We Close the Coffin Lid on the "BOO-Nanza" Double Features- with "Night Stalker" and a "Trilogy of Terror" Encore!

Posted on October 28, 2023

Saturday night on MeTV, we trick-or-treat you to the finale of our “Svengoolie’s Halloween BOO-nanza” double features with the follow-up to last week’s primary movie- and then, bring back another creepy classic from TV horror legend, producer/director Dan Curtis! It’s two scoops of terror with Carl Kolchak back to battle “The Night Strangler”- followed by the encore of Karen Black’s multi-character mayhem in “Trilogy of Terror”!

1973’s “The Night Strangler” finds Kolchak- as well as his beleaguered boss Tony Vincenzo- both run out of Las Vegas after the “Night Stalker” case, and now in Seattle. Tony reluctantly hires Carl to work at his current newspaper, run by a crusty old gentleman (John Carradine!). Tony assigns Kolchak to cover a series of exotic dancer murders-figuring this would be right up his alley ( and a dark alley it is).Each victim has been strangled, with their necks crushed- and a small amount of blood drained form them. It could be the work of a twisted serial killer- but Kolchak begins to think differently when he hears that each victim also had traces of rotting flesh on their necks!

While questioning the dancers at a dive known as “Abdul’s Tent”, Carl happens upon the intelligent- and beautiful- performer Louise Harper- who end up assisting him in his investigations. Also assisting is newspaper researcher Titus Berry ( Wally Cox) who points out a curious and shocking fact-that similar killings have been happening every 21 years since the 1800s!

Kolchak begins to think that the same killer has survived for so long by using those little bits of blood from the victims to keep himself alive. Of course, Tony, the newspaper publisher, and the local police once again are at odds with Kolchak, refusing to believe his theory.

After finding a shocking clue to the killer’s identity in an old hospital he established years ago, the search brings Kolchak to the old underground city beneath Seattle ( yes, it IS a real place-we’ll explain) and time is running out before the strangler gets enough blood to sustain him so he can go back into hiding for another 21 years!

This follow-up TV movie that continued the adventures of Kolchak has a great cast- not only Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland, but also the aforementioned Cox and Carradine, along with Jo Ann Pflug ( who I will admit I had a crush on!), Richard Anderson, and cameos by the likes of Margaret Hamilton ( Oz’s wicked witch) and Al Lewis ( Grandpa Munster). We’ll talk about the cast, I’ll try my hand at being a newspaper reporter, we’ll provide a new weight loss program inspired by the happenings in this movie, get a visit from that imp Ignatius Malvolio Prankenstein, do a new song, and more!

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Then, we wind up the double feature with a movie, also by Dan Curtis, that we did run recently- “Trilogy of Terror” with each segment starring Karen Black in tales of murder, madness, and a malevolent warrior doll possessed by an evil spirit! We decide to run this again not only for the Dan Curtis connection, but also because, coming on at the later time, it will be exposed to a different audience, and -very honestly- it’s a perfect fright for the last Saturday before Halloween!

It all begin at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time -and, will be followed up by a bonus “Twilight Zone” episode and another marathon of “Kolchak: the Night Stalker” episodes! At 11 am tomorrow in Chicago on CW26, we have an encore of that first original Kolchak movie “The Night Stalker” for our local viewers.

We had the usual massive turn out at Elgin’s “Nightmare on Chicago Street” event last Saturday night! We expect the same for today’s visit to the amazing Volo Auto Museum n Volo, IL-with another round of autographs and photos! It all goes from noon to 2 pm, and all you need is to pay the museum admission fee. This year, no need for special tickets for the signing- but get there early to ensure that you will get to see me. It’s one autograph per person, and the Volo folks will take a photo of you with me. Find more info here on our website under the “appearances” tab.

Make sure you keep checking our store, as well- new Sven merchandise continues to be revealed, like the new “Sven Squad” t-shirts of our new cast members!

Don’t forget that our “BOO-nanza” continues with more scary shows tomorrow, Monday, and on Halloween! Join us tonight as we wind up the wicked double features on MeTV!

