Imagine going back to 1972 when this was produced. You’d sit with your family waiting for it to be broadcast. There were only three television channels, you couldn’t record it for later because home VCRs weren’t available, everyone gave the TV their rapt attention, there were telephones but it was stuck on a wall 60 feet away in the kitchen (nobody bothered to call during prime time anyway) and it was GLORIOUS! After the scary movie your mom gave you a cookie and a glass of milk and sent you to bed. Dad watched the news and the house was shut down by 11:30. It couldn’t have been any better!
I remember very well. I guess I was lucky because we had at least 10 channels but we lived near Toronto Ontario and got tv stations from Buffalo as well as other cities close by.
My parents let me watch both movies but they covered my eyes at points....even though it scared the hell out of me i loved it!!!! When the show started they let my big brother and myself watch them alone.....I was almost 8 when the show started and i loved it more than ever!!!! Monday morning in school all of us brave boys who watched would excitedly discuss things like headless motorcycle riders and 8ft tall native american spellcasters.........werewolves and zombies... aliens vampires jack the ripper.......Louisiana swamp monsters....monsters that looked like those you trusted most......i watch metv every saturday night at midnight....50 years later I still love watching it being broadcast and I hope there are youngsters today who find it as cool and engaging as i did at that tender age.....may the legend of the man called kolchack live on!
When I was a kid ( 9 years old in 72 ), see and hear the intro for 'movie of the week' I know it was gonna be good and exciting...Gosh how I so miss those times..
I remember the Mystery Movie Theme the same way, Alias Smith and Jones and so many more - many of which we watched as a Family (especially comedies and variety shows) - I don't know if that even happens any more. Two favourites I watched with my daughters were the original "Life on Mars" and "CSI New York"
This story was good for it's time, but honestly Darren McGavin makes the movie. He absolutely carries it. Such charisma and charm! I can't imagine it without him!
I love the old black and white Sherlock Holmes series with Ronald Howard (son of Leslie Howard, GWTW Ashley Wilkes) and he reminded so much of someone, and I was trying to think who, then it hit me, Darrin MacGavin! The both have an inmate likability.
I am 59, thank you so much for turning me into an eight year old girl again. I loved the movies of the week, the night stalker series and Darren McGavin. Ahhh when TV was magical.
Only decades later did I realize how prominently Blacks and women were utilized thruout the series. The writers and producers were waaaay ahead of their time...and Hollywood's all the better for it! Thanks 👍
@@donarthiazi2443 Sorry, no sarcasm intended. Just an unsolicited observation that the series was portraying 1973 with black people and women in positions of authority before it became ' de rigueur'. Hope you feel better 😀
I remember watching this in that 70’s house I grew up in, with the shag carpet, the orange sofa, and the avocado recliners. Mom was on the couch, Dad in the recliner, my sister sleeping in the rocker, and I was on a quilt in the floor, watching that huge floor model TV. Nobody wanted to go to bed afterwards, and Dad made an extra check of all of the doors. Oh, for the days when my Dad was alive, and we were all still young…
@@leapinglaura7343 As a native Las Vegan (b 1955), who has lived all my life here, (sans 6-7 yrs abroad in the late 70's/early-mid 80's), I nurd-ishly stop this movie here on UA-cam occasionally, to verify small details, that as a longtime local, who was 16/17 yrs old at the time of the filming and playing of this, satiate my memories then. Still trying to sleuth out the location of the interior casino shots. Downtown or Strip casino? There's a case, albeit minimal, that the casino MIGHT be the Stardust, as in a shot where the casino gaming table supervisor watching the action on the table of the individual playing blackjack and talking to McGavin, is wearing a matching garish colored blazer, shirt trio. I was working as a 16 yr old busboy in Aug/Sept '71, at the coffee shop (Palm Room) there. (Stardust)
Was in the 8th grade when it aired in 72 Couldn't wait too watch it ABC advertised it alot Kept me on the edge of our flowered sofa At that time it was the most viewed movie on network TV in history
"bwkticn," "Nobody wanted to go to bed afterwards, and Dad made an extra check of all of the doors." Not unlike Tuesday nights, only a few years prior -- after another fright fest watching "The Invaders," also on ABC. 'Alien beings from another planet' [how the narration went in the main titles] -- that only architect David Vincent (like Darren McGavin as Kolchak; Vincent was skillfully played by, and ideally suited for, Roy Thinnes) knew about -- scared the bejesus out of most of us.
We used mattresses on door frames on concrete blocks with lots of pillows for couch and our rug was light yellow and the fridge avocado green. The kitchen counter tile was avocado green with dark wood paneling.
Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974-1975 season. The series followed wire service reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those involving the supernatural or science fiction, including fantastic creatures. The series was preceded by the two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). Although the series lasted only a single season, it rapidly achieved cult status and has remained very popular in syndication.
I remember watching one episode where he was seeing the lips of a Zombie shut, what episode or movie title was that one in?? My mom and me both agreed it was the scariest thing we'd ever seen!
