9) “Shaun of the Dead” (zombie)
10) “An American Werewolf in London” (werewolf)
11) “The Omen” (anti-Christ)
12) “The Lost Boys” (vampire)
13) “Near Dark” (vampire)
14) “Phantasm” (sci-fi maniac)
15) “Christine” (haunted car)
16) “The Night Flier” (vampire)
17) “From Dusk Till Dawn” (vampire)
CLICK here … for all my reviews of horror movies
CLICK here … to see a list of all the movies I’ve reviewed
CLICK here … for a chronological list of my reviews
CLICK TO VIEW MY PHOTO GALLERIES & MOVIE REVIEWS:
Disney1 | Diz2 | Diz3 | Diz4 | Diz5 | Disz6 | Diz7 | Diz8 | Diz9 | Diz10 | Disney11
Disney12 | Diz13 | Diz14 | Diz15 | Diz16 | Diz17 | Diz18 | Diz19 | Diz20 | Diz21 | Disney22
Naples1 | Nap2 | Nap3 | Nap4 | Nap5 | Nap6 | Nap7 | Nap8 | Naples9 | NYC
DriveTime1 | DriveTime2 | Contrails | China | Europe | UF Gators | Miami Dolphins
Halloween Horror Nights | Cruises | D.C. | Sunrises | Sunsets | My movie reviews
© Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples, 2022.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without
express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner
is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that
full and clear credit is given to Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples
with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
