“If I don’t take this final dosage now. The process will reverse itself.”
Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is back and better than ever. This time in Seattle, Washington. Returning as the down trodden Tony Vincenzo is Simon Oakland. Now working for a Seattle newspaper called the “Seattle Chronicle”. The owner of the paper is Llewellyn Crossbinder (John Carradine). With Tony’s help Kolchak gets a job with the Chronicle. His first assignment. A dead belly dancer. Found strangled. Then there is another killing. Both in the Pioneer Square area of the city. Their throats crushed. Pieces of dead flesh in the wounds. And two needle marks in the back of there necks. Some blood removed.
Mr. Berry (Wally Cox) works in the newspaper morgue. Kolchak goes to him for help. Mr. Berry finds that there was a series of strangulations that were similar in 1952. The same MO. Strangled. Throats crushed. Dead flesh in the wounds. The researcher finds that there were more killings. This time in 1931. Then again further back in 1910 and again in 1889. All the same. Twenty-one years apart, over a period of 18 days. 6 women were killed.
He talks to a Professor Crabwell (Margaret Hamilton) who tells him about the ingredients needed for the elixir of life. One night the murderer is spotted. The police give chase by can’t catch him. He has super human strength but looks dead. Everything is happening in the Pioneer Square area of Seattle. The area with the underground city. Kolchak decides to take the underground tour below Seattle’s streets. He knows that somewhere down there, underground is a killer. Someone who is killing people to make an elixir that will give him eternal life.
"The Night Strangler" was released in 1973 and was directed by Dan Curtis. "The Night Strangler" is a sequel to "The Night Stalker" released in 1972. Once again Darren McGavin is the story crazed reporter on the trail of another investigation of murder and the occult. Stumbling into another thriller. Getting under the skin of every law enforcement officer in the city. His character just as much of a curmudgeon as in the first movie. And just as wonderful. Again, another great performance and another great movie.
In the United States, the TV movie ran approximately 74 minutes. ABC planned to release the film overseas as a theatrical release and had additional footage shot rounding out the movie to 90 minutes.
There is a small appearance by Al Lewis (from The Munsters) as a bum in the underground and Margaret Hamilton (from the Wizard of Oz) as the professor.