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4188 Comments

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1MikeM 30 days ago
...and at was da Night Strangler and Trilogy of Terror...and dat's da name a dat tune!
PARANORMA 1 month ago
Why Insomnia May Not Be Your Friend, Chapter Pi: 3am and Those Other Guys are running the Alastair Sim "Christmas Carol". Seriously.
1MikeM PARANORMA 30 days ago
We haven't even carved the Thanksgiving turkey yet!
1MikeM PARANORMA 30 days ago
"God bless us, everyone!"
abc123 1 month ago
Google is celebrating Vampire Hunters?
Jack abc123 1 month ago
Artsy Native American Vampire Hunters.
Klaatu 1 month ago
MeTV airs Wild Wild West tomorrow. As a kid, I looked up to Jim and Artemis. Great characters. But HOW could the movie ruin the great TV show? Just so sad🥵
PARANORMA Klaatu 1 month ago
OMG yes.. True of virtually every recent remake, but that was one of the more egregious.
Drang Klaatu 1 month ago
REALLY disappointed that Brannagh was in that.
CountCurt Klaatu 1 month ago
I was so excited when the movie came out. I went and I was so disappointed and let down.
FKrueger CountCurt 1 month ago
That's how I feel about Renfield
PARANORMA Drang 1 month ago
I still haven't forgiven Branagh for his Poirot.
daleuhlmann 1 month ago
I apologize if anybody else had posted this earlier, but today is Godzilla's 69th birthday!🎂
Klaatu daleuhlmann 1 month ago
Can never get enough Godzilla👍
CountCurt daleuhlmann 1 month ago
I think he is looking darn good for his age. His energy is good, I heard that a Japanese seafood diet is good for you.
DrSerizawa 1 month ago
I DVR'd The Picture of Dorian Gray a couple of weeks ago and just watched it today. Absolutely elegant in execution and amazing that MGM, of all studios, would create the film in 1945. Perhaps the horrors of the previous decade made the exploration of Dorian's depravity more acceptable to a wider audience.
PARANORMA DrSerizawa 1 month ago
So true. An exquisite production, of both period piece and allegory. Recalling "Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird" in this Kerwynated atmosphere, though...
Svenboy DrSerizawa 1 month ago
I recently watched it. It’s a good one. I especially like Angela Lansbury’s singing.
Svenboy 1 month ago
Watched hammer’s versions of the mummy and Dracula today. seen them before. I like them!
PARANORMA 1 month ago
Remember to change your clocks tomorrow night. Nothing Svensters should like better than more darkness, eh.
HoneyBee456 PARANORMA 1 month ago
Thanks. I didn’t realize it was this weekend.
DrSerizawa PARANORMA 1 month ago
Spring forward, Fall back. Of course I tend to fall back around 2 AM anyway.
Drang HoneyBee456 1 month ago
0200 on the first Sunday after Halloween.
We're too far north for the extra hour of daylight to make a significant difference to trick-or-treaters, but that's why they moved it.
daDoctah Drang 1 month ago
And for those of us here in Arizona, it becomes the weekend when we have to reset all the automatic timers for recording shows that come from other places (let's see, that Beatles thing Friday morning will start at 5am instead of 6, and then the following weekend I've got the NPR streaming shows on Saturday morning, plus all the TV shows on the cable news channels but not the network series that reach me via local affiliates, and then there's the stuff from overseas like the BBC where the change was *last* weekend. I daresay the situation is more complicated because I'm in one of the few places that *doesn't* do DST.)
FKrueger daDoctah 1 month ago
Are you not also 1 hour difference in the Sven showing?
daDoctah FKrueger 1 month ago
Starts at 7pm my time year-round, which in the summer means 7pm west coast time but in the winter it's 7pm central.
CountCurt 1 month ago


Is the gateway to the Twilight Zone?

Or

Is it the portal to the Land of the Lost Blog photos?
HoneyBee456 CountCurt 1 month ago
Lol Twilight Zone?
HoneyBee456 1 month ago
Speaking of tarantulas. We used to have a lot of them in Texas and my grandpa was living with us and he would just walk up to them and stomp on it with his big foot. Here he is as a young man in the 1920’s
daDoctah 1 month ago
Anyone see this news story, just in time for tomorrow's movie? There's quite a bit more to the article, such as advice from authorities on how to behave around wildlife and the seasonal mating habits of tarantulas, but I've pasted in the first five sentences below that provide the pertinents....

---

A tarantula crossing a road caused a traffic accident in California's Death Valley National Park that hospitalized one motorist and prompted warnings from park officials.

Two tourists from Switzerland braked sharply when they saw the arachnid walking across state Route 190 east of Towne Pass, a remote area almost 5,000 feet above sea level, on Saturday.

"A 24-year-old Canadian man on a motorcycle then crashed into the back of the Swiss couple’s rented camper van," the National Park Service said in a statement.

An NPS ambulance took him to Desert View Hospital in Pahrump, Nevada.