"high on pot or the hard stuff" Classic! _________ (poor dog!) It is worth watching just for the nostalgia of seeing those cars, filing cabinets, clunky telephones, and typewriters. I didn't even know I missed them. Except for the cars. I knew I missed them.
Wrote about this movie in my Diary. All the kids at school were talking about "The Night Stalker." the next day after it aired. Amazing to see Las Vegas, in it's young days.❤
This is seriously one of the best vampire films of all time. Based on the realism, script, and actors. Two Mike Hammer's together against a single unbelievable foe. RIP to all involved
03:48 Did you all notice, when he pulled down his mask??? That's FRANK BURNS OF MASH!!! ~ Larry Linville!!!! 🤩 Also I just Love seeing Las Vegas in its smaller days! Most of all the old casinos are gone but I can see everything that used to be there!!! Beautiful.
Oh my goodness! I had forgotten all about the ABC Movie of the Week! This is when the whole family would sit in the den and watch the same movie because there were very few channels on TV. I can remember my big sister popping popcorn on the stove, and my dad sitting in his favorite chair ... a La-Z-Boy recliner.
I used to watch the movie of the week with my mother. There was McMillian and Wife and others as well. I loved these times RIP mom. You were the best mother ever.
mccloud and columbo....and macmillian and wife are all still broadcast here in philadelphia on channel 10.2 over the airwaves..free....the rest of our programs come from free sites on the net that have every show possible
One of the only movies that showed the true strength of the vampire.Tossing officers like rag dolls and impervious to bullets. Barry Atwater gave an outstanding performance without uttering a single word.
This is the greatest vampire movie I've ever seen. I was 12 in 1972 when I saw The Night Stalker. Love the intro of ABC movie of the week. It brings back warm feelings of family togetherness.
Was thinking the same when the music kicked in. I’m the same age. Oldest of 5. Watched with my bros. Check out the Norliss Tapes & Salems Lot. Good Vamps 👻
My late brother loved the Night Stalker series. He would have been in his glory. This brings back so many memories and saddness. I love these movies, as well. Ms. B. Churchill
As a person who works on movies and TV shows...I still think this was one of the best shows on TV when I was a kid...still love it...and McGavin was awesome.
darren was the ultimate professional.............not just this but everything he was in...........a rare breed...up there with peter falk............a great friend
i met (columbo) through sinatra met darren through telly savalas.......and i rate tel better than all of them put together..........and they were all brilliant
theres is a funny story about why i called telly, tel...even though his name wasnt terry, english slang for terry he said if i change my name 2 terry what will you call me then...........i said..........ted........hahahaha
This great movie, and series was the inspiration for the X-Files, as quoted by Chris Carter. Darren McGavin never received the Emmy he deserved for this role as acknowledged by the entertainment industry. Rest in peace Mr. McGavin, your perfectly fallible, dogged-reporter "Carl Kolchak" lives on with a whole generation of Boomers and their kids.
LOVE these !!! Used to watch this series with my Dad (Mom refused --- said they scared her 😂), we would also watch "Twilight Zone," "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," and "Outer Limits." We also watched "Saturday Nite Horror Fest" (classics like "The Mummy," "Frankenstein," "Dracula," etc.). I'd make a big bowl of popcorn & sip my Coke, while Dad snacked on pretzels & sipped his beer --- miss those good times, hangin' with my Pops (he also loved "Mission Impossible" --- we watched every Sunday night). Such nice memories, when TV really was ENTERTAINMENT !!! I see 1,000's of YT comments just like mine, bemoaning the loss of good TV and Films --- just wish there were LOTS of cable, streaming, & YT channels that would show the GOOD vintage stuff (not the crap available now). I don't have cable or ANYTHING at home, now. I just watch my DVD's or YT. There just isn't ANYTHING worthwhile to watch anymore 😢
My favorite shows are night stalker outer limits twilight zone star trek tos... if im felling silly i might throw on battlestar galactica.....also svengholie on me tv saturday at 8 plays old scary movies classics and lesser knows as well...after that they show batman star trek tos kolchack lost in space voyage to the bottom of the sea the time tunnel land of the giants and the invaders.......great night of programming.
I remember watching this movie with my dad (R.I.P., Dad) when I was a sophomore in high school, all those years ago. Still gives me chills. The actor, Barry Atwater, who portrayed the vampire was badass! The growling, snarling, hissing!
I liked McGavin's confidence and personality. I also liked the way his character so bravely fought the monsters he encountered all alone. He was always outmatched, but it never stopped him from tracking them down and finding a way to finish them off. Modern vampires drive cars or fly private planes, like in another vampire film I saw, "The Nightflier."
