Book review: KOLCHAK: HAUNTED & HUNTED

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Editor

Posted: July 16, 2024 / 08:36

Writer: Paul Terry, based on characters by Jeff Rice and Richard Matheson
Price: 7,49 €
Editor: Moonstone Books
Release date: May 24, 2024

There are certain books, movies, and television series that represent turning points for their genre, subtly or even obviously changing the way things are seen and done forever.

One of them was THE NIGHT STALKERwhich premiered on ABC on January 11, 1972. Based on a previously unpublished novel by Jeff Rice and directed by John Llewellyn Moxey from a screenplay by Richard Matheson, the television movie introduced us to the unsuccessful but determined newspaper journalist Carl Kolchak, played by the inimitable Darren McGavin.

Kolchak tells his story with just the right amount of bite. He drives everyone he comes into contact with to despair, but he delivers when it counts. His editor Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) at a small newspaper in Las Vegas puts Kolchak on the trail of a serial killer.

Kolchak comes to a conclusion that no one wants to believe because it is too absurd: the murderer is a madman who thinks he is a vampire.

When Kolchak tries to prove his theory, he finds more than he expected: surprise, the murderer Is a vampire.

Today, that might be the first five minutes of a pilot episode, or maybe the first part of a feature film. But in 1972, nobody was combining naturalistic comedy/drama with the supernatural, especially not on network television. You either got extreme melodrama with real vampires/werewolves/whatever, or you got what Kolchak initially thought he had: a mentally disturbed person who only imagined himself to be something else.

For those who were lucky enough to experience this wonderful blend of sensibilities – which still holds up amazingly well five decades later – at the right time in their lives, THE NIGHT STALKER stay loved.

THE NIGHT STALKER produced a sequel in 1973, THE NIGHT STRANGERand then in 1974-1975 a series with twenty episodes, KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKERboth with McGavin and Oakland. In THE NIGHT STRANGERthe reporter and his editor moved to Seattle after being chased out of Las Vegas, and in the series they moved again to Chicago.

In the new book KOLCHAK: MARRIED AND HUNTEDAuthor Paul Terry lets Kolchak and Vincenzo play in Los Angeles, where they are now at the HOLLYWOOD SHIPPINGAs always, Vincenzo wants plain, old-fashioned reporting on conventional topics, and as always, Kolchak keeps veering into the uncanny.

KOLCHAK: MARRIED AND HUNTED is a collection of five stories loosely connected by character, theme, and Kolchak’s general work situation, but not so linear that they need to be read in order. Some deal with monsters with, one might say, understandable grievances, while the scarier ones are thoroughly vicious and satisfyingly creepy.

Terry skillfully captures Kolchak’s grating voice, his ironic tone and his willingness to admit fear. Although it is not explicit, Terry also keeps us close to the original NIGHT STALKERwhen there were no cell phones to take pictures or call for help. At the same time, he avoids using any offensive stereotypes from the past.

There’s a nice mix of locations. Because this is a book and not a carefully budgeted TV episode, we get to stay out late at night, go underwater, and even visit Paris (for a story that really needs to be set in the City of Lights). Terry makes the most of this expansion of geographical area without stretching the scope so much that it no longer feels like a Kolchak adventure.

There are a few odd punctuations here and there, but nothing that detracts from the overall experience. For those who need just the slightest nudge to reacquaint themselves with Kolchak, or even for those who are unfamiliar with the source material but enjoy scary stories, KOLCHAK: PERSECUTED AND HUNTED delivers.

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Article: Book review: KOLCHAK: HAUNTED & HUNTED

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