Kolchak: The Night Stalker—50th Anniversary Retrospective

TVFlashback
Written By Chris Well

“Son, I’ve seen more dead bodies than you’ve had TV dinners.”—Carl Kolchak

A newspaper reporter with a fondness for the supernatural and the weird, Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) investigated Chicago’s most mysterious crimes on the 1970s TV show Kolchak: The Night Stalker. The legendary TV series featured an undaunted reporter who focused on investigating—and fighting—occult cases.

Kicking off with the massively successful TV movies The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973), the TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. Although the series just lasted one season, it gained cult status and has remained a fond memory over the years.

In fact, X-Files creator Chris Carter names Kolchak a “tremendous influence” in creating X-Files.

In the video below, the folks at JoBlo Horror celebrate Kolchak: The Night Stalker for its 50th anniversary…

Kolchak: The Night Stalker—50th Anniversary Retrospective | JoBlo Horror Originals

From JoBlo: “The Night Stalker would air 50 years ago this year and would break the record for the most-watched TV movie ever at that time. The film would inspire many fans of horror and science fiction and would actually go on to inspire one of the most popular science fiction TV series of all-time 21 years after it aired. On this 50th anniversary, I think it is only right we return to the dark side of Las Vegas and roam the strip alongside Carl Kolchak as he searches the night for the truth in The Night Stalker. And famous fang fan David Dastmalchian will be joining us to talk about how The Night Stalker helped inspire his own creation in the comic book Count Crowley Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter and why the original film is one of the true classics of the genre.”

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Chris Well

Chris Well been a writer pretty much his entire life. (Well, since his childhood.) Over the years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. He now is the chief of the website Monster Complex, celebrating monster stories in lit and pop culture. He also writes horror comedy fiction that embraces Universal Monsters, 1960s sitcoms, 1980s action movies, and the X-Files.

https://chriswell.substack.com/
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