My dad turned all 7 of us kids onto tons of great television. Mission Impossible Columbo Kolchak The Night Stalker and too many others to mention. This 1972 movie of the week and 1973 follow up (The Night Strangler)movie led to the television series. The two movies broke viewership rating records for those two years. It was tough to try to make+tell as jam packed a story+production in 45-50 minutes when it transitioned into a weekly series, but the series was very rewarding too. Darrin McGavin was a gem of an actor, perfect here. Part of my childhood childhood died when Don Adam's, Bob Denver, and Darren McGavin all died the same weekend several years ago. Just came back 14 days later and watched the original movie which started it all AGAIN. The combination of Darren McGavin great acting and great writing make this 1972 movie one I can come back and watch again and again by now dozens of times if not hundreds.
This was probably the best of all of the Movie of the Week editions. I remember watching this when it was first shown on TV; it scared the crap out of my entire family. Those were the good old days of network television!
I'm 58 - I use to watch this show when I was 11yo. It terrified me. I never watched horror in my adult life, this maybe why. Funny and wonderful to revisit this classic. Thankyou. Xx
Fond memories of a time long past. These were the kind of shows that went past your bedtime during the weekdays. You rarely saw the end until you were older and happened to catch the full episodes in reruns. This was before the internets ease of information access. Thank you !
In 1972, I was working for a New Hampshire newspaper as a bureau correspondent. I had flown out to Ohio to spend the holidays with my family. On the way back home, my plane was grounded at LaGuardia because of snowy weather and I had to spend the night at the airport. I bought myself copies of the Night Stalker and the Night Strangler at the airport bookstore and read them while I was spending the night sitting in a reception area. The lights were all on and I was the only one there. Got a kick out of Kolchak's battle with his editor, Vinchinzo, as it reminded me of my editor. Later, I saw the movie and the TV series with Darren McGaverin.
Darren McGavin could do no wrong. Good guy or bad guy, he could act with the best of them. This flick is one of THE finest TV movies ever made. Action, realism, solid acting, one of my favorite movies as a kid, and still stands up to anything produced these days.
The Kolchak series scared me so much as a kid, but I had to watch it. My mother would fight with my father because he would let me watch it, and she thought it was too adult. I lived in Vegas from 1998 to 2002, and in 2001 there were a series of dead bodies found in seedy hotels. The news was reported on the radio one morning, but not on the television news that night. Never heard anything else about the murders. It made me think of a classic Kolchak monster cover-up.
WOW😲 that looks worthy for some more investigation🤔you should dig into that you might end up with something you should try researching that🧐 because that's very intriguing to say the least🤔💀👹👽🤖👻👁
I remember I had a 4th grade school choir program that night. Told my parents I wanted to stay home and watch that movie, but no dice. My older brother told me how great it was when I got home....dumb choir concert... :)))
Yeah there was and answering machines. Some kids had cassette recorders to tape off the radio and talk into for fun. George Harrison worried that early song releases would be boot legged that way and didn't release any teasers until his albums came out. You can see them in a lot of movies and shows, including Brady Bunch and any of these Ed and Lorraine Warren ghost movies.
So much better than the slasher movies to come later in the '80s. Atmospheric, scary, loud sounds, dark corners, late at night in the vamp's house. What was he thinking?
Richard Matheson was such a huge talent. Loved Darrin McGavin too. This was the highest rated TV movie for years. Great Vampire Movie. Hell, great movie..period.
Since the 50s, NJ-bred prodigy Richard Matheson excelled in every conceivable form of the specialized genres of sci-fi and horror: screenplay, teleplay, short story, and novel. An original Twilight Zone alum whose best episodes rank alongside Rod Serling's, Matheson's influence on the dark side of imaginative storytellers is far reaching -- Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, Anne Rice, and George Romero to name a few. I wouldn't call him underrated (especially among legion consumers of fantasy fiction), but I would venture to say he is grossly neglected relative of his quality and output. Fans of Duel, Stir of Echoes, I Am Legend, What Dreams May Come, Omega Man, and The Incredible Shrinking Man more closely associate those wonderful films with their capable interpreters (directors and stars) than with the man who originally dreamed them up on paper and ink.
...yeah...almost as GOOD as...Brides of DRACULA'''...with John-Carradine'''...& BeLa-Lugosia''' some FREAKy Looking GUYS''+...Vincent-Price-+&--BORIS-KARLOFF'''...That sucKer was ...scary...Looking''''
Name a news story by an edited news source that got it wrong you fucking coward... name ONE DAMNED news story that was discredited as false you right wing douchebag... can't name one? Of course you can't you corrupt turd.
This made for tv movie on ABC scared the crap out of me and my brother when we were ten and eight years old. It was AWESOME and we were hooked as fans. For a television movie, it told a great story.
I will take the peace & quite of the 1970s any day over this BS we have today. Three to five TV Channels, no VCRs, Records, 8 Track-Tapes, and Cassettes, Albums, and then Large Laser Disk ( what we call DVDs & Blue-Ray today) began in 1978. Those were good times...
Imagine going back to 1972 when this was produced. You’d sit with your family waiting for it to be broadcast. There were only three television channels, you couldn’t record it for later because home VCRs weren’t available, everyone gave the TV their rapt attention, there were telephones but it was stuck on a wall 60 feet away in the kitchen (nobody bothered to call during prime time anyway) and it was GLORIOUS!
