movie: The Night Stalker
starring: Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland
genre: Drama, Crime,
year: 1971
format: VHS
plot: A wise cracking reporter working in Las Vegas is put on the case of multiple murders that have two things in common, they are all young women and they are all totally drained of blood. At first they believe that it's a serial killer who thinks he's a vampire, but they soon learn he's the real deal.
This is the original made for tv movie that spawned both the sequel -Night Strangler- and the tv series (the original 1974 and the 2005 remake) and is based on a novel by Jeff Rice.
I find it interesting that the first episode of the tv series that followed a few years later -episode called The Ripper- was very similar to this original movie/story.
This movie still holds up all these years later- the story, not so much my VHS copy- and made me long for shows like this (the X-Files pays homage to this show on many occasions and McGavin did a few episodes as Mulder's hero) I would say it is the front runner for many of the sci-fi styled detective shows we have had in recent years. Or some of the better detective shows in general actually.
It's basically all about what you are willing to believe. The thin line between fiction and reality. The movie was done at a time when the supernatural was really seeping into every form of mainstream. And vampires had one of the biggest boosts with Dark Shadows and the Hammer Dracula films.
There's this one line at the end of the film when the character is told his girlfriend was made to move away and the head of the police department says "she was an undesirable, and we don't want that in Las Vegas" which makes me crack up every time.
what do i think i learned from this film?
Everyone has a story and the truth is out there
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