Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

myneesh Inspiration for the X files apparently. Is a great show. Love all the characters on it.

hellraiser7 I've always been into those stories on unexplained phenomena from Bigfoot, the flying mothmen, black panthers, alligators in sewers, you name it. But what if all those things didn't stay hidden and turned out to actually be proved true, and what would you do if you even got dangerously close?This is one of my favorite TV shows of all time, it's also another childhood relic of mine. This was one of the first that really got the paranormal noir subgenere going as after this show there has been a huge inspiration to many other shows in it's wake like "The X-Files", "Gravity Falls", even a bit of the graphic DC comic series and underrated TV series "Constintine".What really made this show great was not just the concept of all the unexplained phenomena being real but just the notion of combining both the supernatural and noir genres into one which surprising made a beautiful combo and was something truly different for it's time. Instead of looking for the guilty culprit we're looking for the creature of the week.I love the theme song it's one of my favorite theme songs which feels right as it evokes mystery and also a bit of a sense of dread.Each of the mysteries are thought provoking which really gave it a sense of participation, we're all in the same boat as Carl Koljak, just like him we're trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I really love the use of darkness in the show which really gave everything both a noir atmosphere and even a really creepy, spooky and at time scary one, it really felt like a world where there is danger hidden or lurking in the shadows and the contemporary reality we all take for granted could betray us at any time. But there is also some comedy this gives the show a light heartiness, being both scared and laughing at the same time is always a great combo.Carl Kolchak is one of my favorite fictional protagonists. He's sort of a pulp hero, up there with "Doc Savage", "Doctor Who", and many others. Like any of the pulp heroes he's a single man that goes into many colorful adventures and has to deal with many outrageous situations. This was the kind of guy I'd wanted to call if I even saw something bump in the night.What I love about Kolchak is his character type in a way he's sort of like a 1920's detective that has been transported to the modern 70's era. He is somewhat of an outsider as he is literally the only one that has to seek out and deal with each of these bump in the night creatures, the only way/s he knows how. Which really increases the stages because it give this show a bit of a sense of isolation but is also stays true to the traditional noir genre as most of the protagonist usually are isolated characters.I even love that he's got a sharp dry charisma and isn't totally smooth as there is one moment that cracks me up when he tries to trap a vampire but makes a mistake as the person that entered isn't. And just like with "Doctor Who" Carl Kolchak has to mainly deal with each of these threats as best he can, he has no muscle or any weapons, his best weapon in the situations is his wits and intelligence. Which I think is great because it makes the protagonist more human making him more relate able, let alone inspiring despite the guy's limitations he's almost kinda a bad ass taking on supernatural foes that could overpower him and yet he is able to get the drop on them.There are several favorite episodes of mine, like one where he is dealing with a vampire which for it's time the episode was revolutionary because it brought the vampire to our modern times, which at the time was rare. Another was seeing him pitted against a voodoo zombie, I'll admit that one gave me the creeps.Beware of the dark, you may seek into the darkness, but the darkness always seeks you.Rating: 4 stars

Joxerlives Saw this in the 90s when it was repeated on late night BBC2 and recently bought the boxset out of sheer curiosity. Didn't disappoint, a thoroughly entertaining and in many ways groundbreaking.Really is Darren McGavin's show, he breathes such life and likability into the in many ways morally reprehensible Kolchak, the sleazy, loner, workaholic reporter who works his way through life bribing and tricking the gullible to get the story. He is heroic but at the same time you get the idea if he was around these days he'd be tapping Hugh Grant's phone. His closest friend seems to be his editor but even they're constantly rowing, their relationship one of the highlights of the show. It's interesting to see the bygone era of print journalism with rolls of quarters for payphones, stories being put out on 'the wire' and journalists researching with books and banging away on typewriters, not to mention the brutal, trigger-happy and corrupt Chicago police of the 70s. Love his car too, a classic Mustang convertible complete with police scanner whilst his outfit is a weird mixture of the formal and down at heel.Some good guest stars, Erik Estrada, Phil Silvers in what must be one of his last roles, Tom Skerrit. You can see the inspiration for Altered States here and the robotic company named the Tyrell corporation. Where the series falls down is its' lack of decent villains, once you get to Helen of Troy they're really scraping the barrel whilst The Sentry is blatantly a guy with a cardboard crocodile head mask. The series treatment of women, inevitably belittled and/or killed is also a little hard to take.

walshtim94 Some of the scariest bits on TV were delivered by Karl Kolchak for us. "THe Vampire" was one of the best non-Dracula vampire stories ever shown on television. This is the scenario: a victim of the vampire Janos Skozeny was never found and destroyed by Las Vages police. After some earth is moved by heavy equipment, she claws her way out of the dirt and frightens a woman. She makes her way to Los Angeles and gets a job as a high priced hooker. As a call girl, she wear huge amounts of pancake and rouge. She kills the sister and her sister's boyfriend, and then wreaks havoc on the Los Angeles's Rams offensive line. Kolchak arrives in time to get bit, but he shows her a cross and she cowers away. Of course, Kolchak has to dispatch the vampire without the help of skeptical police (Kolchak, people disappear every day, is Amelia Earhardt supposed to show up as a vampire?) This female vampire is the scariest, vicious, feral lady vampire this side of the Borgo Pass. Even Drac would not want to be on her bad side. Other memorable episodes are Jack the Ripper, RING, the alien, the headless motorcyclist, the immortal, the witch, the goddess, the satanic politician (not a redundancy) and the rakshasa. The best horror serial of TV. Comparable to the movie. Kolchak in Vincenzo are in Chicago for the series, having been driven out of Vegas by the authorities who knew that Kolchak killed the vampire Skorzeny.