"The spider walked away unscathed," the NPS statement added.
CountCurt daDoctah 1 month ago
Have they designated a tarantula crossing? They have them for ducks.
HoneyBee456 CountCurt 1 month ago
That’s funny 😄
DrClayton daDoctah 1 month ago
No wonder!
daDoctah DrClayton 1 month ago
What I take away from this article is not that tarantulas are dangerous but the arachnophobic tourists are.

(BTW, at the IMDb, one trivia item says that Kingdom of the Spiders doesn't carry the usual note that no animals were harmed. Shatner in particular said he was bothered by all the spiders that got crushed by cars while filming the movie.)
Aceman2 1 month ago
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems."
-- Rene Descartes
Cartoondave 1 month ago
Happy Friday group I know this may be a little off topic but, did anyone here the new last song by The Beatles called Now and Then it was recorded by John Lennon 45 yrs ago on a cassette tape I think the two remaining Beatles Paul and Ringo did an awesome with it but maybe could've used a little more by the late George Harrison? Any thoughts on this?
Jack Cartoondave 1 month ago
You mean the one with Ghost John and Ghost George? [There, it’s on topic.]

I’ve heard it. I’ll have to give a couple more listens before I make up my mind. Unfortunately, the first version I heard was the long video with Sir Paul going on about the recording process. Giles Martin has already had to correct false impressions given by Paul’s statement re: AI [https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/giles-martin-denies-using-ai-on-the-beatles-now-and-then/].

As I understand it, during the last previous recording sessions with Harrison in 1995—from which “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love” were produced—Paul, George, Ringo, and co-producer Jeff Lynne attempted to put together a version of “Now and Then.” John’s vocals were so deeply buried under the piano on the monaural cassette that they were forced to give up. They did produce some backing tracks, overdubs, with guitar tracks by Harrison. These guitar tracks were used in the newly released recording, as well as some of Harrison’s guitar tracks from earlier sessions with the Beatles, according to Giles Martin. Martin also made use of other previously recorded Beatles material, so every sound on the final recording—except the orchestra—are organic Beatles tracks, and it was all engineered the old way (altho’ the splicing was done electronically and not with razor blades and adhesive tape).

Looking at the personnel list, it looks like Paul kinda went overboard in his contributions. He’s credited for the piano, not John, so I wonder whether the acoustics for John’s piano in the Dakota apartment weren’t good, or John was just messing around on the piano, or there was some other reason.
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Klaatu 1 month ago
Hilarious 🤣🤣
CountCurt 1 month ago
How to make a cat go crazy!
Aceman2 1 month ago
This was one of my posts that was zapped. Nice display of large creatures
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Aceman2 Klaatu 1 month ago
Klaatu - I wonder myself. There is one house that leaves them up all year but the rest take them down. Any chance they are snap together? Or are they foldable to a small size?
Aceman2 TheKodakKid 1 month ago
TKK - I learned quickly, a long time ago, not to provide any reason for a police officer to be unhappy with me. My sons; however, took awhile. One Halloween my oldest son was driving around with friends creating havoc and I got a phone call to come get him. When I arrived at the scene, I immediately recognized 1 of the officers and she recognized me. "Nice to see you again', she said. She had been at my house a week earlier to deal with my other son!
Cartoondave Aceman2 1 month ago
There's a house a few blocks away that had the big skeleton
CountCurt Aceman2 1 month ago
These are very large looking characters. I would not want to be near them near nightfall.
HoneyBee456 1 month ago
CountCurt HoneyBee456 1 month ago
Desi says “Lucy you have some esplaining to do”.
Cartoondave HoneyBee456 1 month ago
I wish Metv could bring I Love Lucy to the late afternoon/early evening lineup Mon-Fri 5-7 EDT
Jack 1 month ago
Submitted for your consideration, jack-o-lanterns previously posted on Halloween:

Two weeks ago, I began excavating two boxes of photographs in the back of a closet, searching for pictures of jack-o-lanterns from past Halloweens. They can’t be too recent because I’ve been using a jack-o-lantern-shaped chimenea since before the pandemic. I apologize for the quality—since I didn’t bracket them, I'm fairly certain I used a disposable camera instead of the SLR. These two are silent horror monsters: the Golem...…and Nosferatu...I did one of la Calavera Catrina in the style of José Guadalupe Posada, but I still haven’t found it. Mebbe next year...
CountCurt Jack 1 month ago
Love your Jack-O-Lanterns. Great choice of subject matter.
Aceman2 Jack 1 month ago
Glad you posted.
Svenboy Jack 1 month ago
Very cool!
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VanGooliac 1 month ago
The cotton you picked was thorny through no fault of your own.
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