After the scary movie your mom gave you a cookie and a glass of milk and sent you to bed. Dad watched the news and the house was shut down by 11:30. It couldn’t have been any better!
I remember very well. I guess I was lucky because we had at least 10 channels but we lived near Toronto Ontario and got tv stations from Buffalo as well as other cities close by.
@@michellehill4148 Not stations, Networks. ABC, CBC, NBC, and PBS, and that was it.
The news then Jonny Carson o ya..😊
@@michellehill4148 Greetings neighbor! From Buffalo NY! The Night Stalker was the best!! 👍👍👍
I miss it.
Whoever chose Darrin McGavin to play Kolchak was a genius! 😊😊
I think its his story telling.
Any male actor cast first would have made the part his.
You would be saying that of anybody playing the part.
I think I smell a TROLL!! .....PS with pimples
Agree😊
Or just good at their job.
Back in the good old days, When you watched TV with the family.
My parents let me watch both movies but they covered my eyes at points....even though it scared the hell out of me i loved it!!!! When the show started they let my big brother and myself watch them alone.....I was almost 8 when the show started
and i loved it more than ever!!!! Monday morning in school all of us brave boys
who watched would excitedly discuss things like headless motorcycle riders
and 8ft tall native american spellcasters.........werewolves and zombies...
aliens vampires jack the ripper.......Louisiana swamp monsters....monsters that
looked like those you trusted most......i watch metv every saturday night at midnight....50 years later I still love watching it being broadcast and I hope there
are youngsters today who find it as cool and engaging as i did at that tender age.....may the legend of the man called kolchack live on!
When I was a kid ( 9 years old in 72 ), see and hear the intro for 'movie of the week' I know it was gonna be good and exciting...Gosh how I so miss those times..
Same here I remember. 😊
Yeah. me too
Same here. So grateful to have grown up in the 60’ and 70’s! Best of times.
I remember the Mystery Movie Theme the same way, Alias Smith and Jones and so many more - many of which we watched as a Family (especially comedies and variety shows) - I don't know if that even happens any more. Two favourites I watched with my daughters were the original "Life on Mars" and "CSI New York"
This story was good for it's time, but honestly Darren McGavin makes the movie. He absolutely carries it. Such charisma and charm! I can't imagine it without him!
I read somewhere that kojak, telly savales was up for the role@!!
A Christmas story ! Great acting and plot m
I think Brian Cranston could do it .
@@pooddescrewch8718 the need me to play the role cause I could be just as contrary
I love the old black and white Sherlock Holmes series with Ronald Howard (son of Leslie Howard, GWTW Ashley Wilkes) and he reminded so much of someone, and I was trying to think who, then it hit me, Darrin MacGavin! The both have an inmate likability.
I am 59, thank you so much for turning me into an eight year old girl again. I loved the movies of the week, the night stalker series and Darren McGavin. Ahhh when TV was magical.
Same here. But a dude. lol.
Me too!
Same with the Christmas Story. Great actor.
Same here
Kolchak the Night Stalker was way ahead of it's time. Entertainment at it's finest.
Only decades later did I realize how prominently Blacks and women were utilized thruout the series. The writers and producers were waaaay ahead of their time...and Hollywood's all the better for it! Thanks 👍
The precursor to The X-Files...
@@berniemac3
What's your point? Despite your witty attempt at sarcasm, you make no sense at all. 🙄
@@donarthiazi2443 Sorry, no sarcasm intended. Just an unsolicited observation that the series was portraying 1973 with black people and women in positions of authority before it became ' de rigueur'. Hope you feel better 😀
ABSOLUTELY
Darren McGavin was great in everything he did RIP
What was the name of the Lone Ranger's nephew's horse 😂
Victor!😂😂😂
ABSOLUTELY AGREE!
McGavin did another made for tv movie in 1970.
"The Challenge" it is also on UA-cam
I remember watching this in that 70’s house I grew up in, with the shag carpet, the orange sofa, and the avocado recliners. Mom was on the couch, Dad in the recliner, my sister sleeping in the rocker, and I was on a quilt in the floor, watching that huge floor model TV. Nobody wanted to go to bed afterwards, and Dad made an extra check of all of the doors. Oh, for the days when my Dad was alive, and we were all still young…
Our shag carpet was orange, and the sofa avocado. Completely different lol!
