the audience applauded

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Kicked out of Vegas for uncovering the presence of a creepy vampire, Darren McGavin's Kolchak refuses to abide by the old adage "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!" He heads to Seattle where he runs into old boss Simon Oakland, gets a new job working with him on John Carradine's newspaper, and goes undercover to discover why half a dozen women every 21 years are being murdered in the very same area. Along the way, he encounters some creepy Seattle citizens, among them a prissy library clerk (Wally Cox), a ghoulish professor of the occult (Margaret Hamilton), a drunken tramp (Al Lewis) who has seen perhaps too much, and a group of go-go dancers, one of whom (Joanna Pflug) he brings into his investigation, and another one with a very butch female lover. The mystery involves the old underground city and a nefarious civil war era doctor whose experiments are very Lugosi and Karloff like in their sinister goals.Obviously heading towards a TV series, Kolchak continues his witty observations about all of these freaky people and puts his own life in jeopardy just so he can get a story. It's ironic to see Carradine cast as a newspaper owner rather than one of the creepy characters involved in McGavin's investigation, and in her one scene, Hamilton is deliciously over the top and given some rather risque dialog. What could in a sense be called a variation of the Jack the Ripper case and the Boston Strangler mystery gets its own unique telling where once again McGavin's narration paves the way for intrigue, subtle comedy and a fun finale where everything is wrapped up yet left open for the potential series which came McGavin's way. A well known TV character actor gets to inhabit the role of the fiendish ghoul, a far cry from their respectable film and television roles, and chewing the scenery (and a few women's throats) along the way.

As you can probably derive from the title, the movie poster and the brief plot synopsis, "The Night Strangler" is almost identical to its predecessor "The Night Stalker". Is that bothersome? Perhaps a little… But can you blame writer Richard Matheson and producer/director Dan Curtis for copying themselves? No, of course not, because the original was such an unexpected but prompt and tremendous success that a sequel had to come and it had to come fast! And besides, the plot and atmosphere of the first film were so terrific that watching a rehash of the same story isn't irritating at all. Quite the contrary, "The Night Strangler" is once again a very entertaining and reasonably fast-paced combo between horror and detective, with cool humor and delightful characters. One year after he was unjustly chased out of Las Vegas, sewer journalist Carl Kolchak is wandering around in Seattle. He bumps into his old editor Vincenzo in a sleazy bar and – out of pity – gets offered a job. His first assignment is to report the bizarre murder of a showgirl, but the obsessive Kolchak quickly discovers that several Seattle unsolved murders are related and that the same type of crimes plagues the city of Seattle every 21 years. Once again Kolchak digs up classified police information, once again he doesn't stick to reporting the facts and one again every authority figure in town aims to shut him up! The best (and only innovative) thing about Matheson's script here is the wonderful usage of its filming locations. The culprit – an alchemist that keeps himself alive through murdering young women – has his hideout underneath the ground, in the old Seattle that was destroyed by a tremendous fire. A few years ago, I visited Seattle as a tourist and also took the underground tour, so I can confirm that it forms a unique and authentically creepy filming location for a monster like this! If you're still not convinced yet, the sequel features the awesome John Carradine as a furious and loud-shouting newspaper owner! The end sequences pave the road for a third movie entry that never got made, although apparently Matheson had the script ready, and instead the legendary TV-series were unleashed.

THE NIGHT STRANGLER is a better Kolchak movie than the original THE NIGHT STALKER for the following reasons.1.) Production values are obviously much higher. The sights of Seattle and the local color are much richer and the cinematography is much better.2.) Better supporting cast. Wally Cox is unforgettable as Titus Berry, Kolchak's greatest research assistant ever. But Al Lewis as the tramp is also brilliant, and so is Joanne Pflug, much funnier than Carol Lynley and just as sexy as Kolchak's love interest. And the old lady professor is brilliant. And the villain, aka Malcolm Richard, or Richard Malcolm, or Oscar Goldman. And of course Simon Oakland rules as Vincenzo. And don't forget Hollywood legend John Carradine as the feared Crossbinder! 3.) Much better story for the villain. While the vampire in THE NIGHT STALKER is just a one-dimensional hissing baddie, the tragic doctor in this movie has a backstory and a heartbreaking personal history. And his quiet sadness and horror at what he has done makes the horrifying climax even more upsetting. This is no common mad scientist, but a tragic hero on the level of Dr. Faust! 4.) Much more subtlety and dimension to the chilling horror. Watch the scene where Kolchak paints the mustache on the doctor's portrait. It's broad daylight, and a whole crowd of people are laughing, but as you start to see what Kolchak sees -- the man long dead is clearly still alive today -- a chill runs down your spine. Ditto the scenes were Kolchack and Mr. Berry are hunting old newspaper headlines. Couldn't be funnier, yet as the pattern develops it becomes quietly chilling.5.) Don't mess with Vincenzo. The chemistry between Kolchak and his boss is just as explosive here as in the original. "All right, I'm willing to buy that these two sets of murders might be connected. I'm even willing to buy that they might have been committed by the same man. But a man, Kolchak, a man. Not some sort of a SUPER DEAD MAN!"

Investigative reporter Darren McGavin (as Carl Kolchak) is back; this time, he's after "The Night Strangler". Once again, police officials and fellow journalists either disbelieve, or want to cover-up, the supernatural angle. Producer-director Dan Curtis presents the same basic story as his preceding "Night", with understandably less success.Mr. Curtis assembles a fun supporting cast, included are "Dark Shadows" alumni George DiCenzo and Ivor Francis. Jo Ann Pflug (as Louise Harper) heads up a sexy collection of belly-dancers. And, although I've never seen it mentioned anywhere, that must be Roger Davis as Mr. McGavin's dining companion in an early scene, feigning disbelief in the existence of vampires! **** The Night Strangler (1/16/73) Dan Curtis ~ Darren McGavin, Jo Ann Pflug, Simon Oakland, Wally Cox