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In our recent Jimmy Sangster: The Man From Hammer post , we've mentioned the TV series Jimmy Sangster worked on during his "American Years"... In that list was Kolchak: The Night Stalker (starring Darren McGavin) and the episode Horror In The Heights as he wrote the screenplay for it at the time.

In today's post, we're taking a more detailed look at Kolchak: The Night Stalker in general and the episode Horror In The Heights in particular.

(And we've also added a video-clip with Kolchak's opening intro.)

Enjoy this little trip dowm Memory lane...

Loup Dargent

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 Jimmy Sangster: 
That Kolchak Episode

The Night Stalker

In the 1970s TV series, Carl Kolchak was a Chicago reporter who, episodes after episodes, investigated stories which were definitely out of the ordinary. On a weekly basis, he faced vampires, werewolves, Greek goddesses with a grudge, robots, reptiles, space aliens, Indian spirits and, of course, rakshasas...

Two TV movies were made before the TV series.

The first one, titled The Night Stalker, was co-written by Richard Matheson (from the legendary Twilight Zone) and Jeff Rice (the future Night Stalker TV series creator) and directed by John Llewellyn Moxey.
It was first shown on January 11 1972 and received the success it deserved by being the most highly rated TV movie at the time.

The second one, The Night Strangler, directed by Dan Curtis and penned again by Richard Matheson, was first shown on January 16 1973 and also received a high rating, successfully paving the way for the weekly TV series.

In both TV movies, the role of Kolchak was played by the late Hollywood actor-producer Darren McGavin.

The TV Series Episodes

• The Ripper: written by Rudolph Borchert and directed by Allen Baron.
• The Zombie: story by Zekial Marko, teleplay by David Chase and directed by Alexander Grasshoff.
• They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be... (aka U.F.O.): story by Dennis Clark, teleplay by Rudolph Borchert and directed by Allen Baron.
• The Vampire: written by Bill Stratton, David Chase, Rudolph Borchert and directed by Don Weis.
• The Werewolf: written by David Chase, Paul Playdon and directed by Allen Baron.
• Fire Fall (aka The Doppelganger): written by Bill S Ballinger and directed by Don Weis.
• The Devil's Platform: story by Tim Maschler, teleplay by David Chase, Donn Mullally, Rudolph Borchert, Larry Markes, Norm Liebmann and directed by Allen Baron.
• Bad Medicine: written by L Ford Neale, John Huff and directed by Alex Grasshoff.
• The Spanish Moss Murders: story by Alvin L Friedman, teleplay by David Chase, Alvin L Friedman and directed by Gordon Hessler.
• The Energy Eater: story by Arthur Rowe, teleplay by Arthur Rowe, Rudolph Borchert, Robert Earl and directed by Alexander Grasshoff.
• Horror In The Heights: written by Jimmy Sangster and directed by Michael T Caffey.
• Mr R.I.N.G: written by L Ford Neale, John Huff and directed by Gene Levitt.
• The Primal Scream (aka The Humanoid): written by Bill S Ballinger, David Chase and directed by Robert Scheerer.
• The Trevi Collection: written by Rudolph Borchert and directed by Don Weis.
• Chopper: story by Bob Gale, Robert Zemeckis, teleplay by Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, David Chase, Steve Fisher and directed by Bruce Kessler.
• Demon In Lace: story by Stephen Lord, teleplay by Michael Kozoll, David Chase, Stephen Lord and directed by Don Weis.
• Legacy Of Terror: written by Arthur Rowe and directed by Don McDougall.
• The Knightly Murders: story by Paul Magistretti, teleplay by David Chase, Michael Kozoll and directed by Vincent McEveety.
• The Youth Killer: written by Rudolph Borchert and directed by Don McDougall.
• The Sentry: written by L Ford Neale, John Huff and directed by Seymour Robbie.

An Influential TV Show

'Kolchak really isn't a pure horror show, although it deals with man-killing monsters and creatures every week...
The simple fact is, you can't do a legitimate 'horror show' on network time, as the sponsors don't want to scare people out of their pants. So we decided to titillate, not terrify, to have fun with it.'
Darren McGavin (Carl Kolchak)

While things have kind of changed since the 1970s when it comes to show horror stories on TV, this short lived TV series still has a cult following...

It is also said to have influenced Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files himself...
Which seems to be confirmed by the fact that he casted Darren McGavin in a guest role as retired FBI Special Agent Arthur Dales... The first agent assigned to what became eventually the X-Files Department.

Horror In The Heights

Roosevelt Heights is a Chicago urban slum whose population consists mostly of elderly Jews and reporter Cark Kolchak is given an assignment to cover the poverty there. But, he soon discovers that some weird things are definitely going on in the area... 

Swastikas (not the nazi symbols but the Hindu ones which are believed to keep evil spirits away) are painted everywhere and elderly citizens are found dead, stripped to the bone, apparently by rats.

