Carl Kolchak(Darren McGavin) investigates the strange murders of healthy young men who died of apparent heart attacks, all accompanied by the deaths of young women under strange circumstances. Turns out to be the result of a succubus, which is a female demonic spirit unleashed when an ancient stone tablet is discovered abroad and brought back to a Chicago college. Carl must persuade the disbelieving professor(played by Andrew Prine) in charge to destroy the tablet in order to stop the demon. Effective episode once again overcomes fantastic premise by fine direction and acting. Keenan Wynn makes a welcome return as police captain Joe "Mad Dog" Siska.
11 Reviews
The succubus cometh.
Hey_Sweden23 September 2012
Warning: Spoilers
This satisfying 'Kolchak: The Night Stalker' episode doesn't really have that much horror until its final sequence, but it's got an effective and entertaining story, and its roster of guest stars definitely bring it to life. Darren McGavin once again knocks it out of the park with his quirky portrayal of hard-nosed, inquisitive reporter Carl Kolchak, who has no interest in editor Tony Vincenzo's decision to focus on more uplifting stories.
He's gotten wind of the deaths of young men on a college campus. These are supposedly very healthy young men, yet something is literally scaring them to death. The culprit turns out to be an ancient female demon, or succubus, that possesses the bodies of recently deceased young lovelies and uses these bodies to seduce the young men before killing them. Her presence has been created due to the unearthing and deciphering of a stone tablet brought back from Iraq, and now in the possession of eminent archaeologist C. Evan Spate (Andrew Prine, in a fantastic turn). As usual, Kolchak's the only one who figures out what's really going on, and takes it upon himself to save the day. A pesky campus reporter, Rosalind Winters (Kristina Holland), tries to tag along with him, but as we all know, Kolchak prefers to work alone.
Highlight sequences include Kolchaks' interactions with the people who are the most irritated by his intrusive presence, such as Vincenzo (Simon Oakland is wonderful as always as the stressed-out Vincenzo), Professor Spate, and, in a delightful turn of events, Captain Joe "Mad Dog" Siska, with Keenan Wynn being the first actor in this series to reprise a police nemesis. As can be expected, he gets his chance to just bellow at the stubborn Kolchak. Also appearing are Jackie Vernon as the coach, Ben Masters as nice guy student Mike Thompson, Davis Roberts as the coroner, Don Mantooth (who'd done two previous 'Kolchak' episodes) as Tim Brennan, Hunter von Leer as ill-fated jock Don Rhiner, and Margie Impert as Betty Walker, but Wynn is far and away the most fun. Carolyn Jones is kind of wasted in a too brief role as an officious registrar. Teddy Blue plays our demonic antagonist, who sports what is actually a pretty good makeup job, and this demon figures in what is a pretty powerful finale enhanced by the lighting schemes and the atmospheric effects.
Unfortunately, this is another of those episodes where we don't get to see much of Updyke (Jack Grinnage) or Miss Emily (Ruth McDevitt), but the rest of the characters more than make up for that. Overall, an enjoyable tale, well told.
Eight out of 10.
He's gotten wind of the deaths of young men on a college campus. These are supposedly very healthy young men, yet something is literally scaring them to death. The culprit turns out to be an ancient female demon, or succubus, that possesses the bodies of recently deceased young lovelies and uses these bodies to seduce the young men before killing them. Her presence has been created due to the unearthing and deciphering of a stone tablet brought back from Iraq, and now in the possession of eminent archaeologist C. Evan Spate (Andrew Prine, in a fantastic turn). As usual, Kolchak's the only one who figures out what's really going on, and takes it upon himself to save the day. A pesky campus reporter, Rosalind Winters (Kristina Holland), tries to tag along with him, but as we all know, Kolchak prefers to work alone.
