Kolchak: The Night Stalker - The Complete Series (Box Set) (DVD)

Ah... Kolchak.. those of you of a certain age will remember seeing this cult 70's US TV series on late night TV during the 80's. It is supposed to have inspired the X-Files, and I suppose you can to some extent see why... it involves investigative reporter Carl Kolchak getting involved with various supernatural entities, much to the annoyance of his editor/boss. If you love expensive special effects, then this is not for you as it was filmed on a ...
...went on!). But, if you enjoy brilliantly written and acted characters, atmospheric supernatural stories with a decent dollop of humour, then this is a must see.

The plotlines revolve around Kolchak weaseling out of doing whatever job his editor boss Tony Vicenzo (ably played by Simon Oakland) wants him to do (usually some inane story) so he can investigate the weird reports he picks up on via his police band radio. Werewolves, vampires, ... more

Ah... Kolchak.. those of you of a certain age will remember seeing this cult 70's US TV series on late night TV during the 80's. It is supposed to have inspired the X-Files, and I suppose you can to some extent see why... it involves investigative reporter Carl Kolchak getting involved with various supernatural entities, much to the annoyance of his editor/boss. If you love expensive special effects, then this is not for you as it was filmed on a fairly small budget (which seemed to shrink as the series went on!). But, if you enjoy brilliantly written and acted characters, atmospheric supernatural stories with a decent dollop of humour, then this is a must see.

The plotlines revolve around Kolchak weaseling out of doing whatever job his editor boss Tony Vicenzo (ably played by Simon Oakland) wants him to do (usually some inane story) so he can investigate the weird reports he picks up on via his police band radio. Werewolves, vampires, ghosts, a Ripper style killer, and other weird foes give Kolchak the runaround. Kolchak is a bit of a down at heel guy, the newspaper he works for is small-time, and he constantly rubs the boss, and the police department, up the wrong way. His quirky sense of humour and determination to get to the bottom of whatever he is investigating is what carries him through the day. Of course, because of the nature of his stories he never gets the front page he desires, as the police don't want to cause a panic, and Vicenzo never believes him anyway, so he grumpily accepts his lot as it is. Darren McGavin was inspired casting for the show's main character, so good you really can't see anyone else as Kolchak, as the horrible recent rehash of the series proved! My only tiny complaint is that there are no extras on the discs, but just having the full series is bonus enough as some of them had never been shown on UK television. There is a bit more.... the series was actually made on the back of 2 of the most sucessful TV movies ever made - The Night Stalker, and sequel the Night Strangler. If you can track those down on DVD as well, you're in for a treat.

Oh yes, there is a mistake in the Amazon listing - it says 3 discs... it's not, there are 5 discs with 4 episodes per disc, making it better value than it would appear. 

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