Last on the bill at last night's screening...

I finished off last night with a couple of episodes from the highly entertaining US TV series KOLCHAK: The Night Stalker from the mid-seventies. It only ran for one season which is a bit odd as I reckon it was pretty great. But then again, good doesn't necessarily equal commercial. Maybe nobody cared about it in 1974/75.

It was remade a few years back but I've never seen the remake. Much like COLUMBO, KOLCHAK basically has the same plot in each episode, Kolchak is sent to investigate an ordinary story for his newspaper and along the way he runs into something obscure like a vampire, a zombie, or as in last nights episodes a guy who sold his soul to the Devil so he can turn himself into a hound from Hell and thus win the election. And in the second episode, an evil red indian who can turn himself into a coyote and kill people in order to steal their jewels. Both episodes were highly entertaining.

The Satanic demon dog from Hell guy was played by Tom Skerritt who many yrs later played the main character in the TV series PICKET FENCES which was a weirdo kinda show basically created to take over when TWIN PEAKS ended (and it was pretty good actually. I remember taping episodes but I mucked up, missed episodes, and eventually gave up. That was definitely a mistake as the series has drifted into obscurity and apart from season one hasn't been released to home-video in any format. EDIT: I just checked and apparently season two has JUST been released in OZ at the beginning of December!!). The indian was played by none other than Richard Kiel aka "Jaws"!

The DVD set that I have contains the complete series. My release is the UK set which basically is identical to the US set - EXCEPT it's the one you need if you're a purist! The first few episodes had a slightly different title when they ran on US TV originally (it was just called "The Night Stalker") but the series was retitled from episode 5 ("Kolchak: The Night Stalker"). During reruns the new title was used for all episodes in the US and the reg. 1 set carries the rerun title whereas the UK set uses the original title-card for episode 1-4. Also, the reg. 1 set uses flipper discs while the UK set does not. If you need English or Spanish subs the US set is the one to get, tho. No subs on the UK set. The two telly films (THE NIGHT STALKER and THE NIGHT STRANGLER) aren't part of the set.

My friend, the sensational Steven Smith with Richard Kiel in Australia, 2012!

Jack the Ripper! A zombie! What's next? A devil doll from Hell??

As you'll remember I bought the complete KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER set recently and I've finally got started on the series - and they're great fun! Kolchak is a night reporter on an old-fashioned newspaper (printed on paper! Remember those ones?). In the first episode he happens to run into Jack the Ripper hisself (yes, still alive after all these years and doing what he does best!) and in last night's episode Kolchak encountered one of the walking dead, a zombie! Two episodes down, 18 to go!! :D

KOLCHAK: the night stalker (USA, 1974-75)

I received the KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER complete series boxset today. Yay!! Spiffy!!! I've wanted this show for years!! But there's too many movies in this world so that's why I haven't got around to ordering it until now. Now it's here and whoo-hoo for that.

I've never watched any of the episodes before but I've watched the telly movie and the pilot that preceded the show and found those two to be really good. KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER ran over the US TV screens in 1974-75. Twenty 60 minute episodes! Maybe 20 episodes doesn't sound like much compared to other shows but even so it became a cult show that people are still talking about. I watched episode #1 tonight and I look forward to the remaining 19!!

The basic plot: Carl Kolchak is a newspaper reporter and for some reason he usually runs into unusual cases. In the first episode he's up against "the ripper" (who happens to be Jack the Ripper hisself who has survived since 1888!!). Some of the other episodes are called: "The Zombie", "The Vampire", and "The Spanish Moss Murders"!

As I said there are two TV films that were made before the show; THE NIGHT STALKER from 1972 and THE NIGHT STRANGLER (i.e. the pilot) from 1973.

The two TV movies are released on a reg. 1 MGM DVD but unfortunately it's out of print and it's now so expensive it's ridiculous!! Fortunately I bought it years ago and probably paid something like 10 bucks for it.

The complete TV show (which doesn't include any of the two TV films) is out on DVD in both the US and the UK. Both sets are complete and if you need subtitles (Spanish & English) you'll need the reg. 1 set but otherwise I'll recommend the UK set at it contains the original versions of all episodes. The show's original title in the first four episodes was "The Night Stalker" after which they changed the title to "Kolchak: The Night Stalker". When the show was re-run in the US they changed the title card in the first four episodes and the reg. 1 carries the altered versions. The UK set, on the other hand, uses the original versions. I know-I know, not much of a difference but, hey, THIS SHIT IS IMPORTANT to film geeks like you and me. lolz.

Also, the reg. 1 box presents the 20 episodes on 3 flipper discs whereas the UK set has 5 ordinary discs. There's no extras (and do notice the UK set isn't subtitled).

There was a remake a few years back but I haven't watched it and I seem to remember it bombed.

I got the KOLCHAK set from Amazon UK where it retails for around £10. The video company Playback/Universal have released it in two different cases; the one described on Dvdcompare.net is different to the one I received (one plastic box, not three slimline cases in a cardboard slipcase) but I believe the discs are the same.