Highlight sequences include Kolchaks' interactions with the people who are the most irritated by his intrusive presence, such as Vincenzo (Simon Oakland is wonderful as always as the stressed-out Vincenzo), Professor Spate, and, in a delightful turn of events, Captain Joe "Mad Dog" Siska, with Keenan Wynn being the first actor in this series to reprise a police nemesis. As can be expected, he gets his chance to just bellow at the stubborn Kolchak. Also appearing are Jackie Vernon as the coach, Ben Masters as nice guy student Mike Thompson, Davis Roberts as the coroner, Don Mantooth (who'd done two previous 'Kolchak' episodes) as Tim Brennan, Hunter von Leer as ill-fated jock Don Rhiner, and Margie Impert as Betty Walker, but Wynn is far and away the most fun. Carolyn Jones is kind of wasted in a too brief role as an officious registrar. Teddy Blue plays our demonic antagonist, who sports what is actually a pretty good makeup job, and this demon figures in what is a pretty powerful finale enhanced by the lighting schemes and the atmospheric effects.
Unfortunately, this is another of those episodes where we don't get to see much of Updyke (Jack Grinnage) or Miss Emily (Ruth McDevitt), but the rest of the characters more than make up for that. Overall, an enjoyable tale, well told.
Eight out of 10.
Kolchak: "Demon in Lace"
Wuchakk22 April 2018
PLOT: A succubus linked to an unearthed stone tablet from ancient Babylon is on the loose at Illinois State Tech, apparently possessing freshly deceased young women in order to prey on men with amorous intentions. With the aid of a pert journalism student (Kristina Holland), Kolchak seeks to solve the case. Andrew Prine plays an archaeologist Professor while Carolyn Jones has a cameo as a testy registrar.
COMMENTARY: This is one of the better episodes due to the intriguing succubus and the campus locale (with most of the students curiously looking about ten years older than college age). The creators could've/should've milked Carl's team-up with the perky university reporter, but they dropped the ball. I guess the point was that Kolchak works alone.
COMMENTARY: This is one of the better episodes due to the intriguing succubus and the campus locale (with most of the students curiously looking about ten years older than college age). The creators could've/should've milked Carl's team-up with the perky university reporter, but they dropped the ball. I guess the point was that Kolchak works alone.
Stalking a Succubus
a_l_i_e_n30 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Young men are dying of fright in the embrace of recently deceased women.
An Illinois state college athlete out for a spin one night gives a lift to an attractive young woman. The young athlete is later found dead of a massive shock-induced heart attack with the body of the girl he'd picked up lying next to him. As it turns out, the girl had actually died of a drug overdose before she'd even met the guy.
After a college student dies in the presence of yet another girl who'd pre-deceased him in a freak accident, Kolchak is able to connect the victim to one C. Evan Spate. Spate, a professor of archeology, employed the student as an assistant on a project to decipher the mysterious inscriptions on an ancient stone tablet. This artifact had been discovered in Iraq by another archaeologist who lost his mind after a series of deaths occurred among his party.
Kolchak bluffs his way into Spate's home and snaps a picture of the tablet. When it is later developed, one of the deciphered words on the artifact reads "Succubus".
Elsewhere, a young woman is found asphyxiated in her home due to a gas leak. Moments later, her body mysteriously disappears. That same evening when the Professor's latest assistant shows up at his house, he is accompanied by the "dead" girl- looking very much alive.
Kolchak learns that the original discoverer of the ancient tablet had several young men working for him die under circumstances similar to the recent deaths at Illinois State. He also learns that the word Succubus is the name for a female demoness that takes possession of the bodies of recently deceased women to lure men into it's deadly embrace. One tablet, described in ancient historical text, was said to be protected by such a being.
Carl heads back to Spate's residence. When he arrives, he spots a woman matching the description of the asphyxiated girl slipping away into the shadows. Moments later the girl appears again to Spate's young assistant. Drawing him in for a kiss, her features change into those of a hideous demon. Meanwhile at Spate's home, Carl begins breaking apart the tablet with a mallet and chisel. Sensing the attack, the Succubus withdraws from her would-be victim. The young man gazes in astonishment as the demon changes from a decomposing corpse into a withered old woman who then vanishes.
