Kolchak: The Night Stalker

The main character originated in an unpublished novel, The Kolchak Papers, written by Jeff Rice. In it, a Las Vegas newspaper reporter named Carl Kolchak tracks down and defeats a serial killer who turns out to be a vampire named Janos Skorzeny. Although the reporter uses the name "Carl", the novel reveals that his birth name is "Karel". After the success of the TV film and its sequel, the novel was published in 1973 by Pocket Books as a mass-market paperback original, titled The Night Stalker, with a photo of Darren McGavin on the cover to tie it to the film.

The second television film, The Night Strangler, was also turned into a novel (written by Jeff Rice but based on a script by Richard Matheson), published in 1974 by Pocket Books.

Both novels were republished in 2007 by Moonstone in an omnibus edition called The Kolchak Papers. Moonstone Books continues to produce Kolchak comic books.

ABC approached Rice with an offer to option The Kolchak Papers, which was adapted eventually by Richard Matheson into a television movie, The Night Stalker. It was produced by Dan Curtis and directed by John Llewellyn Moxey. Darren McGavin played the role of Carl. The cast also included Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland, Ralph Meeker, Claude Akins, Charles McGraw, Kent Smith, Stanley Adams, Elisha Cook Jr., Larry Linville, Jordan Rhodes, and Barry Atwater as the vampire Janos Skorzeny.

The Night Stalker first aired January 11, 1972, and garnered the highest ratings of any television movie at that time (33.2 rating – 54 share). Matheson received a 1973 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best TV Feature or Miniseries Teleplay.

Impressed by the success of the first television movie, ABC commissioned Richard Matheson to write a second movie, The Night Strangler (1973), which featured another serial killer in Seattle who strangled his victims and used their blood to keep himself alive for over a century. Kolchak recruits exotic dancer and psychology student Louise Harper (Jo Ann Pflug) to assist him in tracking down the eponymous strangler.

A fictitious version of the Seattle Underground City was used as a setting for much of the movie's action, and provided the killer with his hiding place. Dan Curtis both produced and directed the second movie, which also did well in the ratings. Rice wrote a novelization based on Matheson's screenplay. The novel was published in 1974 by Pocket Books as a mass-market paperback original under the title The Night Strangler with a close-up photo of the monster's eye to tie in with the movie.

Simon Oakland reprised his earlier role as Kolchak's editor, Tony Vincenzo. The cast also included Richard Anderson, Scott Brady, Wally Cox, Margaret Hamilton, John Carradine, Nina Wayne and Al Lewis.

Several scenes were filmed with George Tobias playing a reporter who recalled a series of murders he had investigated during the 1930s. These scenes were cut before airing because of time constraints.

• Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) Kolchak is a talented but outspoken investigative reporter with an affinity for bizarre and supernatural occurrences, obtaining information driving around Chicago in his yellow Ford Mustang convertible and snatching exclusives armed with his compact Rollei 16 camera and portable cassette recorder.

Using only limited information, Kolchak has cracked several cases relying on gut instinct and often prevailing through sheer dumb luck. More often than not, Kolchak's prospects are hampered by the destruction of evidence to prove his claims, advancing the sheer implausibility of his stories where his peers, particularly his editor, are concerned. On other occasions his investigations have led to demotion or relocation of varying authority figures, though reasons for these actions are never fully disclosed.

• Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) – Kolchak's bellicose editor, and one of the only people willing to tolerate Kolchak's antics, despite their frequent arguments. Vincenzo has a grudging respect for Kolchak's reporting skills, but often finds himself caught between Kolchak's zeal and his own management responsibilities. Vincenzo's hot temper often affects his blood pressure and digestion and he sometimes laments that he did not go into his family's Venetian blinds business.
• Ron Updyke (Jack Grinnage) – Kolchak's supercilious rival at INS whom Kolchak repeatedly refers to as "Uptight". A San Francisco native, Updyke is the opposite of Kolchak, always smartly dressed and hobnobbing with Chicago's elite.
• Emily Cowles (Ruth McDevitt) – an elderly puzzles and advice columnist known as "Miss Emily". Cowles aspires to be a novelist and expresses passion for issues relating to the elderly. She is often sympathetic toward Kolchak and the two share a warm working relationship.
• Monique Marmelstein (Carol Ann Susi) – is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and an intern whose Uncle Abe is highly placed in INS management. Despite her education and enthusiasm, many of her coworkers believe she got her job due to nepotism, an allegation she denies.

• Gordon "Gordy The Ghoul" Spangler (John Fiedler) – a city morgue attendant and sometime source for Kolchak.
• Captain "Mad Dog" Siska (Keenan Wynn) – a Chicago police officer whose efforts to rein in his temper were constantly thwarted by Kolchak's abrasiveness.

The series managed in its short run to tackle most of the major monster myths, including classics such as vampires, werewolves, mummies and zombies. It also included stories about a doppelganger, witches, a succubus and a pact with Satan. Four episodes focused on monsters and spirits based in native folklore (two involving Native American legends, one Hindu and one Creole).

The series also dealt with creatures from science fiction, including a killer android, an invisible extraterrestrial, a prehistoric man thawed back to life, and a lizard-creature protecting its eggs.

