The Norliss Tapes (1973)

Dan Curtis is back on the made for T.V. marathon. This time he is trying to duplicate the magie he had with the Kolchak series by creating another series featuring a writer exploring the unknown. This time it is a man named David Norliss who is writing a book in order to debunk the supernatural. Yeah that is going to work out well for him.

Things get started with Norliss calling his editor to let him know that he hasn’t put a single word onto paper. This is a nice setup for the audience to find out that Norliss has put everything onto cassette tapes. See how the title works in? Anyway, they make plans to speak because the book isn’t turning out as he expected it to. But when the writer doesn’t show his editor eventually gets concerned and goes looking for him. Finding the house empty he pops in tape number one.

The rest of the story is told in a flashback narrated by Norliss. We find out that he was contacted by a recently widowed Ellen Cort in regard to a very terrifying experience that she had. One night she heard a prowler and went to investigate with a shotgun and her rather large dog. The good news is that she finds it was just her husband in his art studio, the bad news is that she is a widow! A shotgun blast and a dead dog later she gets Norliss on the job. What he discovers is a world filled with magic rings and demons made from clay and the blood of innocent victims. Hey wait a minute. That might be why the dead husband is running around killing people!

The Zombie looks cool

I’m making light of the plot synopsis not out of sarcasm but because I love The Norliss Tapes. Not as much as Kolchak, but it is a close second. The story has a creepy vibe with the zombiefied husband sneaking around for nefarious purposes only to return to his resting place during the day. This leads to a great sequence where his wife and another woman go looking for him to pull the ring that reanimates him off of his dead finger. Spoiler they don’t get there in time! This is one of a couple great moments where the movie uses shadows to build tension that is then payed off with a decent jump scare. This movie also proved my belief that you leave the damn curtains closed. Hear a noise outside? Ignore it!

Roy Thinnes does a wonderful job in the role and so do the supporting cast. It was awesome to see Angie Dickinson as Ellen Cort, though sadly she isn’t given much more to do other than look pretty and run screaming. The always awesome Vonetta McGee has a small role as the unfortunate woman who meets her end trying to pry the ring off his finger. Finally, Claude Akins shows up as another cranky sheriff. I was about to make a slightly snarky comment about him playing the same role on the Night Stalker but then I looked at his IMDB page. Guess he made a career out of playing the same character over and over again. It’s a living.

The special effects are very simple with our main creature being the zombie husband. They basically use some grey face paint and creepy contacts to create the effect. It works really well, especially the contacts. The way the movie is shot focuses on those eyes and they are genuinely scary looking. There is also a bit with a demon made from clay that is ok but thankfully doesn’t get much screen time.

It isn’t often that you can go back to the well and successfully revisit a formula. But Curtis does that with The Norliss Tapes. Honestly it is Kolchak without Darrin McGavin. It is also a lot of fun and worth spending some time with. The link at the top of the review takes you to YouTube where you can watch it.  

                                                        © Copyright 2018 John Shatzer

The Night Strangler (1973)

The made for T.V. fun continues with this sequel to The Night Stalker. I figured it made sense to follow up the original with a review of the sequel. It doesn’t hurt that both movies are great! I guess that was a spoiler. In addition to Richard Matheson returning to write the script we get the genius Dan Curtis actually directing it!

Kolchak is back in action in this follow up to the Night Stalker movie. Sometime after being run out of Las Vegas Kolchak finds himself in Seattle. His old editor, Vincenzo, bumps into him at a bar. Kolchak is trying to convince anyone that will listen about the vampire that terrorized Vegas. Vincenzo offers Kolchak a job at a paper in Seattle, and a juicy story covering a series of murders. But of course, it becomes apparent that something odd and perhaps supernatural is going on with the killings. A similar set of killings happen every twenty-one years and have since not long after the Civil War! This leads to all sorts of talk of alchemy and exploration of the creepy Seattle underground.

If you have seen the Night Stalker you know what happens when Kolchak tries to convince anyone about the odd nature of the crimes. Just like in Vegas he helps the police track the killer down only to find himself again out of a job. Only this time it ends a little more upbeat with him and a couple friends driving out of town headed to New York City and what was supposed to be a third movie that became the series instead.

It isn’t often that a sequel lives up to a movie that I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed the Night Stalker. This is one of those movies. Richard Matheson again writes the script, only this time it isn’t an adaptation but something from his own imagination. If anything, Matheson’s story is an even more entertaining than the original, while keeping to the basics of humor and character that made the first so entertaining. Moving on from the classic horror character of the vampire this film has Kolchak pitted up against a mad alchemist that has discovered the secret of eternal life. Unfortunately, one of the main ingredients for the formula is the blood of a recently dead young girl! I’ve always thought that the mad scientist is the most underappreciated of the classic “monsters”, so it was great to see it used.

Kolchak vs Dracula? Okay maybe just John Carradine.