Back at Spate's home a violent wind causes the study doors to fly open allowing the howling Succubus to enter. As Spate watches in horror, the demon attacks Carl, who continues hammering away at the stone. As they flail about, the stone finally falls to pieces, and the Succubus falls to the floor next to it. Carl watches as her face changes to that of a skull before she crumbles into a pile of dust.
In his closing thoughts, Carl mentions concerning his destruction of the tablet, that the Professor "did not press charges".
Directed by "Night Stalker" vet Don Weis, "Demon In Lace" starts off with a superb jolt as a college stud picks up some late night action. When the guy kisses his date, she then touches his face with a hand that appears as if it's afflicted with flesh eating disease. The "Night Stalker" series had a pretty uneven record when it came to it's creature effects, but this one definitely showcased some of the show's finest makeup work when the beautiful blonde turns into as a repulsive, rotting corpse.
Also creepy are the re-vivification scenes in which young girls, dead of natural causes, suddenly flick their eyes open and silently walk off as vessels for the Succubus.
Andrew Prine (recognizable fixture of seventies television and low-budget drive-in classics like "Grizzly"), plays the unctuous, twitchy archaeologist, Professor Spate. Carolyn Jones ("Morticia" of "The Addams Family") makes an all too brief appearance as the campus registrar. Portly comic Jackie Vernon is somewhat unconvincingly cast as a college football coach, and Keenan Wynn makes a return appearance as Capt. "Mad Dog" Siska. A particularly obnoxious abuser of the right to a free press, Siska issues bellowing commands to Kolchak about what he may and may not print. As he tells another detective, "We don't want this business blown up into another Hindenburg".
The dialogue in this one doesn't seem quite as sharp as we'd come to expect of the series' writers, and few lines seem worthy of mention here. The funniest moment in "Demon In Lace" is not any particular turn of phrase, but, rather the expression on Kolchak's face when after a stealing a campus security man's badge he attempts to conceal it in his jacket. McGavin's considerable ability as a comedic actor is well displayed in the hysterical look on his face when he jabs himself with the badge.
"Demon In Lace" suffers from a somewhat uneven pace, and quite frankly the Succubus- which is a great, original sort of monster- should have had more screen time than she does here. Also, some of the slower, talkier scenes at the INS office could have been trimmed a bit for the sake of pacing.
Worse, during the climatic destruction of the tablet, the succubus's attack is played mostly without the original sound of her assault. Instead, what we hear is mostly just a howling wind, and this distracting mismatch of elements gives the sequence a disjointed feeling that hurts the overall impact of the climactic struggle.
While not quite among the best monsters of the series, the Succubus's method of luring her victims with necrophiliac delights is certainly an interesting and provocative angle. Plus, the occasionally eye-popping makeup effects do provide this somewhat uneven offering with real punch to the audience's collective gut.
An Illinois state college athlete out for a spin one night gives a lift to an attractive young woman. The young athlete is later found dead of a massive shock-induced heart attack with the body of the girl he'd picked up lying next to him. As it turns out, the girl had actually died of a drug overdose before she'd even met the guy.
After a college student dies in the presence of yet another girl who'd pre-deceased him in a freak accident, Kolchak is able to connect the victim to one C. Evan Spate. Spate, a professor of archeology, employed the student as an assistant on a project to decipher the mysterious inscriptions on an ancient stone tablet. This artifact had been discovered in Iraq by another archaeologist who lost his mind after a series of deaths occurred among his party.
Kolchak bluffs his way into Spate's home and snaps a picture of the tablet. When it is later developed, one of the deciphered words on the artifact reads "Succubus".
Elsewhere, a young woman is found asphyxiated in her home due to a gas leak. Moments later, her body mysteriously disappears. That same evening when the Professor's latest assistant shows up at his house, he is accompanied by the "dead" girl- looking very much alive.
Kolchak learns that the original discoverer of the ancient tablet had several young men working for him die under circumstances similar to the recent deaths at Illinois State. He also learns that the word Succubus is the name for a female demoness that takes possession of the bodies of recently deceased women to lure men into it's deadly embrace. One tablet, described in ancient historical text, was said to be protected by such a being.