Kolchak finds an even more sinister reason behind the deaths: a rakshasa, a Hindu shape shifting demon that can entrance its victims by taking the form of the person they trust most.

He consults an elderly rakshasa hunter (Mr Singh, the owner of a newly opened Indian restaurant in the area) who entrusts him with the only thing that can kill the rakshasa: crossbow bolts blessed by a priest of Brahma.

Mr Singh is a rakshasa slayer who has spent his life tracking and killing them wherever they appear. But, unfortunately, he is now too old and weak so the rakshasas do not fear him anymore.

'I am looking for someone to carry on my work. Somebody courageous, strong of heart and pure in spirit. Perhaps you?'
Singh looks at Kolchak for a minute and says 'Perhaps not.'

But, as there is obviously nobody else around fitting the job description, Carl Kolchak has to be the chosen one after all.
 

However, to slay the demon, Kolchak will have to shoot whoever it is that he trusts the most, and pray that it is the rakshasa and not the real person when he does.

The story, written by British born Jimmy Sangster, who has also penned many of the Hammer Studio's best horror stories, gave the audience an unusual and terrifying monster from a mythology most western viewers were not familiar with and - it worked.

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Kolchak: The Night Stalker 
(Opening Intro)

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Tags: Kolchak The Night Stalker Jimmy Sangster
Horror In The Heights Darren McGavin Horror

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Cover of The Mummy

"Known the world over as 'The Studio that Dripped Blood', Hammer was the most successful British film production company ever, in terms of both output and box-office. Though their massive catalogue of films incorporated all manner of genres, it was for one particular type of film that they are best-remembered - horror."

Hammer Horror - h2g2 Edited Guide

In today's post, we have a look at one of those brilliant people who helped making Hammer so famous: Jimmy Sangster, Master of Horror.

If you're too young to remember the movies mentioned here, don't worry: you'll still be able to know what we're talking about as we've added the trailers for some of them at the end of the article.

If you are old enough to remember those movies then, hopefully, watching the trailers will be a nice trip down Memory Lane.

Enjoy...

Loup Dargent

Jimmy Sangster: 

The Man From Hammer

Image via Wikipedia

The Hammer Years

Though Jimmy Sangster has done other things since his involvement in the British horror movies making business, he is still continually remembered as one of the men (if not the man) behind the best horror movies made by the famous Hammer Studios. Even so he left for the USA in the 1970s...

His 'Hammer years' as a scriptwriter, assistant director, production manager, producer and director gave us a string of 'classic' horror films that definitely helped put Hammer on the horror films making map.

Among them are:

• X The Unknown (1956): Script by Jimmy Sangster, directed by Leslie Norman and starring Dean Jagger, Edward Chapman, Leo McKern and William Lucas.
• The Curse of Frankenstein (1957): Script by Jimmy Sangster (from the novel by Mary Shelley), directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court and Robert Urquhart.
• Dracula (1958): Script by Jimmy Sangster (from the novel by Bram Stoker), directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling and Carol Marsh.
• The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958): Script by Jimmy Sangster (additional dialogue by H Hurford Janes), directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, Francis Matthews and Eunice Gayson.
• The Mummy (1959): Script by Jimmy Sangster (from the original screenplay by John L Balderston), directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Yvonne Furneaux.
• The Brides of Dracula (1960): Script by Jimmy Sangster, Peter Bryan and Edward Percy, directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, David Peel, Marita Hunt, Yvonne Monlaur and Freda Jackson.
• Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966): Script by John Sansom (From an idea by Anthony Hinds), directed by Terence Fisher and starring Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Andrew Keir, Francis Matthews, Suzan Farmer, Charles Tingwell, Thorley Walters and Philip Latham (John Sansom was Jimmy Sangster's pseudonym for this movie, as well as for Traitor's Gate and Face of a Stranger).
• The Horror of Frankenstein (1970): Script by Jimmy Sangster and Jeremy Burnham, directed by Jimmy Sangster and starring Ralph Bates, Kate O'Mara, Veronica Carlson and Dennis Price.
• Lust for a Vampire (1971): Script by Tudor Gates (from the story Carmilla by J Sheridan Le Fanu), directed by Jimmy Sangster and starring Barbara Jefford, Ralph Bates, Suzannah Leigh, Yutte Stensgaard and Michael Johnson.

Not bad at all for someone who began his film career at the studios as third assistant director...

It's Just A Craft

Jimmy Sangster still keeps dismissing the 'Master of Horror' title given to him by many fans though. According to him, if he had been asked to write scripts for the Carry On films instead, that what he would have done...

Fine, but, like for the comedy ones, writing by numbers is not enough for horror movies to be successful and Jimmy Sangster has definitely, by adding his own style (even if it was in small dose at times), contributed greatly to the success of the horror films he worked on.