@@leapinglaura7343 As a native Las Vegan (b 1955), who has lived all my life here, (sans 6-7 yrs abroad in the late 70's/early-mid 80's), I nurd-ishly stop this movie here on UA-cam occasionally, to verify small details, that as a longtime local, who was 16/17 yrs old at the time of the filming and playing of this, satiate my memories then. Still trying to sleuth out the location of the interior casino shots. Downtown or Strip casino? There's a case, albeit minimal, that the casino MIGHT be the Stardust, as in a shot where the casino gaming table supervisor watching the action on the table of the individual playing blackjack and talking to McGavin, is wearing a matching garish colored blazer, shirt trio. I was working as a 16 yr old busboy in Aug/Sept '71, at the coffee shop (Palm Room) there. (Stardust)
Was in the 8th grade when it aired in 72
Couldn't wait too watch it
ABC advertised it alot
Kept me on the edge of our flowered sofa
At that time it was the most viewed movie on network TV in history
"bwkticn," "Nobody wanted to go to bed afterwards, and Dad made an extra check of all of the doors." Not unlike Tuesday nights, only a few years prior -- after another fright fest watching "The Invaders," also on ABC. 'Alien beings from another planet' [how the narration went in the main titles] -- that only architect David Vincent (like Darren McGavin as Kolchak; Vincent was skillfully played by, and ideally suited for, Roy Thinnes) knew about -- scared the bejesus out of most of us.
We used mattresses on door frames on concrete blocks with lots of pillows for couch and our rug was light yellow and the fridge avocado green. The kitchen counter tile was avocado green with dark wood paneling.
I was 12 years old and watched it with my Father. Love you Dad
Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974-1975 season. The series followed wire service reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those involving the supernatural or science fiction, including fantastic creatures. The series was preceded by the two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). Although the series lasted only a single season, it rapidly achieved cult status and has remained very popular in syndication.
I remember watching one episode where he was seeing the lips of a Zombie shut, what episode or movie title was that one in?? My mom and me both agreed it was the scariest thing we'd ever seen!
This was the early. X FILES
Thanks!
This episode was filmed in 1971.
Best show in history. 🫡
Kolchak was an old fashioned reporter, the type you no longer see.
2023. Still watching. Kolcheck.
still good 5 decades later
Grrrreat! 👍
"high on pot or the hard stuff"
Classic!
_________
(poor dog!)
It is worth watching just for the nostalgia of seeing those cars, filing cabinets, clunky telephones, and typewriters.
I didn't even know I missed them.
Except for the cars.
I knew I missed them.
What a classic line that was.
Mcgavin looks, talks and walks the same in every show he was in. One of the true greats.
When i heard the music of the network, i just felt so great. Had to smile and could smell popcorn somehow!!😂😮😊
Wrote about this movie in my Diary. All the kids at school were talking about "The Night Stalker." the next day after it aired. Amazing to see Las Vegas, in it's young days.❤
This is seriously one of the best vampire films of all time. Based on the realism, script, and actors. Two Mike Hammer's together against a single unbelievable foe.
RIP to all involved
03:48 Did you all notice, when he pulled down his mask??? That's FRANK BURNS OF MASH!!! ~ Larry Linville!!!! 🤩 Also I just Love seeing Las Vegas in its smaller days! Most of all the old casinos are gone but I can see everything that used to be there!!! Beautiful.
Yes, I did recognize old ferret face.
The first real XFiles right here. Was an amazing show ❤❤
Oh wow The Movie of the Week!!! Brings back kid memories. Hey kids, this was before cable. Live and learn ya spoiled brats🤣😂👍🏾
I was 20 years old when I first watched this with my mom. Then we watched the tv series. Ahh the good old 1970's.
I'm 67 ,I remember watching this episode in 72 when I was 16 came on Friday nights loved Kolchack.
Oh my goodness! I had forgotten all about the ABC Movie of the Week! This is when the whole family would sit in the den and watch the same movie because there were very few channels on TV. I can remember my big sister popping popcorn on the stove, and my dad sitting in his favorite chair ... a La-Z-Boy recliner.
I used to watch the movie of the week with my mother. There was McMillian and Wife and others as well. I loved these times RIP mom. You were the best mother ever.
mccloud and columbo....and macmillian and wife are all still broadcast
here in philadelphia on channel 10.2 over the airwaves..free....the rest of our programs come from free sites on the net that have every show possible
Barry Atwater as the Vampire never says a word of dialogue but is still terrifying. That is truly great acting.
True.
😊😊
Àé4fb c❤
Vampires driving a hard deal with car salesman lol
Body language speaks volumes!!!
One of my favorite shows ever I used to watch this when I was a kid
During the commercials, I had to pick up bread and milk at the closest convenience store. You should have seen me run going and returning.
Kolchak was wayyyy before the times providing excellent serialized horror television, intelligently made-direction, writing and acting.
And also in the defence of the First Amendment too.
This was television at its finest!
I love how the vampire is not an elegant sexy gentleman, but an animalistic beast that can’t talk and squeals like a baby.
We don't see/hear him/it talk, but clearly he/it does. To the car dealer, for one example. And presumably to realtors etc too.
I would have liked to have heard him speak instead of just snarl.
Janos Skorzeny born n Krysti Rumania 1899 died in 1972 or did he? The stake keeps him down not dead.
I loved the Night Stalker.. Carl Kolchack is amazing character.
One of the only movies that showed the true strength of the vampire.Tossing officers like rag dolls and impervious to bullets. Barry Atwater gave an outstanding performance without uttering a single word.
He had some Vulcan strength that carried over from a Star Trek episode.
