The Night Strangler

release year: 1972
genre: TV horror
impressions: home DVD, 8/11/05
synopsis: Once again, reporter Carl Kolchak is one step behind a mysterious killer and several steps ahead of the police and politicians who don't want to listen to him.

impressions: This was the second episode in this series, and was just as good as the first. In this case, he's chasing a killer who surfaces every 21 years, and as he uncovers the truth, it sounds crazier and crazier. A neat bonus is the inclusion of an abandoned "old city" beneath the streets of Seattle.

something this movie has that no other movie has: A weird 1970s-style belly-dancing strip club (?)

acting: Darren McGavin again does a great job as the only one who has both the talent and the imagination to figure out exactly what's going on. Richard Anderson (who later played Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man) makes a brief appearance at the end as the killer.

final word: Good old-style TV horror.

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