starting Darren McGavin
directed by John Llewellyn Moxey
74 minutes
Freelance reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) starts to work on a story in Las Vegas, NV about a series of impossible seeming murders. The victims are all women and are all found drained of their blood.
The district attorney, the chief of police, and sheriff hold a press conference. Kolchak asks if the killer might be a vampire. The D.A. and the sheriff tell him not to start spreading rumors. The editor of the local newspaper tells Kolchak to drop the story but he continues to see what he can find. Another women is killed in a similar manner to the others and fifth one disappears.
The killer strikes once again, this time he is spotted while trying to steal blood from a hospital. The police and Kolchak show up before he can get away but the police fail to capture him despite shooting him at very close range.
The next day there is another press conference. The Feds identify the killer as Janos Skorzeny, a Romanian man in his seventies with a history of doing weird stuff which includes stealing people from hospitals in England during World War 2.
The next night the killer is spotted once again. The police corner him but he fights them off and escapes into the night.
Kolchak talks the mayor, the sheriff, and the chief of police into arming all police officers with standard gear for fighting vampires: crosses, stakes, and hammers.
Crawford, one of Kolchak’s sources, figures out where Skorzeny lives. Kolchak goes to visit the place. He sneaks around and finds one of the victims whose body was never found. She’s still alive but tied down.
Kolchak, with some help from law enforcement, rescues the woman and kills Skorzeny. He writes up his account of the story for the newspaper but the district attorney, the chief of police, and the sheriff prevent Kolchak from getting his story printed. They threaten to charge him with first degree murder unless he clears out of town immediately. Feeling as though he doesn’t have a choice, Kolchak leaves hits the road without getting his story published.
Thoughts
This is the first appearance of Karl Kolchak in movies or television. There is one more TV movie and then there was a TV series that only lasted for one season. The story for this movie is based upon a novel of the same name by Jeffery Rice.
Kolchak's girlfriend is 20 years younger than him but could probably pass for 30 years younger than him. She doesn't play a huge part in the story and is the only woman in it with more than a couple of lines.
This movie isn't great but I enjoyed it. I wish it was better but I'm considering giving the second TV movie a try.
Notes
There are a number of familiar faces in this movie.
I've seen Darren McGavin in a number of other things, including The Six Million Dollar Man (1973), the first of three Six Million Dollar Man TV movies. More recently I saw him in in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1.03 Triggers in Leash).
Claude Akins played the part of the sheriff. I saw him most recently in an episode of The Darkroom (1.02.B Uncle George) but I've also seem him in a few movies.
Charles McGraw played the part of the chief of police. I saw him most recently in The Narrow Margin (1952) but I've seen him in a few other films as well.
Kent Smith played the part of the district attorney. The most recent thing I've seen him in is The Damned Don't Cry (1950) but he was also in episodes of several anthology shows including Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Outer Limits (1963), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and Night Gallery. He was also in more than a dozen episodes of The Invaders, all but one of which were part of the second season of the show which I have yet to watch.
Elisha Cook, Jr. played the part of Crawford. I've seen him most recently in an episode of Star Trek (1.20 Court Martial). He's also been in several movies I have seen.
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