I loved this show when i was a kid.
This is the greatest vampire movie I've ever seen.
I was 12 in 1972 when I saw The Night Stalker.
Love the intro of ABC movie of the week.
It brings back warm feelings of family togetherness.
It sure does👍💯
Was thinking the same when the music kicked in. I’m the same age. Oldest of 5. Watched with my bros. Check out the Norliss Tapes & Salems Lot. Good Vamps 👻
Me too
For me, The Horror of Dracula with Christopher Lee was my favorite. But this movie of the week was very creepy and frightening.
Absolutely
Kolchak the night stalker is a true classic.I remember my mom and dad watching this in the early and mid 70's when i was little..
My late brother loved the Night Stalker series. He would have been in his glory. This brings back so many memories and saddness. I love these movies, as well.
Ms. B. Churchill
Not to be confused with the “Night Stalker”, Richard Ramirez, whose killing spree came about a decade later in L.A.
i was a youngin' of 12yrs old when i saw this show and i absolutely loved it lol!!!!
As a person who works on movies and TV shows...I still think this was one of the best shows on TV when I was a kid...still love it...and McGavin was awesome.
darren was the ultimate professional.............not just this but everything he was in...........a rare breed...up there with peter falk............a great friend
JOHN STANZ you saying peter falk or darren mgavin was your friend?? either way its pretty cool
i met (columbo) through sinatra met darren through telly savalas.......and i rate tel better than all of them put together..........and they were all brilliant
theres is a funny story about why i called telly, tel...even though his name wasnt terry, english slang for terry
he said if i change my name 2 terry what will you call me then...........i said..........ted........hahahaha
So agree!
This great movie, and series was the inspiration for the X-Files, as quoted by Chris Carter. Darren McGavin never received the Emmy he deserved for this role as acknowledged by the entertainment industry. Rest in peace Mr. McGavin, your perfectly fallible, dogged-reporter "Carl Kolchak" lives on with a whole generation of Boomers and their kids.
Watch the X-Files episode dedicated to Darren obviously with the Night Stalker referring to story.
I was 7 years old when this came out. I couldn't wait to watch it eventhough I couldn't sleep afterwards
The 70's were quite the era.
It's 2023
The soundtrack introduction was so energetic
This show was awesome 😎
Growing. Up. Watching. This. All. The. Time I. Enjoy. It 👍👍
This is what I grew up with as a teen in the 70s. So glad this was digitized blu-ray.
Me too ☮️
Ah memories. I used to love watching these night stalker series.
Me too!✌️
LOVE these !!! Used to watch this series with my Dad (Mom refused --- said they scared her 😂), we would also watch "Twilight Zone," "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," and "Outer Limits." We also watched "Saturday Nite Horror Fest" (classics like "The Mummy," "Frankenstein," "Dracula," etc.). I'd make a big bowl of popcorn & sip my Coke, while Dad snacked on pretzels & sipped his beer --- miss those good times, hangin' with my Pops (he also loved "Mission Impossible" --- we watched every Sunday night). Such nice memories, when TV really was ENTERTAINMENT !!! I see 1,000's of YT comments just like mine, bemoaning the loss of good TV and Films --- just wish there were LOTS of cable, streaming, & YT channels that would show the GOOD vintage stuff (not the crap available now). I don't have cable or ANYTHING at home, now. I just watch my DVD's or YT. There just isn't ANYTHING worthwhile to watch anymore 😢
It was great 👍
When there were great shows for free.
Creature double feature on Boston ch 56 on Saturday afternoons Godzilla v Mother's!
Mothra
My favorite shows are night stalker outer limits twilight zone star trek tos...
if im felling silly i might throw on battlestar galactica.....also svengholie on me tv
saturday at 8 plays old scary movies classics and lesser knows as well...after that
they show batman star trek tos kolchack lost in space voyage to the bottom of the sea
the time tunnel land of the giants and the invaders.......great night of programming.
Claude Akins one of my favorite Western Character Stars May he RIP
I remember seeing Darren Mc Gavin downtown Los Angeles filming one of his movies.. it was a honor to watch him...act ...
I remember watching this movie with my dad (R.I.P., Dad) when I was a sophomore in high school, all those years ago. Still gives me chills. The actor, Barry Atwater, who portrayed the vampire was badass! The growling, snarling, hissing!
BARRY ATWATER...? GOTCHA, YOU KNOW YOUR GOODNESS....! TRUE PERSON OF THE 70s.....THANKS
Yep
@@stephenernsberger9678 Barry Atwater, An EXTREMELY CREEPY dude😬😳😲
Great, greater...greatest, to me. I almost expect to see Barry still snarling and hissing tomorrow and far into the future. Thanks!🧛♂️
Me too. I was 10 years old watched it with the parents and didn't want to go to sleep after this movie was over.
I was 4 years old when this aired but I later remember watching the Night Stalker series, the good old days 😁👍
Night Stalker tv series had some pretty scary ones for its time.What a great series.
