the night stalker
This made-for-TV horror movie successfully led to a television series of the same name. The Night Stalker became ABC's highest rated original TV movie, earning a 33.2 rating & 54 share which was unheard of for an original TV movie at the time. The TV movie did so well it was released overseas as a theatrical movie and inspired a sequel TV movie entitled The Night Strangler, which aired in 1973. The Night Stalker also inspired a different TV series, Chris Carter's The X-Files. Carter features actor Darren McGavin in the X-Files series as 'the father of the X-files' in an episode explaining the files' origins.
A serial killer is loose in Las Vegas and is causing a string of murders, and only one intrepid reporter, Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin, can stop him but Kolchak believes that the killer is also a vampire. McGavin combines humor with a hardnosed cynical streak, as he has to fight to save the city from the menace that only he knows really exists. The mix of humour and menace make The Night Stalker a popular favourite that easily wins over audiences that don't necessarily have a taste for horror.
A serial killer is loose in Las Vegas and is causing a string of murders, and only one intrepid reporter, Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin, can stop him but Kolchak believes that the killer is also a vampire. McGavin combines humor with a hardnosed cynical streak, as he has to fight to save the city from the menace that only he knows really exists. The mix of humour and menace make The Night Stalker a popular favourite that easily wins over audiences that don't necessarily have a taste for horror.