Carl heads back to Spate's residence. When he arrives, he spots a woman matching the description of the asphyxiated girl slipping away into the shadows. Moments later the girl appears again to Spate's young assistant. Drawing him in for a kiss, her features change into those of a hideous demon. Meanwhile at Spate's home, Carl begins breaking apart the tablet with a mallet and chisel. Sensing the attack, the Succubus withdraws from her would-be victim. The young man gazes in astonishment as the demon changes from a decomposing corpse into a withered old woman who then vanishes.
Back at Spate's home a violent wind causes the study doors to fly open allowing the howling Succubus to enter. As Spate watches in horror, the demon attacks Carl, who continues hammering away at the stone. As they flail about, the stone finally falls to pieces, and the Succubus falls to the floor next to it. Carl watches as her face changes to that of a skull before she crumbles into a pile of dust.
In his closing thoughts, Carl mentions concerning his destruction of the tablet, that the Professor "did not press charges".
Directed by "Night Stalker" vet Don Weis, "Demon In Lace" starts off with a superb jolt as a college stud picks up some late night action. When the guy kisses his date, she then touches his face with a hand that appears as if it's afflicted with flesh eating disease. The "Night Stalker" series had a pretty uneven record when it came to it's creature effects, but this one definitely showcased some of the show's finest makeup work when the beautiful blonde turns into as a repulsive, rotting corpse.
Also creepy are the re-vivification scenes in which young girls, dead of natural causes, suddenly flick their eyes open and silently walk off as vessels for the Succubus.
Andrew Prine (recognizable fixture of seventies television and low-budget drive-in classics like "Grizzly"), plays the unctuous, twitchy archaeologist, Professor Spate. Carolyn Jones ("Morticia" of "The Addams Family") makes an all too brief appearance as the campus registrar. Portly comic Jackie Vernon is somewhat unconvincingly cast as a college football coach, and Keenan Wynn makes a return appearance as Capt. "Mad Dog" Siska. A particularly obnoxious abuser of the right to a free press, Siska issues bellowing commands to Kolchak about what he may and may not print. As he tells another detective, "We don't want this business blown up into another Hindenburg".
The dialogue in this one doesn't seem quite as sharp as we'd come to expect of the series' writers, and few lines seem worthy of mention here. The funniest moment in "Demon In Lace" is not any particular turn of phrase, but, rather the expression on Kolchak's face when after a stealing a campus security man's badge he attempts to conceal it in his jacket. McGavin's considerable ability as a comedic actor is well displayed in the hysterical look on his face when he jabs himself with the badge.
"Demon In Lace" suffers from a somewhat uneven pace, and quite frankly the Succubus- which is a great, original sort of monster- should have had more screen time than she does here. Also, some of the slower, talkier scenes at the INS office could have been trimmed a bit for the sake of pacing.
Worse, during the climatic destruction of the tablet, the succubus's attack is played mostly without the original sound of her assault. Instead, what we hear is mostly just a howling wind, and this distracting mismatch of elements gives the sequence a disjointed feeling that hurts the overall impact of the climactic struggle.
While not quite among the best monsters of the series, the Succubus's method of luring her victims with necrophiliac delights is certainly an interesting and provocative angle. Plus, the occasionally eye-popping makeup effects do provide this somewhat uneven offering with real punch to the audience's collective gut.
