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

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!

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!