The Vampire
- Episode aired Oct 4, 1974
- 52m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
636
YOUR RATING
Sent to L.A. to interview a controversial guru, Kolchak's more interested in tracking down and stopping an extremely vicious female vampire.Sent to L.A. to interview a controversial guru, Kolchak's more interested in tracking down and stopping an extremely vicious female vampire.Sent to L.A. to interview a controversial guru, Kolchak's more interested in tracking down and stopping an extremely vicious female vampire.
Noel De Souza
- Chandra
- (as Noel de Souza)
Alice Backes
- Elena Munoz
- (uncredited)
Nick Dimitri
- Football Player
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was actually a reworking of a preexisting script. The original plan had been to set the story in New York, where both Kolchak and Vincenzo had wound up after being kicked out of Seattle. Also, the vampire was going to be Skorzeny, last seen in the original movie, mysteriously back from the dead. Then, word arrived that Kolchak had been green-lit for a series, so the story was reworked into its present form.
- GoofsWhen Kolchak comes into his hotel room for the first time, there's the sound of someone casually whistling. It's clear from the shots of Kolchak's face that he's not whistling. He subsequently turns on the TV to the news, so the whistling isn't coming from the TV. Kolchak is the only one in the room, so who is whistling?
- Quotes
Tony Vincenzo: I'm tired of it, Kolchak. I am fed up. I've got a brother-in-law who's got a 14 year old he's always bailing out of juvenile hall, but I've got you, and you are worse!
- ConnectionsReferences Horror of Dracula (1958)
Featured review
The First "Night Stalker" with Real Teeth
The fourth time's the charm for dogged crime reporter Carl Kolchak, who can't seem to shake the supernatural in pursuit of his stories, only to be left wanting in his attempt to convince his long-suffering editor Tony Vincenzo that the bogeyman really is real.
This time Kolchak comes up against a Hollywood vampire, not a denizen of Alice Cooper's celebrated 1970s drinking club that later informed the name of Cooper's rock supergroup, but an actual bite-the-neck bloodsucker as "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" finally hits its stride with a compelling story, juicy humor you can sink your teeth into, and, for the first time, a third act that is genuinely scary--and that you can actually see happening.
"The Vampire" did have to dip back into "The Night Stalker," the highly successful 1972 television movie that brought Kolchak and Las Vegas vampire Janos Skorzeny together, for inspiration. This time, it's one of Skorzeny's victims, buried outside Sin City, who is resurrected by a stranded motorist's inadvertent spilling of blood and makes her way to Los Angeles, snacking on victims en route in this tidy tale by Bill Stratton that was smartly scripted by series story consultant David Chase.
Tipped to the mysterious deaths by old Vegas colleague Swede Brytoski (Larry Storch), Carl is able to ace out fellow reporter Ron Updyke for Tony's assignment to cover the wedding of celebrity yogi Amerta Mera in Los Angeles. Once there, and having missed the matrimonial-minded maharishi because he was investigating disturbing findings in Barstow, he enlists Faye Kruger (Kathleen Nolan), Mera's realtor who just happens to be a former reporter herself, to write the groovy guru's nuptials piece while he pursues the vampire.
First, though, he spars with LAPD's Lieutenant Jack Matteo (William Daniels), erudite and exasperated while having to parry with reporters at the scene of two murders committed by the vampire--only Matteo claims that two Satanists already in custody are responsible for the corpses that have been drained of blood. That won't be Kolchak's only encounter with Matteo as Daniels delivers the first memorable performance of a "Night Stalker" set-piece: the police investigator with whom Kolchak invariably tangles as Daniels and Darren McGavin sparkle in their scenes together.
But as Kolchak pieces together the identity of the vampire, Catherine Rawlins (Suzanne Charny), moonlighting as a call-girl for "sugar mac" Ichabod Grace (Jan Murray), he must also fend off, by telephone, Tony, who is none too happy to read his piece, written by Faye, that's more suited to "Better Homes and Gardens" in some hilarious exchanges as McGavin and Simon Oakland solidify their antagonistic bond.
With no dialog, only beastly, guttural hissing, Charny indeed seems supernatural as her Catherine throws football players around like tackling dummies in a frightening kinetic pantomime. That leads to the scorching nighttime finale, staged suspensefully and evocatively by director Don Weis, in which this horror series maximizes its limited resources to stunning effect, the first "Night Stalker" episode with real teeth, although you do have to wonder: Would a vampire choose to live adjacent to a hill topped by a giant cross?
This time Kolchak comes up against a Hollywood vampire, not a denizen of Alice Cooper's celebrated 1970s drinking club that later informed the name of Cooper's rock supergroup, but an actual bite-the-neck bloodsucker as "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" finally hits its stride with a compelling story, juicy humor you can sink your teeth into, and, for the first time, a third act that is genuinely scary--and that you can actually see happening.
"The Vampire" did have to dip back into "The Night Stalker," the highly successful 1972 television movie that brought Kolchak and Las Vegas vampire Janos Skorzeny together, for inspiration. This time, it's one of Skorzeny's victims, buried outside Sin City, who is resurrected by a stranded motorist's inadvertent spilling of blood and makes her way to Los Angeles, snacking on victims en route in this tidy tale by Bill Stratton that was smartly scripted by series story consultant David Chase.
Tipped to the mysterious deaths by old Vegas colleague Swede Brytoski (Larry Storch), Carl is able to ace out fellow reporter Ron Updyke for Tony's assignment to cover the wedding of celebrity yogi Amerta Mera in Los Angeles. Once there, and having missed the matrimonial-minded maharishi because he was investigating disturbing findings in Barstow, he enlists Faye Kruger (Kathleen Nolan), Mera's realtor who just happens to be a former reporter herself, to write the groovy guru's nuptials piece while he pursues the vampire.
First, though, he spars with LAPD's Lieutenant Jack Matteo (William Daniels), erudite and exasperated while having to parry with reporters at the scene of two murders committed by the vampire--only Matteo claims that two Satanists already in custody are responsible for the corpses that have been drained of blood. That won't be Kolchak's only encounter with Matteo as Daniels delivers the first memorable performance of a "Night Stalker" set-piece: the police investigator with whom Kolchak invariably tangles as Daniels and Darren McGavin sparkle in their scenes together.
But as Kolchak pieces together the identity of the vampire, Catherine Rawlins (Suzanne Charny), moonlighting as a call-girl for "sugar mac" Ichabod Grace (Jan Murray), he must also fend off, by telephone, Tony, who is none too happy to read his piece, written by Faye, that's more suited to "Better Homes and Gardens" in some hilarious exchanges as McGavin and Simon Oakland solidify their antagonistic bond.
With no dialog, only beastly, guttural hissing, Charny indeed seems supernatural as her Catherine throws football players around like tackling dummies in a frightening kinetic pantomime. That leads to the scorching nighttime finale, staged suspensefully and evocatively by director Don Weis, in which this horror series maximizes its limited resources to stunning effect, the first "Night Stalker" episode with real teeth, although you do have to wonder: Would a vampire choose to live adjacent to a hill topped by a giant cross?
helpful•31
- darryl-tahirali
- Apr 8, 2022
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- 1486 North Sweetzer Ave. Los Angeles, California, USA(The abandoned mansion lair of Catherine Rawlins - the vampire - is actually the historic Mt. Kalmia estate)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime52 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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