A solid and satisfying episode
Woodyanders10 February 2010
Warning: Spoilers
An ancient stone tablet from the Middle East unleashes a deadly mystical force that possesses the bodies of recently deceased lovely young ladies, makes said gals seduce handsome young men on a college campus, and causes these guys to die of heart attacks when it shows itself in its genuine hideous form. Once again it's up to Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin in customary fine and zesty form) to stop the lethal she demon before it's too late. Director Don Weis, working from a bright and interesting script by Stephen Lord, Michael Kozoll, and David Chase, relates the fun story at a steady pace, does an able job of creating and maintaining a compellingly eerie and mysterious atmosphere, and stages the energetic and exciting climax with real élan. Moreover, the horrific make-up for the succubus is genuinely creepy and unsettling. The excellent acting from a top-rate cast qualifies as another definite plus: 70's drive-in movie regular Andrew Prine delivers a deliciously slimy performance as smug and arrogant archaeologist Professor C. Evan Spate, Keenan Wynn is in marvelously grouchy form as the hot-tempered Captain Joe "Mad Dog" Siska, Kristina Hollad makes for an amusing foil for Kolchak as spunky eager beaver campus newspaper reporter Rosalind Winters, Carolyn Jones (Morticia on "The Adams Family") has a great bit as a feisty registrar, and the fetching Maria Grimm contributes a memorably chilling and sexy turn as deadly, yet alluring succubus Maria Vanegas. Both Ronald W. Browne's sharp cinematography and Jerry Fielding's stirring and dynamic spooky score are up to speed as well. A neat and worthwhile show.
St Michael pray for us!
ironmaidengod6 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
As with all Kolchak's there are some cheesy moments but this is by far my favorite episode of all of them. I especially loved the save in the knick of time of the ironically named Michael (perhaps his namesake archangel was interceding on his behalf lol) - big spoiler, but the potential last victim narrowly escapes the clutches of the evil succubus' kiss, all thanks to the relentless Kolchak!
Re the series overall: This show is so atmospheric and amazing. Darren McGavin is the king of camp but so awesome and funny just when he needs to be. His bungling unraveling of the mystery myth behind the story makes him as endearing as Columbo. Wish it went for more than one season!
Re the series overall: This show is so atmospheric and amazing. Darren McGavin is the king of camp but so awesome and funny just when he needs to be. His bungling unraveling of the mystery myth behind the story makes him as endearing as Columbo. Wish it went for more than one season!
The tablet and the succubus
bkoganbing18 September 2017
An ancient demon from Mesopotamia has come along with a very valuable archaeological tablet unearthed in an expedition to Iraq back before we were at war there. It's called a succubus and as the title implies it's got some parasitical tendencies, is a woman and drains the life out of the men she's near.
The original discoverer is now in an asylum, but the tablet itself is in the custody of Dr. Andrew Prine at a university where there's been a rash of suspicious deaths among campus hunks. The succubus does have good taste there.
This episode has quite the climatic battle between the demon and Darren McGavin. A good ending to one of the better episodes of the series.
The original discoverer is now in an asylum, but the tablet itself is in the custody of Dr. Andrew Prine at a university where there's been a rash of suspicious deaths among campus hunks. The succubus does have good taste there.
This episode has quite the climatic battle between the demon and Darren McGavin. A good ending to one of the better episodes of the series.
Unearthed ancient plate from Mesopotamia brings a curse to Chicago!!!
elo-equipamentos3 November 2019
Once more the outgoing Carl Kolchak is turns with another weird case, several murders took place in a University Campus, this time Kolchak has to faces once more another angry Captain Joe Mad Dog Siska (Keenan Wynn) in charge of the inquiry as always happens, wisely he got some leads from a young and smart University reporter, our clumsy hero reachs at archeologist Professor Spate (Andrew Pine) who works on a translation of the old Mesopotamia plate recently unearthed, searching more carefully Carl Kolchak realize that has some connection between the old plate and the murders, a succubus female curse, due the nature of the deaths, could be better if they didn't waste the shapely guest star Carolyn Jones in a shorter scene, however another clever plot!!!