The Movies That (Allegedly) Didn't Make It

(Source: Horror-Wood Webzine)

Sadly, and through no fault of his own, four of the movies penned by Jimmy Sangster for Hammer had to be eventually shelved:

• The Revenge Of Dracula (1959): No Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) in this one, as the emphasis was going to be on Dracula, but the refusal from Christopher Lee to play the Prince of Darkness again halted the production and The Brides of Dracula was made instead...
• The Secret Of Frankenstein (1960): Unfortunately shelved due to a certain American pharmaceutical company having threatened to sue and it resulted in a highly potential 'no-no' from the American distributors. A shame really, as it was a very promising horror movie with an innovative twist and Peter Cushing was in it...
• Scourge Of The Vampires (1961): Written after The Brides Of Dracula, it was going to have Christopher Lee back as Dracula. It didn't work out as planned though as Jimmy Sangster's attempt to give Lee and Peel both equal time didn't pleased either of them...
• The Edge Of Midnight (1969): An interesting plot where Dr Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) and his creature fight Dracula (Christopher Lee) and the Werewolf (Oliver Reed). Unfortunately, it seems that Cushing, Lee and Reed didn't take it seriously enough...

The American Years

Just after his productive 'Hammer Years', Jimmy Sangster left for the USA and soon had a quite productive time as well writing for popular American TV series such as:

'McCloud' (starring Dennis Weaver)

'A Deputy Marshal is sent to the 21st Precinct of the NYPD to study local police methods...'

• A Cowboy In Paradise (1974): Chief Clifford goes to Hawaii for a police conference but finds himself set up on a murder charge...
  

• The Concrete Jungle Caper (1974): A look-alike drug dealer plus an international chase get McCloud in prison...
  

'The Six Million Dollar Man' (starring Lee Majors)

'Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive... Gentlemen, we can rebuild him... We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.'

• Doomsday, And Counting (1974): Steve Austin helps a Russian cosmonaut friend rescuing his fiancée from a doomsday device...
  

'Ironside' (starring Raymond Burr)

'A single bullet was all that was needed to confine Robert T Ironside to a wheelchair for life and end his career as Chief of Detectives.

He went back to work though, as a consultant to the police department...'

• Raise The Devil - part one and two (1974): A woman is killed in a locked room and her daughter who confesses to the murder is apparently possessed by the spirit of her long-dead younger brother... 
  A psychiatrist turns out to be a psychopath with a passion for brainwashing and the Chief is programmed to kill Ironside...
  

• The Visiting Fireman (1974): A British police inspector assists Ironside with an awkward investigation...
  

'Kolchak: The Night Stalker' (starring Darren McGavin)

'A Chicago reporter investigates the paranormal...

The TV series that influenced the X-Files big time...'

• Horror In The Heights (1974): Elderly citizens are found dead: stripped to the bone, apparently by rats. 
  Kolchak discovers that a rakshasa (a Hindu demon) is behind those deaths... 
  

(More details regarding Kolchak and this episode are now available in our post Jimmy Sangster: That Kolchak Episode)

'Wonder Woman' (starring Linda Carter)

'American war hero Steve Trevor is downed over the Bermuda Triangle and lands on "Paradise Island", home of the Amazons. Wonder Woman leaves the island to go with him to America and fight the Nazi threat...'

• The Feminine Mystique - part one and two (1976): A two-part espionage tale in which the Nazis kidnap Wonder Woman's sister and capture Paradise Island...
  

• Wonder Woman In Hollywood (1977):  Wonder Woman goes to Hollywood...
  

He also worked as a script editor for two other series including 'Moving On', a TV show for which he penned 18 of its 22 episodes.

Though writing for these shows meant that he had to follow the approved formulas and could not be too creative in his work, it was financially worth it: he was getting a regular wage on top of being paid for every script he wrote.

Read All About It

'Who better to write about Jimmy Sangster's life and career than Jimmy Sangster himself?'

We could write pages after pages about him and his work as a scriptwriter, assistant director, production manager, producer and director as well as a writer but still never really manage to do the 'Man From Hammer' and his talents justice.

Fortunately for us, he did eventually write his autobiography...

It is titled 'Do You Want It Good Or Tuesday?', published by Midnight Marquee Press in 1997, and is an amusing and witty account of his life's journey from Hammer to Hollywood.

Definitely worth checking it at your local library.

Hammer Horror Movies Trailers

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Tags: Jimmy Sangster Dracula
Hammer Vampire

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When asked where vampires can be found,
most people usuallly answer Transilvania,
London, Sunnydale or, even, Sunningdale...

Well, that's probably because they
haven't read today's post yet.

Alan Moore, our Guest Writer for the day,

is taking us to Whitby, a Yorkshire town

that is rumoured to have been one of the

lurking places of the Prince of Darkness,

Count Dracula, himself...