The series also featured some more esoteric antagonists, including a headless motorcycle rider that hinted at the headless horseman myth and an animated knight's suit of armor possessed by a spirit. A story about Jack the Ripper was one of the few based on an actual historical figure, though the series provided a supernatural explanation. An episode about Helen of Troy (Cathy Lee Crosby appeared in the role) dealt with immortality and aging.

The series was cancelled with only 20 episodes completed but the initial order of 26 meant there were scripts that were completed but unproduced for the series. Three additional scripts commissioned before the series was cancelled still survive.

"Eve of Terror", written by Stephen Lord

The story is summed up by one of Kolchak's lines in the episode: "What if I told you that a deranged feminist murdered a Casanova lab technician, a sex goddess, and her purveyor?"

"The Get of Belial", written by Donn Mullally

Kolchak is assigned to cover a miners' strike in the mountains of West Virginia. He uncovers gruesome murders associated with a backwoods family and Kolchak suspects that they have some sort of inbred monster living with them.

"The Executioners", written by Max Hodge

Kolchak is demoted, and is given the choice of writing obituaries or writing articles for the arts section. He chooses the latter, and discovers a painting tied into a series of murders that Vincenzo is covering. These murders occur in a series of three, in which the first victim is hanged, the second executed with an ax, and the third poisoned. Working with an art expert, Kolchak attempts to unravel who or what is behind these bizarre murders and what they have to do with the painting, without alerting Vincenzo that he is working on the same story.[16]

Though Rice retains the rights to written Kolchak works, and Universal Studios owns the rights to the TV series, ABC maintained dramatic rights to the character and ownership of the two TV movies. The network began airing a new Night Stalker series on September 29, 2005, with the character Carl Kolchak portrayed by Stuart Townsend. On November 14, 2005, ABC and creator Frank Spotnitz announced that the new series was being cancelled due to low ratings. The complete 2005 series is available on DVD.

In a nod to the original series, the pilot episode has a brief shot from the original TV series of Darren McGavin in the INS newsroom, as the new Kolchak (Townsend) is walking through it. Inserted digitally, McGavin is dressed in the same frumpy clothes he wore as Kolchak in the original series and smiles knowingly while touching his hat. The satchel in which Kolchak carried wooden stakes and a cross to battle Skorzeny is shown. In another shot, when fellow reporter Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union) is searching through Kolchak's room, the hat McGavin wore in the original series is seen hanging on a coat rack. Other character names from the TV movies are referenced in various episodes, and one episode ("Timeless") recycled much of the plot of the TV movie The Night Strangler. In the 1970s, the Kolchak character was often seen in his yellow 1966 Ford Mustang convertible, while the new series' Kolchak drives an orange Mustang from 2005.

In 1991, author Mark Dawidziak wrote Night Stalking: A 20th Anniversary Kolchak Companion detailing the production of the movies and TV series. In 1994, Dawidziak worked with Rice to produce the first official "Kolchak" material since the end of the TV series. The novel, Grave Secrets, moved Kolchak from Chicago to Los Angeles where he obtained a job at the Hollywood Dispatch newspaper (nicknamed the "Disgrace"). Most of the recurring characters from the TV movies and series also appear. Kolchak investigates a ghost who is killing those responsible for the destruction of the cemetery where its body is buried. An expanded and updated version of Dawidziak's Night Stalking was published in 1997 by Pomegranate Press as The Night Stalker Companion: A 30th Anniversary Tribute. In 2003, the scripts for The Night Stalker, The Night Strangler and the unfilmed The Night Killers were published by Gauntlet Press as Richard Matheson's Kolchak Scripts (edited with introductions by Dawidziak).

A comic book based on the property was published in 2003 by Moonstone Books, with some commercial success. Moonstone continues to publish both a bimonthly serial magazine and a series of prose novels and graphic novels featuring the characters. Moonstone also adapted Rice's original The Night Stalker script as well as two unfilmed scripts for the TV series: "The Get of Belial" and "Eve of Terror".

In 2006, Moonstone published a short fiction anthology, The Night Stalker Chronicles, with short stories contributed by writers such as Peter David, Mike W. Barr, Stuart Kaminsky, Richard Dean Starr, C. J. Henderson, Dawidziak and Max Allan Collins. A second volume, Kolchak: The Night Stalker Casebook, was published in January 2007 featuring new short fiction by authors including P. N. Elrod, Christopher Golden, Richard Dean Starr, Dawidziak and Elaine Bergstrom. Between 2007 and 2012, Moonstone published several Night Stalker novels and novellas, including The Lovecraftian Horror, The Lovecraftian Damnation, The Lovecraftian Gambit, A Black and Evil Truth and The Lost World, all by C. J. Henderson. A Black and Evil Truth was later released as an audiobook. In 2017, Moonstone published Kolchak: Double Feature: Nightkillers, which included a prose adaptation of Richard Matheson's unproduced script for the third tv film, now adapted by Chuck Miller for the prose format.

In May 2012, Disney announced a film adaptation is in the works with Johnny Depp starring and producing with Edgar Wright directing.[20]

20th Century Fox released the first TV movie on VHS, The Night Stalker, as part of its "Selections" series. MGM Home Video released the two TV movies on DVD on August 24, 2004. Universal Studios released Kolchak: The Night Stalker – The Complete Series on DVD a year later. Madman Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Australia and New Zealand on July 15, 2009.

The two TV films, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler, were each released on Blu-ray October 2, 2018.