Though it only aired a short time, it was a very influential series amongst many horror fans, including the creators of the X-Files.
Kolchak, the Night Stalker stemmed from two television movies - The Night Stalker, about a vampire in Las Vegas, and The Night Strangler.
For the purpose of this site, let's talk about The Night Strangler (1973). In it, Kolchak is trying to solve the mystery of a 100-year-old alchemist who is killing women for their blood. The blood, taken at a certain time, is key to his potion which gives him immortality.
In movies like this where women are being murdered, it's usually a focus on young women at the prime of their life, such as stripper Charisma Beauty (played by Nina Wayne.)
What makes Charisma apropo to this site is the fact she is in a relationship with a woman named Wilma Krankheimer (portrayed by Virginia Peters).
Charisma and Wilma seem to have a stereotypical butch/femme relationship going. A good look at their relationship is seen here from 3:00 - 5:00:
Now this could be seen as insulting, but I disagree. Unfortunately, Charisma is murdered in front of Wilma in an awful scene. While I hated this, I did like the fact that the writers showed a degree of sensitivity by playing Wilma's shock and sadness at Charisma's death.
Also, one small thing I liked - the heroine of the movie, Kolchak's girlfriend (potrayed by Jo Ann Pflug) joins Kolchak in his pursuit of the killer because she is angry and distraught at Charisma's death.
So while a lot can be said about the so-called stereotypical relationship between Charisma and Wilma, the writers of The Night Strangler gets major kudos for the way they treated the relationship.
Past Know Your LGBT History postings
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I am so surprised to find out that Kolchak was only on one season! It seems like it was on TV for the longest time when I was a kid. I actually went to IMDB because I thought you must be mistaken, but no, you're not!
ReplyDeleteI do remember liking the show. I was also a big fan of Dark Shadows, Rod Serling's Night Gallery, and Tales From The Darkside. This was a fun show in a similar spirit, and I thought Darrin McGavin's character was really entertaining.