Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Kolchak: The Night Stalker: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 22, 2021

"Kolchak: The Night Stalker" (1974-1975) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new video interviews with writer and story consultant David Chase and writer and comedian Dana Gould; twenty-one exclusive new audio commentaries; and vintage promotional materials. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for each episode. Region-A "locked".

This can't be happening.

Two episodes will get the job done -- any two. Kolchak: The Night Stalker has twenty episodes that were shot between 1974 and 1975, so you just need to view two to understand precisely why Chris Carter holds this show in such high regard. It isn’t just different, it is deliciously weird, maybe even a little crazy. A lot of what Carter did with The X-Files in the 1990s now makes perfect sense because the inspiration behind it is clearly the original material from Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Carter just took everything to a different level while working with a vastly bigger budget than the one the producers of Kolchak: The Night Stalker were able to secure.

The main character, Carl Kolchak (an excellent Darren McGavin), is an investigative journalist in Chicago. Of course, since the show is set in the 1970s, he does the old-fashioned type of investigative journalism, the one that requires that he goes places and talks to real people to get leads and produce quality material his bosses can sell for money. So, he is always on the move, looking for leads in places his competitors would typically ignore -- seedy night clubs, abandoned warehouses, even an ocean liner where a passenger has been bitten by a werewolf. What? You read the part about the werewolf right, but the show gets even crazier. Actually, a lot crazier. For example, Kolchak crosses paths with an unhinged Hindu demon that can change his appearance on the fly, and even tracks down the real Jack the Ripper somewhere on the outskirts of Chicago. In one of the best episodes, Kolchak even discovers a modern-day Frankenstein designed by a slightly loopy scientist that kills his creator and then goes out on the streets.

If the above information makes you wonder whether Kolchak: The Night Stalker is as dark as The X-Files, the answer is no, and this is arguably what makes these shows so unique -- their ambience is drastically different. Indeed, even though in Kolchak: The Night Stalker there is a lot of out-of-left field material that is also quite dark, all episodes still have the lightness that was a standard feature of virtually all TV shows that aired on major networks in America during the 1970s. The X-Files went in the exact opposite direction and used its dark material to produce ambience that was typically present in intense genre films.

There are twenty-one new audio commentaries that are included on this release and in one of them a contributor quickly mentions that the key area where Kolchak: The Night Stalker does not do particularly well is the special effects. (The comments actually target everything from the costumes to the stunt work). It is mostly true because some costumes and decors can appear quite authentic and as a result the alien and spooky creatures Kolchak encounters do not always look as intimidating as they could have. (The goofiest one, at least according to this writer, is the headless ‘chopper’ with the sword. Then again, the unhinged black knight looks pretty funny, too). However, plenty of the show’s charm is directly related to its modesty.

Even though virtually all of Kolchak’s odd encounters are supposed to take place in Chicago, the bulk of the show was shot in Los Angeles. This is the reason why different episodes keep rehashing the same Chicago footage over and over again.

The following directors contributed to Kolchak The Night Stalker: Don Weis (4 episodes, 1974-1975), Allen Baron (4 episodes, 1974), Alexander Grasshoff (3 episodes, 1974), Don McDougall (2 episodes, 1975), Michael Caffey (1 episode, 1974), Gordon Hessler (1 episode, 1974), Bruce Kessler (1 episode, 1975), Gene Levitt (1 episode, 1975), Vincent McEveety (1 episode, 1975), Seymour Robbie (1 episode, 1975), and Robert Scheerer (1 episode, 1975).

Kolchak: The Night Stalker: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Kolchak The Night Stalker arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

All twenty episodes of the show have been remastered in 2K and look quite wonderful on Blu-ray. A few reveal minor fluctuations in terms of density that are not introduced by the original cinematography, but the overall quality of the visuals remains strong. (You can see one such example in screencapture #18). Some darker areas can produce light crushing, but I think that the grading work is convincing. In fact, virtually all of the nighttime footage from Chicago looks quite wonderful. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections, but with specific encoding optimizations grain exposure could have been a bit more convincing. Primary colors and supporting nuances look very healthy, though some of the darker nuances, and especially the variations of black, could have been managed better. Image stability is very good. I noticed a few white specks popping up here and there as well as a couple of tiny vertical lines, but I did not see any large and distracting cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report in our review. All in all, while there is some room for minor cosmetic improvements, I think that the Blu-ray offers a very satisfying organic presentation of all twenty episodes of the show. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Kolchak: The Night Stalker: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for each episode.

I thought that the famous main theme plus all the other music that is used throughout the show sounded great. Yes, the dynamic range of the audio isn't too impressive, but this is an inherited limitation. The dialog/narration is clear, sharp, and very easy to follow. The upper register, where older content usually reveals signs of ageing, is very healthy as well. Can the audio sound better? At the moment, I don't think so. My impression is that the lossless track reproduces the native qualities of the original audio mixes that were finalized for each episode very well. There are no encoding errors to report.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

BLU-RAY DISC ONE

• Audio Commentaries -
  
  1. Commentary One - for The Ripper recorded by Mark Dawidziak, author of The Night Stalker Companion and Kolchak Novel, Grave Secrets.
  