Resume:
First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5
Resume:
First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5
Kolchak: The Night Stalker - Demon in Lace
Scarecrow-8816 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
A female succubus uses the dead bodies of babes (right after, or not long after, death) to seduce young men, and when her ugly face and foul stench emerge a heart attack occurs to them afterward. Obviously Kolchak happens upon the scene of one of the victims and investigates much to the chagrin of the police detective (Keenan Wynn, an aggravated foil of Carl's on the show) and an anthropological professor (special guest star Andrew Prine) involved. A Babylonian tablet discovered in Iraq could be the key to the female demon's end, a find being studied by Prine. Decent episode has Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) wanting his news service to write humorous and sweet stories instead of the typical morbid, ugly kinds that populate the papers of Chicago, while Kolchak just can't defy his sense of dogged curiosity and determined drive to learn the truth behind the "handsome college guy murders". Wynn turns up in brief spots as a cop that just burns with infuriation when Kolchak is around his crime scenes, taking pictures and recording his anecdotes about the deaths and victims. Prine's professor is one of those self-important scholarly types so in love with his rep and expertise it is rather odious. The succubus makeup (looks like a grotesque, ancient hag) is terrific in its hideousness and the way Kolchak takes advantage of a priest's sleepiness to secure texts needed to provide him with answers on how to vanquish the evil demon among them is amusing. It is always fun for me to see the likes of Wynn and Prine driven to anxiety and discontent because of Kolchak's persistent appearances where they are, as they consider him such a nuisance. I personally found the plot rather kooky and campy but overall the execution isn't bad at all, even if the finale is rather too easy for the villain of the episode to be defeated. Once again, evidence is lacking for Kolchak to prove what he believes (and is fact) to those who would finally take him seriously. Kristina Holland, as a college campus wannabe reporter, has a fun turn in the episode, trying to get the goods from Kolchak (and vice versa, although he gets quite annoyed with her inability to wring up facts needed to help him) for her school paper. Carolyn Jones (as a campus "registar") is a hoot in her minor part, not tolerating Kolchak (even as he poses as a security officer) to get docs of the dead boys without proper written authorization.
Demon In Lace
BandSAboutMovies26 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
EDITOR'S NOTE: This episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker didn't air on the CBS Late Movie because ABC packaged "it with "Legacy of Terror" as the TV movie The Demon and the Mummy.
The monster of the week this week is a succubus, a demon who reanimates the corpses of freshly dead women to coerce young men into sexual situations, at which point it sucks the life out of them. And best of all, one of Kolchak's other enemies shows up, Captain "Mad Dog" Siska, played again by Keenan Wynn. He was last in "The Spanish Moss Murders."
Illinois State Tech is a wacky school, what with Morticia Adams -- Carolyn Jones -- as the registrar, Jackie Vernon (the voice of Frosty the Snowman and the star of Microwave Massacre) as a coach and Andrew Prine as Prof. C. Evan Spate, the archaeology professor who Carl tries to pry info about the Mesopotamian demoness out of.
It ends as all episodes must with Carl pretty much alone against supernatural evil, trying to smash a stone tablet with a hammer while demonic winds blow in and threaten to overwhelm him. That said, Spate actually covers for him, which is more than anyone else has done in this series.
Vincenzo has plans to turn the paper into an upbeat and dignified place, which seems to suggest that there's no place for Carl in that world. I wonder what he would have thought about AI content creation.
Directed by Don Weis and written by Michael Kozoll and David Chase, this also played in syndication as The Succubbus.
The monster of the week this week is a succubus, a demon who reanimates the corpses of freshly dead women to coerce young men into sexual situations, at which point it sucks the life out of them. And best of all, one of Kolchak's other enemies shows up, Captain "Mad Dog" Siska, played again by Keenan Wynn. He was last in "The Spanish Moss Murders."
Illinois State Tech is a wacky school, what with Morticia Adams -- Carolyn Jones -- as the registrar, Jackie Vernon (the voice of Frosty the Snowman and the star of Microwave Massacre) as a coach and Andrew Prine as Prof. C. Evan Spate, the archaeology professor who Carl tries to pry info about the Mesopotamian demoness out of.
It ends as all episodes must with Carl pretty much alone against supernatural evil, trying to smash a stone tablet with a hammer while demonic winds blow in and threaten to overwhelm him. That said, Spate actually covers for him, which is more than anyone else has done in this series.
Vincenzo has plans to turn the paper into an upbeat and dignified place, which seems to suggest that there's no place for Carl in that world. I wonder what he would have thought about AI content creation.
Directed by Don Weis and written by Michael Kozoll and David Chase, this also played in syndication as The Succubbus.
So-so Episode By Kolchak Standards, But Still Great Fun To Watch!
