Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

soulexpress Take a series with fine character actors playing quirky, interesting roles, inject it with an equal mix of horror and humor, and you have the original 1974 "Night Stalker" series. Exclude everything that made the original show a cult classic, and you have the flaccid, boring "X Files" clone that was the 2005 reboot.In the original series, Carl Kolchak was a dumpy, cynical middle-aged man whose determination to uncover the facts got him into trouble and often made for hilariously awkward situations. In the new series, Kolchak is young, handsome, steely-eyed, and morose. It ruins the character, transforming Kolchak into something as vapid and generic as a male fashion model.In the original series, Kolchak and his editor, Tony Vincenzo, were each about 50 years old and maintained an antagonistic friendship based on mutual (if grudging) respect. In the new show, Vincenzo was twice Kolchak's age, which recast their relationship as master and apprentice. That doesn't work any better than Kolchak as Brooding Millennial.In the original series, Kolchak worked alone. In the reboot, he had two partners, neither of whom was any more interesting a character than Carl himself.In the original series, Kolchak's foils included a vampire, a werewolf, a zombie, an invisible space alien, a headless biker, a swamp monster, and even the original Jack the Ripper. Some of the monsters were silly-looking, but that somehow added to the show's appeal. In the reboot, Kolchak's foils are frequently human or just amorphous. And like the show it emulates, there's a big, bad conspiracy going on. God forbid a 21st-century horror series not have an ongoing storyline!Thankfully, this pathetic drivel went off the air after a mere six episodes (ten were produced). The original series made it to 20.

millerman378 The Sci-fi channel is currently running an NS marathon. WHat exactly is the point? One only has to watch the opening five minute of the first installment to realize what an unmitigated FARCE the whole thing is. The original series earned it's richly deserved cult status by blending equal parts humor and horror, and the UPDATED series unfortunately tosses this concept onto the scrap heap. The other critical element that is missing is a little thing called CONFLICT. This new Kolchak has a support system resembling a CHEERING SECTION. His new-age editor is the genteel, paternal sort and any resemblance to the previous series incarnate is virtually impossible to detect. And the idea of partnering him with some attractive but bland eye-candy, as well as a sycophantic toady, is just too laughable for words. Frank Spoonitz deserves the lion's share of blame for this fiasco. He SO desperately wanted to put his own stamp on this series that he forgot to make suspenseful or funny or scary or provocative or just plain mildly interesting. Calling David Chase.

lonewolfdagaz It hooked me. I had to watch more and when I did, I was glad I did. I confess that the first time I watched, it was purely out of curiosity. Having grown up with the original show, I could not resist the nostalgic draw of hearing it was back and seeing what they had done with it. I just had to see it. I was one of the few that appreciated the homage to the original character by having him digitally inserted into the show at one point and even felt a bit of pride that they went to such trouble to do so. I found myself liking the show because of such things almost instantly.I then was impressed by the show on its own merit very quickly. It departed from the original format without question, but made very clear it was worthy of watching. Not only was it interesting and had the classic "neat spooky stuff", but it had plot twists and storyline that kept you watching. It also had enough intelligence in the writing that you didn't feel like it was campy and childish. In a time when shows like CSI are top billing, this kind of show was ranking right up there with writing that was suspenseful and well thought out. It kept you guessing. In this day, when an audience can say, "Wow, I didn't see that one coming," you know you have done well.Studio executives don't want to hear this kind of praise though. It is nice, but it doesn't pad the bottom line. Fine, here is something for their pockets to listen to then: Right now people are hungry for being scared. They want things that are spooky and go bump in the night. We watch movies like SAW 5 and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 7 and have a morbid fascination with CSI shows like there is no stopping us. You have a your foot in the door with a sure thing here. The old name got you in the door, so don't let this go. Make it better than ever. Figure out where to take it with the writers for another couple of seasons and run with it and you'll make tons of cash. People want this. Scare them and not in a Buffy kind of way. Supernatural is going there too, but in a different way. You have an almost X-files approach here and you should exploit it to the fullest. People want to be scared and have a fixation on death and love being afraid. They also need to know that there are some people out there who are just as afraid as the rest of us, but still are willing to risk it all to save the world, so bring on the dark heroes. You have Dirty Harry with a camera and a pen chasing monsters and half of the ghosts are in his own closet. This is good stuff and as close as you can expect to get to the flavor of the original without feeling like it is a rip-off. The only thing you risk is writer burn out as they continue to reach for bigger and better things each week, but since when did that ever stop a series? You should be good for at least another season or two and by then maybe even a movie or two. Come on, think big and go for the money while spoiling us with what we want...more Night Stalker.

viciouslollipop I just recently watched the box set and enjoyed it very much. If you approach it from the angle that this is a different show(but with the same name as the old show-which I enjoyed)you can enjoy it on it's own merits. There was some unexplained and "huh?" type stuff going on, but getting canceled after 6 episodes will do that. I liked the leads, and there were spots of humor in the show(as dark as it was)if you were paying attention. Network TV is inane simply for the fact that they don't give us viewers a chance to get into shows anymore...remember when a show came on every week at the same time and was there for at least a year(even if it sucked)? I had no clue this show had been canceled until I saw the box set of the "complete series"...heck, I never even got a chance to watch it on the telly. Oh well, enough railing against the system...a nice little show that could have been something if given a chance.