The Twilight Saga, Vampire Diaries and True Blood are all the rage right now, but back in 1972 the vampire hit of the day was The Night Stalker. This made for TV movie was the highest rated TV movie of it's day. It was so popular that a sequel was made the following year called The Night Strangler.
The film was about an abrasive reporter named Carl Kolchack who becomes convinced that a series of murders in Las Vegas are being committed by a vampire. Darren McGavin portrayal of Kolchack became iconic and was followed up with a TV series.
The movie itself has a enough suspense to make a credible vampire movie. The film features an old school vampire who follows all the traditional vampire rules and even wears formal dress. Barry Atwater does a credible job of playing the vampire, fangs, red eyes and all.
Las Vegas made a great setting for a vampire story since the city, like a vampire comes alive at night.
The ABC Movie of the Week was a popular TV event in the late 60's and 70's. The networks started creating their own film projects due to a shortage of high quality Hollywood movies. ABC was the most successful with films like Brian's Song, The Day After and Steven Spielberg's Duel.
At the Movie House rating *** stars
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