Dan1863Sickles10 November 2009
I have every single NIGHT STALKER episode on video. What an awesome show, full of comedy and thrills and monsters, with a reporter turned monster hunter who always has time for a wisecrack or a pretty girl.
But Demon in Lace . . .
Set on a college campus, bad idea. The angry Sixties had just ended, yet the big muscled goofs on campus all wear letter sweaters and look ten years out of date, like refugees from a Beach Boys music video/orgy. (Needed some ultra masculine group harmony, like the fade on "This Car of Mine." Diddly-hup, hup!) Kolchak has a one-shot female side kick, bad idea. Where was the superb Monique Marmelstein, his regular female rival/assistant? This poor girl is given nothing to do but look pained and embarrassed while Kolchak ignores her, treats her rudely, and gives full rein to a 40's era sexism that (thankfully!) is never shown in any other episode.
Basic premise of a succubus that "needs" a dead female body to play around in, very very bad idea. How dumb is it to have a monster that has to wait around for a pretty girl to trip and fall down the stairs, turn on the gas, slip on a banana peel? So much better if the girls could simply "black out" and wake up their normal selves, with no memory of having killed!
Okay, here are some strong points.
Vincenzo the editor has an angry tirade in every episode, whenever he finds Kolchak has turned a cut and dried story into something eerie and inexplicable. This episode he really gets it right, howling, "oh, that's great Carl. That's what we need, another vanishing corpse. Another vanishing corpse!" Simon Oakland had magic. More than just a blowhard, he could go right into bigger than life, Jackie Gleason or Rodney Dangerfield territory.
The smarmy archaeologist, with his leisure suit and bandanna . . . what a great character! He's clearly a closeted homosexual who lusts after his male lab assistants and gets voyeuristic thrills by watching them couple and then die in the arms of the succubus. His fights with Carl are brittle, brilliant, and bitchy . . . less THE FRONT PAGE and more WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF!
Salem Mozart . . . the wonderful scene where Kolchack needs information on the succubus and meets an old man in the campus basement who falls . . . asleep . . . while trying to sell him steak knives!
So-so episode by Kolchak standards, but still great fun to watch!
But Demon in Lace . . .
Set on a college campus, bad idea. The angry Sixties had just ended, yet the big muscled goofs on campus all wear letter sweaters and look ten years out of date, like refugees from a Beach Boys music video/orgy. (Needed some ultra masculine group harmony, like the fade on "This Car of Mine." Diddly-hup, hup!) Kolchak has a one-shot female side kick, bad idea. Where was the superb Monique Marmelstein, his regular female rival/assistant? This poor girl is given nothing to do but look pained and embarrassed while Kolchak ignores her, treats her rudely, and gives full rein to a 40's era sexism that (thankfully!) is never shown in any other episode.
Basic premise of a succubus that "needs" a dead female body to play around in, very very bad idea. How dumb is it to have a monster that has to wait around for a pretty girl to trip and fall down the stairs, turn on the gas, slip on a banana peel? So much better if the girls could simply "black out" and wake up their normal selves, with no memory of having killed!
Okay, here are some strong points.
Vincenzo the editor has an angry tirade in every episode, whenever he finds Kolchak has turned a cut and dried story into something eerie and inexplicable. This episode he really gets it right, howling, "oh, that's great Carl. That's what we need, another vanishing corpse. Another vanishing corpse!" Simon Oakland had magic. More than just a blowhard, he could go right into bigger than life, Jackie Gleason or Rodney Dangerfield territory.
The smarmy archaeologist, with his leisure suit and bandanna . . . what a great character! He's clearly a closeted homosexual who lusts after his male lab assistants and gets voyeuristic thrills by watching them couple and then die in the arms of the succubus. His fights with Carl are brittle, brilliant, and bitchy . . . less THE FRONT PAGE and more WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF!
Salem Mozart . . . the wonderful scene where Kolchack needs information on the succubus and meets an old man in the campus basement who falls . . . asleep . . . while trying to sell him steak knives!
So-so episode by Kolchak standards, but still great fun to watch!
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