I love this! I was born in 75. This show was awesome 👍🏻!
Wow! Remember when good T.V. was free! All the good stuff is gone because of greed.
I liked McGavin's confidence and personality. I also liked the way his character so bravely fought the monsters he encountered all alone. He was always outmatched, but it never stopped him from tracking them down and finding a way to finish them off. Modern vampires drive cars or fly private planes, like in another vampire film I saw, "The Nightflier."
The Nightflier was also awesome
My dad and I watched Night Stalker every week! We loved it!! Great memories 💗
My dad turned all
7 of us kids onto tons of great television.
Mission Impossible
Columbo
Kolchak The Night Stalker and too many others to mention.
This 1972 movie of the week and 1973 follow up (The Night Strangler)movie led to the television series.
The two movies broke viewership rating records for those two years.
It was tough to try to make+tell as jam packed a story+production in 45-50 minutes when it transitioned into a weekly series, but the series was very rewarding too.
Darrin McGavin was a gem of an actor, perfect here.
Part of my childhood childhood died when Don Adam's,
Bob Denver, and Darren McGavin all died the same weekend several years ago.
Just came back 14 days later and watched the original movie which started it all AGAIN.
The combination of Darren McGavin great acting and great writing make this 1972 movie one I can come back and watch again and again by now dozens of times if not hundreds.
This series was a fantastic series and I miss it!
Used to watch this late with my mom. Lots of great memories. RIP, Mum.
Classic! So glad I grew up at this time.
What happens in Vegas ,stays in Vegas ... One of the best TV movies ever.
Thank you so much for your doing this I love the movies I greatly appreciate it
This was probably the best of all of the Movie of the Week editions. I remember watching this when it was first shown on TV; it scared the crap out of my entire family. Those were the good old days of network television!
To me , one of the top vampire movies made!
Love this show as a kid never missed an episode 😂
LOVED this show! Then Night Gallery then bedtime. Scared the crap out of 12 year old me!
Same here! Scary episodes.
I was 7 years old when this was broadcast and I watched it with my mom and oldest sister who was a big Dark Shadows fan
Every time I hear him speak all I see in my mind is the scene from “A Christmas Story” when he was working on the furnace...lol
love your post you are very beautiful with a beautiful smile how are you doing today how is the weather over there right now
I watched this series when I was a university student. And when I was in my forties I bought the dvd. I love this show! From Japan ❤
O hi yo gonzai mas! 👋 🇯🇵
I'm 58 - I use to watch this show when I was 11yo. It terrified me. I never watched horror in my adult life, this maybe why. Funny and wonderful to revisit this classic. Thankyou. Xx
Fond memories of a time long past. These were the kind of shows that went past your bedtime during the weekdays. You rarely saw the end until you were older and happened to catch the full episodes in reruns. This was before the internets ease of information access. Thank you !
Passed
In 1972, I was working for a New Hampshire newspaper as a bureau correspondent. I had flown out to Ohio to spend the holidays with my family. On the way back home, my plane was grounded at LaGuardia because of snowy weather and I had to spend the night at the airport. I bought myself copies of the Night Stalker and the Night Strangler at the airport bookstore and read them while I was spending the night sitting in a reception area. The lights were all on and I was the only one there. Got a kick out of Kolchak's battle with his editor, Vinchinzo, as it reminded me of my editor. Later, I saw the movie and the TV series with Darren McGaverin.
Great story. Better then a Ted Baxter story. lol.
A good visual. Thank you.
Darren McGavin could do no wrong. Good guy or bad guy, he could act with the best of them. This flick is one of THE finest TV movies ever made. Action, realism, solid acting, one of my favorite movies as a kid, and still stands up to anything produced these days.
he was very good as the dope dealer in The Man With the Golden Arm with Frank Sinatra, he was just a great actor in everything he did, salute!
Agreed 👍🏾
ABSOLUTELY LOVE THESE MOVIES The night stalker 👍✌
Funny, most folks are here because their loved ones let em watch and boom, hooked.
Thanks Dad, I love you. We'll watch this again one day.
PistolPete Lamar so sweet.
McGavin was simply one of the best actors ever! Had the phrasing of a great jazz musician
Well put my syncopated friend. Kolchak is one of the most interesting characters in fiction! 🤓 Be safe. Thank you
Great line!👍 (Stealing it!☺️)
The music was fantastically 1970s too! Great stuff!
I loved the Nightstalker episodes as a kid! So happy to see this.
The Kolchak series scared me so much as a kid, but I had to watch it. My mother would fight with my father because he would let me watch it, and she thought it was too adult. I lived in Vegas from 1998 to 2002, and in 2001 there were a series of dead bodies found in seedy hotels. The news was reported on the radio one morning, but not on the television news that night. Never heard anything else about the murders. It made me think of a classic Kolchak monster cover-up.
WOW😲 that looks worthy for some more investigation🤔you should dig into that you might end up with something you should try researching that🧐 because that's very intriguing to say the least🤔💀👹👽🤖👻👁
Cover -up ? Shocker there.
