All the ingredients that made "Night Stalker" such a rare gem are here: wit, kitsch, moments of sheer fright and Darren McGavin, the archetypal TV anti-hero.
There are little threads that lead nowhere, including the subplot back at the newsroom, serving only to provide co-star Simon Oakland with a few scenes (but who's complaining? Oakland is another top-notch tube star)and what the heck is with Andrew Prine? He's got Sonny Bono's hairdo, a mod expedition jacket (for indoor wear!) and plays an obsessed college professor with such vigor that you can almost see spittle forming at the corners of his mouth! Wonder if Prine was at any time uncomfortable, what with the story of pretty young women dying young and the trail, rightly or wrongly, leading to him?
After all, his girlfriend Karyn Kupcinet died violently and mysteriously on Thanksgiving Day, 1963, and though the case remains unsolved, Prime was the prime suspect for a time.
But I digress...Solid work from all involved, including vets Keenan Wynn, Ruth McDevitt, Milton Parsons, Carmen Zapata, Donald Mantooth (brother of Randy) and Maria Grimm, a ravishing beauty who provides one of the episodes most chilling moments with no more than a spirited giggle. Great goofy, ghoulish stuff!moreless
Episode Summary
EDIT
On a college campus, young men are dying of heart attacks. When Kolchak investigates, he finds that the men were associated with Professor C. Evan Spate, who is researching an ancient Middle East tablet, and that a series of similar deaths plagued the expedition that recovered the tablet. In fact, similar deaths have occurred in connection with this tablet for centuries. Kolchak must uncover the secret of the tablet to stop the murders, but doing so might just make him the next victim.moreless
-
GUEST STAR
Teddie BlueThe Demon
-
GUEST STAR
Iris EdwardsGirl (Marlene Franks)
-
GUEST STAR
Milton ParsonsDr. Salem Mozart
-
Simon Oakland
Tony Vincenzo
-
Darren McGavin
Carl Kolchak
Watch Online
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
See All-
TRIVIA (4)
ADD TRIVIA-
When the succubus wrestles with Carl, at one point she falls to the floor and you can see the black knee-length socks that she's wearing underneath.
-
Trivia: Vincenzo discloses that he played drums in a band called "Tony Vincenzo's Neopolitans" while he was in college.
-
Carl storms out of Tony's office, supposedly to head out. But in the reflection off the window you can see Darren McGavin just standing there once he's off camera, waiting for the scene to end.
-
As Mark Hanson is escorted to a squad car, Siska accidentally calls him "Mike".
-
-
QUOTES (14)
ADD QUOTES-
Kolchak: I wasn't too choked up with Vincenzo sending me to an alderman's press conference, so when I caught the police report of two bodies being found on the I.S.T. campus lake, it gave me an excuse. That and running out of gas, which I didn't plan.
-
Updyke: Have you screwed up the filing system again? Kolchak: Of course.
-
Kolchak: (about the stench of the succubus) Your yard smelled bad enough to send rats back to Detroit!
-
Kolchak: (opening narration) It was Goethe who said we love girls for what they are. Well, even the great Goethe could have learned something from the tale that took place on the campus of Illinois State Tech.
-
Rosalind: Do you have a comment to make? Kolchak: Well? Siska: Yeah, but you couldn't print it! Kolchak: Ah. Ha ha!
-
Siska: Look, Kolchak, I gotta tell you something. Some people dream about retiring. Kolchak: Uh huh? Siska: I dream about breaking your face. Kolchak: Aw! (makes kissing noise) I love you too, Siska. Listen. How's your therapy coming along? A-okay? Siska: Aw, shut up.
-
Siska: Is that a popular address with the boys at this frat? Tim: No. And uh it's "fraternity." We don't call it a frat anymore. Siska: Don't get lippy with me, boy. I might be tempted to go in your room and…poke around. Might find some funny vegetables in there.
-
Vincenzo: In the 60s, the kids used to bust windows and pelt Marine recruiters with rotten fruit. Now that was bad enough. But today, it seems that every school is an extension campus of Weirdsville University.
-
Vincenzo: It's days like this that make me wish I'd stuck to playing the drums. Emily: I didn't know you played. Vincenzo: Oh, back in the 40's, in college. Sure. Kolchak: Playing drums? You?!? You haven't got a syncopated bone in your body! You walk off-rhythm!
-
Vincenzo: Whitehead. Julius Whitehead. Didn't we carry an article on him recently. He found something in a desert somewhere and went bananas. Kolchak: Yeah, Iraq Vincenzo: What? Kolchak: Iraq. He went bananas in Iraq. Vincenzo: He should have stayed in Chicago. The same thing would have happened, he would have saved travel expenses and jet lag.
-
Kolchak: Like their creator Asmodeus, demons can take on many guises, but are often pictured as horrible creatures accompanied by a foul stench. Which they give off at moments of diabolic excitement or activity. A stench of corruption, rot, and noxious brimstone! Emily: (working on a crossword puzzle) "Brimstone"! Oh great, I can use this!
-
Kolchak: Did you hear that, huh, Tony, did you hear that? Another vanishing corpse, we're in luck! It's terrific – another vanishing corpse!
-
Siska: There ought to be a law that only policemen can have police radios. Kolchak: Write your congressman.
-
Kolchak: (closing narration) However, published story or not, I can only say to you that should you ever meet a young woman who seems too lovely to be really of this world, well just remember there's a very good chance that she isn't.
-
-
NOTES (2)
ADD NOTES-
Guest star Keenan Wynn who portrayed Captain Joe "Mad Dog" Siska in this episode had previously appeared in the episode "The Spanish Moss Murder."
-
This episode is alternately known in syndication as "The Succubus".
-
-
ALLUSIONS (1)
ADD ALLUSIONS-
Carolyn Jones is listed by character name. Andrew Prine is listed as Special Guest Star.
-
-
The TV movies before it.
08/16/089
-
The DVDs
07/15/084
-
Favorite (and least favorite) episodes?
05/19/086
-
Dan Curtis - Dead at 78
03/29/061
-
R.I.P. Darren
03/10/067
-
The Sentry
S 1 : Ep 20
Aired 3/28/75
-
The Youth Killer
S 1 : Ep 19
Aired 3/14/75 (50:16)
-
The Knightly Murders
S 1 : Ep 18
Aired 3/7/75 (50:12)
-
Legacy of Terror
S 1 : Ep 17
Aired 2/14/75 (50:11)
Related Shows
Season 1 Episodes
See AllEp 20
The Sentry
Ep 19
The Youth Killer
Ep 18
The Knightly Murders
Ep 17
Legacy of Terror
Ep 16
Demon in Lace
Ep 15
Chopper
Ep 14
The Trevi Collection
Ep 13
Primal Scream
Ep 12
Mr. R.I.N.G.
Ep 11
Horror in the Heights
Ep 10
The Energy Eater
Ep 9
The Spanish Moss Murders
Ep 8
Bad Medicine
Ep 7
The Devil's Platform
Ep 6
Firefall
Ep 5
The Werewolf
Ep 4
The Vampire
Ep 3
They Have Been, They Are, ...
Ep 2
The Zombie
Ep 1
The Ripper
-
Gislef EDITOR
User Score: 726
-
CommanderBalok
User Score: 171
-
dju010
User Score: 49
-
walrus_8463
User Score: 46
-
fish1413
User Score: 27
-
CaptainMidnight
User Score: 7
-
karlmeszaros
User Score: 6
-
jokipper
User Score: 6
-
rustle49
User Score: 5
-
frank91165
User Score: 5
More
Less
