Vampire Movies

Year: 1972
Cast: Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland, Ralph Meeker, Claude Akins, Barry Atwater
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey
Genre: Horror/Action 
Sub-genre: Vampire

Ratings:

• 7.6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067490/
• 6.3/10 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1107172-night_stalker/

The Nightstalker was originally made for a TV movie, which turned out to be a big success at that time, the same pattern of which was adopted in the famous show Xfiles.

Plot: 

Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is a gutsy reporter for the Las Vegas Daily News. Strange things happening in Las Vegas is pretty normal, but Kolchak when hears about the murder of a woman who was a showgirl, the dead body of whose had no blood at all, makes him curious. Gradually, he comes to know about other serial murders in the city, all of the victims happen to be showgirls, ending up with the same case – dead body devoid of blood. 

In one of the gruesome murders the woman’s body is found in the same condition on the sand, but surprisingly no foot prints are found over the sand. This urges Kolchak to suspect that the murderer could be a vampire. When he shares his opinion with the police, it appears that they do not want to bring this out in the public to horrify them; hence, the issue is brushed under the carpet. Since the police are reluctant to reveal much about the case, Kolchak decides to trace and detect the case on his own.

During further investigation Kolchak and the police finally find out who the vampire murderer is, when they encounter Janos Skorzeny (Barry Atwater ), who is a senior citizen of the city, who visits clubs/casinos during late hours only and is the Night Stalker.

Conclusion:

The movie has interestingly developed and explored the possibility of the presence of a vampire murderer rather than a clichéd psycho killer. It is a delight to see McGavin’s performance, given the character he plays who is a snooty, upfront and gusty reporter, who even risks his life to find the truth.