  2. Commentary Two - for The Zombie by author/historian David J. Schow.
  
  3. Commentary Three - for They Have Been, They Will Be... by critic Kim Newman and writer/journalist Barry Forshaw.
  
  4. Commentary Four - for The Vampire by critic Tim Lucas.
  
  5. Commentary Five - for The Werewolf by filmmaker and critic Constantine Nasr.

• Interview with David Chase - in this exclusive new video interview, writer and story consultant David Chase discusses the production of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, how some of the original material was altered to meet requirements from the studio that funded it, as well as the dark tone and unusual atmosphere that make the show memorable. There are some quite hilarious comments about Darren McGavin and the cases he investigates as well. In English, not subtitled. (10 min).

BLU-RAY DISC TWO

• Audio Commentaries -
  
  1. Commentary One - for Firewall recorded by author and critic David J. Schow.
  
  2. Commentary Two - for The Devil's Platform recorded by filmmaker Constantine Nasr and screenwriter/producer Rodney Barnes.
  
  3. Commentary Three - for Bad Medicine recorded by critic and screenwriter Gary Gerani.
  
  4. Commentary Four - for The Spanish Moss Murders recorded by critic and screenwriter Steve Haberman.
  
  5. Commentary Five - for The Spanish Moss Murders recorded by filmmaker/critic Steve Mitchell and screenwriter/producer Cyrus Voris.
  
  6. Commentary Six - for The Energy Eater recorded by Mike White and Chris Satchiw of The Kolchak Tapes Podcast.

• Interview with Dana Gould - in this exclusive new video interview, writer and comedian Dana Gould recalls how he fell in love with the original TV KolchakTV movie and consequently the TV show, and discusses the original character as well as his unique qualities, including his wardrobe. Also, there are some quite good observations about the idea of "the heroic reporter" that emerged during the 1970s as well as Darren McGavin's transformation. In English, not subtitled. (12 min).

• TV Spots - all newly remastered in 2K.
  
  1. The Devil's Platform
  2. Bad Medicine
  3. The Spanish Moss Murders
  4. The Energy Eater

BLU-RAY DISC THREE

• Audio Commentaries -
  
  1. Commentary One - for Horror in the Heights recorded by critic and screenwriter Gary Gerani.
  
  2. Commentary Two - for Mr. R.I.N.G. recorded by filmmaker/critic Steve Mitchell and screenwriter/producer Cyrus Voris.
  
  3. Commentary Three - for Primal Scream recorded by filmmaker/critic Steve Mitchell and screenwriter/producer Cyrus Voris.
  
  4. Commentary Four - for The Trevi Collection recorded by critic and author Amanda Reyes.
  
  5. Commentary Five - for Chopper recorded by critic Kim Newman and writer/journalist Barry Forshaw.

• TV Spots - all newly remastered in 2K.
  
  1. Horror in The Heights
  2. Mr. R.I.N.G.
  3. Primal Scream
  4. The Trevi Collection
  5. Chopper

BLU-RAY DISC FOUR

• Audio Commentaries -
  
  1. Commentary One - for Demon in Lace recorded by critic Kim Newman and writer/journalist Barry Forshaw.
  
  2. Commentary Two - for Legacy of Terror recorded by critic and author Amanda Reyes.
  
  3. Commentary Three - for The Knightly Murders recorded by critic and filmmaker Michael Schlesinger.
  
  4. Commentary Four - for The Youth Killer recorded by critic Kim Newman and writer/journalist Barry Forshaw.
  
  5. Commentary Five - for The Sentry recorded by critic and screenwriter Gary Gerani.

• TV Spots - all newly remastered in 2K.
  
  1. Demon in Lace
  2. Legacy of Terror
  3. The Knightly Murders
  4. The Youth Killer
  5. The Sentry

• Booklet - 10-page illustrated booklet featuring an essay by author Mark Dawidziak as well as technical credits.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kolchak: The Night Stalker very much feels like a distant working-class relative of The X-Files. Some of the material in this show is so strange that Chris Carter's public admiration for it instantly begins to make perfect sense. It took me a while to go through all twenty episodes in Kino Lorber's four-disc set, but it was a great ride with some quite unexpected surprises. Jack the Ripper roaming the streets of Chicago, a headless biker on the warpath, werewolves, zombies, vampires, a wicked Hindu demon and even an unhinged humanoid that cannot be stopped -- the show has it all and offers some terrific late-night entertainment. All of its twenty episodes have been recently restored in 2K as well. If you decide to pick up the set for your collection, I would like to remind you that The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler were fully restored in 4K and are already out on Blu-ray. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.