This story also again makes wonderful use of the city in which it is set. In the first film it was the Las Vegas strip, this time the story makes use of Seattle and it’s forgotten underground. If you don’t know what this is I suggest you check it out on the net, because it is fascinating. As I mentioned earlier this allows the finale to take place in a surreal underground that is locked in time, much like our main villain. I don’t think it is as scary as the first, but still is creepy enough for a bit of fun.   

The cast is again spectacular with McGavin again carrying the movie in the role of Kolchak. He nails the characters confrontational challenging of authority. Simon Oakland returns as his put-upon editor Vincenzo, with John Carradine and “Grandpa” Al Lewis joining the cast in supporting roles as a newspaper editor and doomed bum respectively.

If you are expecting a gore fest then this isn’t the movie for you. But for a TV movie from the early ‘70s you do get to see some dead bodies and a funny sequence with a bottle of scotch in the morgue that is gross if you pay attention. As with the first the movie is shot very well, capturing both the city of Seattle as well as it’s creepy dark corners on film with equal skill. Along with the Night Stalker these movies are the gold standard of made for television horror and are must see. 

© Copyright 2018 John Shatzer

The Night Stalker (1972)

The made for T.V. Mayhem keeps rolling along here at the Horror Dude Blog. I figured that I’ve given you enough of the lesser known flicks that it was time for me to reward myself by reviewing a classic and personal favorite of mine. If you call yourself a horror fan and don’t know who Carl Kolchak is… then you really aren’t a fan. The Night Stalker was the first appearance of the character and at the time of broadcast was the highest rated television movie in the history of the medium! Let us take a look at the Night Stalker.

Things start off with a reporter telling his story while sitting in a seedy hotel room. The tape plays while he sits quietly on the bed listening to his dictation. Carl Kolchak is a reporter looking to make it back to the big time and out of the small market that is Las Vegas. He gets involved in covering a murder spree and ends up with more than he bargained for. The bloodless bodies that start to pile up around the Vegas strip is a big story, or at least he thinks so. Continually butting heads with the local authorities and his own editor who won’t let him print the story about a nut stalking the streets. One whom thinks he is a vampire. The powers that be don’t want a panic and are keeping a lid on it.

Eventually with the prompting of his girlfriend and after seeing the killer tear thru multiple groups of police Kolchak starts to believe that maybe they have a real “live” vampire. When he suggests that this might be the case he is laughed at, but eventually he makes a deal and helps them to track down and kill the creature. The cost of his help is an exclusive on the vampire story, one that will send Carl back to the big time. But those in charge double cross Kolchak and threaten to throw him in jail for murder (he staked the vampire himself) if he even thinks about publishing the story. Not only that but they run him and his girlfriend Gail out of town as undesirables! Adding insult to injury by separating the two so that Carl can’t find her.

I’ve always enjoyed The Night Stalker, both for how great of a movie that it is and for it spawning one of my favorite genre characters. I’m a huge fan of Kolchak and of Darrin McGavin the actor that brings him to life. Here we get to see the character first encounter the unknown and watch as he goes from skeptical to a believer. This is both due to a superior performance from McGavin as well as some great writing. The screenplay is from legendary author Richard Matheson and doesn’t disappoint. The vampire story is a cool combination of classic (super strength, afraid of crosses, and of course the stake in the heart) and contemporary (using his mental powers on a used car salesman, robbing blood banks). It also has that emotional kick in the butt ending that was unexpected and perfect. I also thought that later portrayals of the character have a certain sadness that might harken back to this movie and his loss of Gail.

Kolchak rules! So does Darrin McGavin...

The movie also does a great job of building tension and paying it off with a couple of “jump” scares that work. The Las Vegas setting was an inspired choice. The place never shuts down so a weird guy walking around in the middle of the night is no big deal. I mean where would any modern-day vampire want to hang out at more than Vegas? The vampire is your basic grey skinned fanged corpse, but it works. Lighting and music are used to great effect in building the tension that runs throughout. The ending with Kolchak sneaking around the house avoiding the vampire is creepy enough and a good payoff. 

What can you say about a cast that is headlined by the wonderful and always great Darrin McGavin? His performance as the headstrong, grouchy, reporter is the heart of the show and why it succeeded (and why the heartless redo failed!). The rest of the cast is filled out with TV and genre regulars like Larry Linville, Simon Oakland, Claude Akins, as well as the great Elisha Cook Jr. This strong supporting cast serves to make the movie all that much better. There really is a lot of talent on display in the Night Stalker. But the actors aren’t the only supporting “star” on display. Shot on film like a low budget movie The Night Stalker captures the flashy colors of the Vegas Strip and the dark shadows of Vegas’s back alleys equally well. Seeing the strip in all of its early ‘70s glory is a blast. We get many scenes of Kolchak cruising along in his convertible Camaro with familiar but long-gone marquees in the background. Check out some of the headliners that are playing those casinos.

The Night Stalker is the gold standard for these Made for T.V. movies. I had to include it in the marathon. But then I couldn’t cover this one without checking out the equally fun sequel The Night Strangler, could I? Guess what the next movie in the marathon is? Until then check the link at the top of the review to watch this classic on YouTube. 

© Copyright 2018 John Shatzer