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Johnny Depp is going to play Kolchak: The Night Stalker in an upcoming movie. Haven't been able to glean much info, but for obvious reasons I am looking forward to seeing my hero on the Big Screen!

Considering it was Night Stalker that sparked the imagination of Chris Carter to come up with the X-Files, It's about time Carl Kolchak be given his day on the big screen.

Trivia fact: In the book by Jeff Rice, Carl's real name was Karel Kolchak. He was of Romanian descent.

Too bad Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland couldn't live to see it.

NeverMore wrote:
Sorry... you simply can't beat the original.

Back in 1996 they came out with the original series on VHS and I grabbed them up so fast it would make your head spin.

Did the same when they came out in DVD. The original Night Stalker made for TV movie came out January 11, 1972. I was 12 years old and have seen it at least 100 times since then. It will ALWAYS be my personal all-time-favorite-monster movie.

But you REALLY need to read the book by Jeff Rice that the movie was based on too, if you consider yourself a TRUE Night Stalker fan. Easy read and well worth the time invested.

Pumpkin_Man wrote: I liked Jonny Depp's version of Barnabas Collins. I wonder how he will do with Kolchak the Night Stalker. That should be an interesting movie.

Mike

I'm a big Johnny Depp fan and am hoping the same thing!

I was in college & grad school in the '70s, so I didn't see a lot of TV and never saw Night Stalker. This sounds quite intriguing to me. I love Johnny Depp, too. His take on Dark Shadows for sure wasn't in the same tone as the original, but I also enjoyed it for what it was.

Thanks for the tip!

I liked the take Johnny Depp did with Dark Shadows. It was meant to be funny and if you grew up in the 70s like I did, it was a trip down memory lane.

A few years back Ben Stiller and Own Wilson did their spoof on Starsky & Hutch. I liked it for the same reason I liked Johnny spoofing Dark Shadows.

There was a lot of campiness in the original TV series of the Night Stalker. You never really were supposed to take that seriously. I'm kind of hoping for this Night Stalker having a humorous tilt to it.

Considering what a great Job Johnny did as Hunter S. Thompson, its a good bet he can play the gonzo type of reporter Kolchak was too.

It will be almost impossible to replace Darren McGavin in the role.

You can't replace Darren Mcgavin in the role, but I think Johnny will handle the role with proper reverence, and originality.

Pumpkin_Man wrote: Actualy I think a movie like this would right up Johnny Depp's aly, only I would cast him in the role of one of the monsters Kolchak meets up with, and not Kolchak himself.

Mike

That's not a bad idea.

My DVD version of Kolchak is much better looking than my VHS version, but for some reason they cut out the dialogue where Kolchak is sitting by the pool and over the loud speaker he is asked to pick up the courtesy phone.

In the VHS version you hear the whole thing. But in the DVD version you see Kolchak just sitting there. Then you see him look around and get up and walk to the courtesy phone, pick it up and say "Kolchak?"

Any of y'all have similar problems with your movies?