I was like 5 or 6 when this was new. It scared me to trauma... back then kids of any age watched what the rest of the family did.
@@gypsylotusblossom777
Madame Justice, with your name, maybe you’d be better off investigating those murders…? 😊
@@gypsylotusblossom777 the cops don't need amature detective's 😂
I remember watching this on TV with my family when I was ten... Pretty spooky for a kid in those days 😆 LOL 👍 ❤ 🎥
I remember I had a 4th grade school choir program that night. Told my parents I wanted to stay home and watch that movie, but no dice. My older brother told me how great it was when I got home....dumb choir concert... :)))
I loved this show as a kid. I was so sad when it was canceled.
OMG the opening with the ABC effect took me back to my child hood
I know exact same here felt weird man.
Yeah there was and answering machines. Some kids had cassette recorders to tape off the radio and talk into for fun. George Harrison worried that early song releases would be boot legged that way and didn't release any teasers until his albums came out. You can see them in a lot of movies and shows, including Brady Bunch and any of these Ed and Lorraine Warren ghost movies.
Businesses used answering machines. I never met a person using them until much later.
OMG
it is heaven
This was frightening back in the day. The 1970s fright movies on TV and the theaters kicked ass!
So much better than the slasher movies to come later in the '80s. Atmospheric, scary, loud sounds, dark corners, late at night in the vamp's house. What was he thinking?
Always fun to watch this again and again...
Great show. I was 12 when I saw this on tv in the early 70's. Thanks for the upload.
Richard Matheson was such a huge talent. Loved Darrin McGavin too. This was the highest rated TV movie for years. Great Vampire Movie. Hell, great movie..period.
Since the 50s, NJ-bred prodigy Richard Matheson excelled in every conceivable form of the specialized genres of sci-fi and horror: screenplay, teleplay, short story, and novel. An original Twilight Zone alum whose best episodes rank alongside Rod Serling's, Matheson's influence on the dark side of imaginative storytellers is far reaching -- Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, Anne Rice, and George Romero to name a few. I wouldn't call him underrated (especially among legion consumers of fantasy fiction), but I would venture to say he is grossly neglected relative of his quality and output. Fans of Duel, Stir of Echoes, I Am Legend, What Dreams May Come, Omega Man, and The Incredible Shrinking Man more closely associate those wonderful films with their capable interpreters (directors and stars) than with the man who originally dreamed them up on paper and ink.
...yeah...almost as GOOD as...Brides of DRACULA'''...with John-Carradine'''...& BeLa-Lugosia''' some FREAKy Looking GUYS''+...Vincent-Price-+&--BORIS-KARLOFF'''...That sucKer was ...scary...Looking''''
agree jack ryan
Only vampire that ever scared me! Literally, no other seemed real, or menacing, or horrible, like this one.
It was one of the first takes of vampires in the modern era ever made. That and the mystery format and great writing made it a real milestone.
Kolchek was the Van Helsing of the 70s......great horror flick! Thanks!
LOL . . . thanks for the opening sequence> It brought back the memories! This is great!
It gave me chills when it aired. It’s even better than I remembered.
Thanks John, I loved watching the Night Stalker when I was a kid.
This was a walk down memory lane for sure!!
Darren McGavin was a superb actor..underrated probably. He epitomised American 70's tv
Classic.
Kolchak brings back memories.
I was a kid watching him on Channel 7 .
Loved it.
Respect to Darren Mc Gavin.
Near DC/Maryland?
WABC7 NYC
Much respect
Remember it...loved it...still love it...
I remember the two movies and tv series when I was 7-8 years old. Too bad it was only one season, but I still watch them on DVD from time to time.
Wow, what a throwback! This show used to scare the crap outta' me when I was a kid 😮. Thanks for the upload 👍🏾 😊
The Jack the Ripper episode was the best. I remember watching this show on the CBS late movie of Friday nights.
MAN! Back when News papers actually HAD REAL sources and you got FIRST rate news.
Name a news story by an edited news source that got it wrong you fucking coward... name ONE DAMNED news story that was discredited as false you right wing douchebag... can't name one? Of course you can't you corrupt turd.
@@hotelfoxtrot4979 Hello from Canada.
MAN! Back when News papers actually HAD REAL sources and you got FIRST rate news.
Who, What, When, Where and WHY !!!
Thanks for the memories;)...
This made for tv movie on ABC scared the crap out of me and my brother when we were ten and eight years old. It was AWESOME and we were hooked as fans. For a television movie, it told a great story.
I was 26--and admit this show unnerved me O.K it scared me like I was 10.
...Been shorten to...DVD...and Re-run/s...BullshiT''''
One of the very best TV movies ever. I have it on DVD with The Night Strangler.
I will take the peace & quite of the 1970s any day over this BS we have today. Three to five TV Channels, no VCRs, Records, 8 Track-Tapes, and Cassettes, Albums, and then Large Laser Disk ( what we call DVDs & Blue-Ray today) began in 1978. Those were good times...