While travelling on a dark, rain-swept highway, newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak and his wife Irene are victims of a sudden attack by an unknown beast – Kolchak escapes with injuries but his wife is killed. Kolchak resolves to learn the truth behind Irene’s death, and his quest soon leads him to uncover other unexplained, violent deaths. Kolchak begins piecing the puzzle together, and learns that other victims have the same strange red mark on their wrists that he has from the attack. Something terrible is happening – and the supernatural is far from being fiction…

Starring Stuart Townsend as Carl Kolchak, ‘The Night Stalker’ is a remake of the cult classic series which starred Darren McGavin in the title role. Originally made as a television movie in 1972, ‘Kolchak: the Night Stalker’ proved so popular with viewers, achieving the highest rating for a TV movie ever up until then, that a second movie was shown the following year. ‘The Night Strangler’ also scored a hit with its audience, and so a television series went into production. A series followed in September of 1974, with some brilliantly written stories that mixed great characterisation with entertaining plots, presenting the viewer with some particularly original ideas, as well as innovative twists on established legends and myths. One of the show’s biggest strengths is that nothing graphic or gruesome is ever seen on screen, instead the viewer is given enough information so that they picture things in their mind’s eye.

Chris Carter has acknowledged that ‘Kolchak: The Night Stalker’ heavily influenced his creation of ‘The X-Files’; he went on to pay homage to the show by casting Darren McGavin in a guest role as retired F.B.I. Special Agent Arthur Dales, who was the first agent assigned to what eventually became the Bureau's X-Files department.

'The Night Stalker' premiered on ABC in the Autumn of 2005, and the original premise was reinvented by former 'X-Files' writer-producer Frank Spotnitz for Touchstone TV. Unfortunately, after just six episodes were transmitted the show was cancelled due to low ratings, which is a shame, as it showed much promise; four more episodes - including the original pilot - were made but never shown, until the DVD release in mid-2006. But as long as the Moonstone comics and specials continue to be published, Carl Kolchak can still be found investigating dark deeds, and uncovering even more terrifying stories of spine-chilling horror…

The Night Stalker - Season 1

Kolchak: The Night Stalker - Television Movies
Kolchak: The Night Stalker - Season 1
Kolchak: The Night Stalker - Comics

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Legal Bit: 'Kolchak' and 'The Night Stalker' are registered trademarks of American Broadcasting Companies Inc. The 'Kolchak' and 'The Night Stalker' logos and all images from the television series are copyright American Broadcasting Companies Inc. unless otherwise stated; music is copyright the original composers and producers; no copyright infringement is intended. All specially created images and text are copyright © Clive Banks; please do not use these without my permission. All rights reserved. No profit is made from this website, and any revenue made from using the banner-links featured goes straight back into the costs of maintaining it, which comes out of my own pocket in the first place. No profit advertising is accepted. This website was created purely to entertain and amuse, and any references to persons living, dead, comatose, in suspended animation, not born yet, an alien duplicate, or a figment of someone's imagination is purely coincidental. All opinions expressed are my own, so there...

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