The Night Strangler (1973)

The Night Strangler (1973): written by Richard Matheson; directed by Dan Curtis; starring Darren McGavin (Carl Kolchak), Jo Ann Pflug (Louie Harper), Simon Oakland (Tony Vincenzo), Wally Cox (Berry), Margaret Hamilton (Prof. Crabwell), John Carradine (Crossbinder), Al Lewis (Tramp), and Richard Anderson (Dr. Malcolm): 

The second Kolchak TV movie sees producer Dan Curtis take over as director and Richard Matheson return as screenwriter. The DVD version isn't quite what American audiences saw in 1973 -- 15 extra minutes were filmed for European theatrical release, and that's the version here.

Darren McGavin is a wonder here as in The Night Stalker. His slightly flaky reporter Kolchak is now in Seattle because Las Vegas banished him for, well, saving it from a vampire. Now Seattle will not want his help stopping a series of murders in which some blood, but not all, is withdrawn from the female victims. A recurring theme of Kolchak, films and series, is that cops are stupid.

Matheson set the story in Seattle to take advantage of the Seattle Underground, an abandoned section of the city from which the so-called Night Strangler appears and then returns to. Curtis cast a lot of familiar genre faces in supporting roles, most notably Grandpa Munster Al Lewis and John Carradine. It's not as good as The Night Stalker, maybe in part because when we finally meet that eponymous monster, he won't stop talking, unlike the silent vampire of the first film. Boy, does he talk!

There are also a few too many wacky comedy moments deflating the tension throughout. I wonder how many of these were added for the theatrical release? Oh, well. This would spawn the short-lived, 20-episode TV series of 1974-75. Notably and weirdly, neither Curtis nor Matheson would be involved with the series, which seems like a pretty stupid decision on the part of CBS. Recommended.