Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

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AndyDursin
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Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#1 Post by AndyDursin »

Restored in 4K!

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Eric Paddon
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Re: Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#2 Post by Eric Paddon »

The original Night Stalker movie was brilliant and it also demonstrated why the concept IMO did not work as a series where what was chillingly believable one time was boringly predictive week-to-week.

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Monterey Jack
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Re: Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#3 Post by Monterey Jack »

Eric Paddon wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2018 9:27 pm The original Night Stalker movie was brilliant and it also demonstrated why the concept IMO did not work as a series where what was chillingly believable one time was boringly predictive week-to-week.
Still, without it we'd have no X-Files, so... 8)

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AndyDursin
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Re: Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#4 Post by AndyDursin »

Looking forward to these. The original NIGHT STALKER TV movie in particular is quite excellent as Eric says and holds up really well.

Truthfully I've never sat through more than a few minutes of the KOLCHAK series, was bored by what I saw.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#5 Post by Paul MacLean »

AndyDursin wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2018 10:30 pm Truthfully I've never sat through more than a few minutes of the KOLCHAK series, was bored by what I saw.
I was a fan of the show as a child (that is, when I got the chance to watch it -- though it often kept me up afterwards!). :shock:

I re-watched a lot of episodes when it was available on Netflix, and I have to say I thought it held up really well. I mean it's unquestionably a product of its time, which attempts (not always convincingly) to pass-off Los Angeles county as Illinois, and some episodes are frankly weak, but there is also some excellent writing, and clever characterizations as well. I loved the idea of a reporter who writes-up his experiences combating supernatural agencies -- but works for a tabloid, so none of his stories will ever be believed!

The production quality actually looks a lot better than the "handheld Red using available light" style which permeates TV shows today. The Night Stalker was a well-scored series too, with composition duties shared by Gil Mellé and Jerry Fielding.

Eric Paddon
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Re: Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#6 Post by Eric Paddon »

TV I know was formulaic back then and that we had to for the most part accept predictable patterns in most of the programs on-air (Gilligan will always foul things up to keep them from getting rescued). But a show like Kolchak which came out of something that was so groundbreakingly different in trying to give us genuine horror on TV I felt had to deliver more than a usual formula pattern week after week to justify its longer term existence. In a way, Kolchak proved what was true of a lot of short-lived sci-fi oriented shows in the 70s that they could offer a fantastic premise but they just couldn't sustain it for the long haul (the broken trail of shows like "Logan's Run", "Planet Of The Apes" etc. bear that out) unless they were willing to go beyond a pattern. I think for instance if every few episodes Kolchak uncovers something scary that turns out to be a hoax, we would then be more on our guard and be less sure about "is it real or not?" this time out.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#7 Post by Paul MacLean »

Eric Paddon wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 2:47 pm I think for instance if every few episodes Kolchak uncovers something scary that turns out to be a hoax, we would then be more on our guard and be less sure about "is it real or not?" this time out.
While that's an interesting concept, I doubt The Night Stalker could have found even the modest audience it did, had it engaged in "bait and switch" tactics. I personally would feel cheated if I sat down to watch a supernatural horror show and was given instead a "Scooby Doo"-type ending.

Eric Paddon
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Re: Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#8 Post by Eric Paddon »

The Blu-Rays came out today. The transfer is excellent on "Night Stalker". Alas, I shut off the commentary after 10 minutes when I realized that (1) all of the production details were going to be lifted entirely from the Mark Dawidziak (I know I've mangled that spelling from memory) book and (2) the commentator, who has done good work elsewhere, felt this need to go off into digressions about things that have absolutely NOTHING to do with why the film is so effective. And he also really reads too much into a moment when location footage in front of one hotel shows the name of Johnny Carson performing and somehow this is supposed to be a big breakthrough for an NBC name to be mentioned on an ABC program. Uh.....no.

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AndyDursin
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Re: Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#9 Post by AndyDursin »

I didn't hear it yet but you're not the first to mention the commentary. I've seen two people on a couple of different sites mention the "snide political asides". That's unfortunate.

Eric Paddon
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Re: Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#10 Post by Eric Paddon »

Yeah, he felt this need to do a lengthy quotation from some silly book about Jack Anderson and Nixon to draw attention to what he said was some parallel between Nixon White House behavior and "covering up" with what Kolchak goes through. Yapping so much about that made him fail to acknowledge the brief appearance of Stanley Adams as the used car salesman.

The politics at least are absent on the "Night Strangler" commentary (though I still have 25 minutes to go!). I had expected better since Lucas did a great commentary on "One Million Years BC".

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AndyDursin
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Re: Night Stalker / Night Strangler Blu-Ray (4K Restorations) From Kino

#11 Post by AndyDursin »

Voted "Best Commentary" of the year at the annual Rondo Awards :roll:

http://videowatchdog.blogspot.com/2019/ ... d.html?m=1

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