“Judge for yourself its believability and then try to tell yourself, wherever you may be, it couldn’t happen here.”

Justin’s rating: The truth is out there

Justin’s review: It’s story time, boys and girls! For this tale, we turn back the clock to January 1972, when ABC aired its regular movie of the week. This time around, it was a vampire tale from an up-and-coming novelist named Jeff Rice, which was turned into a teleplay by I Am Legend’s Richard Matheson.

This film, The Night Stalker, became an unlikely smash hit for ABC, becoming the highest-rated original TV movie up to that point in history. This triggered a flurry of follow-ups: an overseas theatrical release, a sequel a year later (The Night Strangler), and a 1974-75 series called Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Despite only lasting a single season, the show garnered a cult following over the years and ended up being a key inspiration for Chris Carter when he developed a little series called The X-Files in the ’90s.

That sort of legacy deserves to be watched, don’t you think?

A crusty and quippy investigative reporter named Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) gets assigned to investigate a murder victim on the streets of Las Vegas. Using his charm and connections, Kolchak gradually unfolds a highly curious case of “ripples” — more victims, drained of blood extremely quickly, and dumped off in unlikely ways.

Almost immediately, I can see why people connected with this character. Kolchak is like a more upbeat private eye from any good noir story, quick with a sarcastic aside while putting details together that others miss. He’s tenacious and fearless, the kind of guy who frustrates his superiors and delights his loyal friends — and doing both with a twinkle in his eye.

The story also unfolds at a rapid pace; in fact, extremely rapid for 1972. It’s like a true crime story that barrels fast into the supernatural realm without a lick of fat or dead weight along the way. I like how Kolchak is already thinking “vampire” by minute 10, although he assumes it’s some looney who imagines himself as a homicidal Dracula rather than the real thing. That gradually changes as he finds out more details about this “night stalker.”

Of course, the city’s officials want to downplay the threat and keep the newspapers from talking about vampires, so Kolchak gets the runaround, threats, and dismissals from the bigwigs. But will that stop him? Hardly. He almost seems to thrive on the pursuit of the truth no matter what the consequences, which immediately endears himself to me. Add to that an occasional dollop of descriptive narration to give us additional insight into his world.

If Kolchak is the laconic humor, then the pure horror belongs to Skorzeny (Barry Atwater). Compared to some of the really lame vampires we’ve had in the 2000s, this guy is the stuff of creepy nightmares who never talks, yet whose presence says novels.

Not merely content to suck your blood and move on, Skorzeny brutally rips through victims, uses one as a reusable blood bank, and exhibits sadism. Considering that he’s basically super-powered, that’s bad news for everyone he encounters. It still seems extremely novel to me to treat this vampire as a criminal suspect, unseen or partially hidden for a good chunk of the movie.

Perhaps this movie is best viewed as a battle between two dogs: One a savage beast with no restraints and the other a relentless bloodhound in hot pursuit. The odds are against Kolchak, both in the capabilities of the killer and the stonewalling of his editor, the police, and politicians above him.

Of course, he’s not going to give up until his opponent is brought to heel and his naysayers finally acknowledge the truth of the situation. I don’t think I’ve cheered on a protagonist as much as this in a long time, especially when he ends up diving into the vampire’s own lair.

The journey that Kolchak takes from being a skeptic to a believer in the supernatural — at least in regard to this one vampire — is one that became the template of every X-Files episode. In this way, Kolchak is both Mulder and Scully combined.

Funny and frightening in equal degrees, I found myself a delighted latecomer to the Kolchak franchise. Hopefully, you will too.

Intermission!

• Oh man, those old movie-of-the-week intros are so nostalgic
• POV of an autopsy victim
• “You’re beautiful when you’re angry.”
• “What’d he do, throw her?”
• Kolchak tossing an aside to the sheriff to correct his use of “suffrage” instead of “sufferance”
• A box of chocolates can go a long way to sweeting up a contact
• If a vampire takes down your attack dog, good luck
• “We are supposed to print news, not suppress it!”
• “I’m becoming extinct in my own lifetime.”
• The fight at the hospital is every stunt person’s dream
• The vampire is 70 years old
• “Just remember the next time you blow it, who got the answers. Sir.”
• “Captain, you have two choices. Either he was shot… or your entire police department was blind.”
• Need stakes made? Better have a friend who owns a furniture-making store.
• “His own private blood bank.”