Now, that's a post with a bite.

Get the holy water and garlic ready

and enjoy the visit...


Loup Dargent

We've also added a Youtube video that 
fits this post's topic perfectly. It's untitled "Whitby: 
Ghosts and Mysteries" and can be found right 
underneath Alan Moore's article... Great stuff!

St Hilda's Abbey (via THE WHITBY GOTHS )

Whitby's History -
Stranger Than
Fiction

Alan Moore



St Hilda's Abbey, Whitby

Even as you bask in the sun on Whitby's sandy
beaches, you cannot fail to be aware of the imposing
and slightly sinister presence of the ruined Abbey,
high on the East Cliff.


Situated on the eastern edge of Whitby, the Abbey
is accessed by climbing the 199 stone steps that lead
from the end of Church Street. These steps were
originally wooden, and were built to allow coffin-bearers
to reach the church. To this day there are coffin rests
and seats along the stairs to allow weary limbs to
rest. The present-day Abbey ruins date back to 1078,
when the Normans built a Benedictine Priory on the site,
replacing the ruins of the original monastery which was
sacked by Vikings in 867.


The Abbey is steeped in history, both religious and otherwise -
the nearby graveyard of St Mary's Church is reputed to have
been the haunt of Count Dracula, and the legend that has built
up around this story has led to Whitby becoming a popular
destination for gothic enthusiasts, particularly during the
biannual gothic music weekends.


The monastery was originally home to both nuns and monks,
amongst whose number was Caedmon, reputed to be the first
English poet and the father of sacred song. He was recruited to
the abbey at Streoneshalh, as Whitby was then known, by Saint
Hilda herself after she had heard him sing. Today, the
significance of Caedmon's work is recognised with a large and
ornately decorated gothic cross in the graveyard of St Mary's
Church.


The abbey's importance as a regional centre became apparent
when the Synod of Whitby was held there in 664, but its
political power was to be fairly short-lived as in 867 Vikings
landed in the area and ransacked the monastery. At the time,
Danish settlements were spreading along the east coast of
England, and it is thought that the Danes went on to settle in
Whitby for some years after their arrival in 867.


The abbey was re-founded as a Benedictine Priory around 1078,
in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest. Again, it was home to
both nuns and monks, and remained on the site for nearly 500
years, until the brutal policies of King Henry VIII forced its
final closure and partial destruction as part of the Dissolution
of the Monasteries in 1539.


St Hilda's Abbey was then allowed to fall into disrepair,
inadvertently becoming a source of stone for local residents,
but today the remains are administered and maintained by
English Heritage, and the unmistakeable profile of the abbey's
ruins against the skyline is visible from many miles away when
driving towards Whitby.


St Mary's Church, Whitby

Dating from 1110, St Mary's Church was originally built to
provide a place of worship for the workers serving the Abbey,
who were not allowed to worship within the Abbey itself.
Although it has been extended several times, the original
church still remains and is still the parish church of
Whitby today.


Inside St Mary's Church, there are several notable design
features - including a triple-decker pulpit, built to ensure
the whole congregation could hear the sermon being read.
Other notable features include the original 17th century
box pews, which were originally hired by families for their
exclusive use, and the extraordinary Cholmley pew, built
in front of the chancel arch for this leading family so that
they could have an unimpeded view of the service and
the congregation.


The Church also has an unusual upper gallery and still
has an original Elizabethan altar table.


St Mary's graveyard is well known to fans of
Bram Stoker as the lurking place of Count Dracula,
and at night the looming ruins of the nearby Abbey
do indeed add a sinister and mysterious aspect to the
area, leading one to think that fact could indeed be
stranger than fiction.



_____________


About The Author:
Alan Moore invites you to join his free email
newsletter, The Whitby Bite where you can

learn more about the real Dracula and
his connection to Whitby Yorkshire's

unique vampire town.

(via: Dracula in Whitby)

Whitby: Ghosts and Mysteries

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Tags: Whitby Dracula
Yorkshire Vampire

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image via fumier.com

There are times in our lives when we have a burning desire to get even with some rather annoying people...

It could be because of things they've said about us, or to us.

Or, they have been a pain at work (they might even be our boss).

Or, their moronic political views have irritated us on many occasions (like, for example, Nick Griffin and his BNP croonies).

Image by spinneyhead via Flickr

So, what do we do to get even with them?

Apart from throwing eggs (or shoes) at them, that is.

image via gardian.co.uk

Well, a French website, fumier.com, has a smelly but quite humourous solution: thanks to its founder, Roger Combotte, we now can send them some compost by post.

And it's good sh*t too...

I mean it's 100% natural and all.

image via fumier.com

What they do is send some compost in a nicely designed box to the person of your choice... No questions asked.

It's not free but, at least, it's more legal than throwing eggs. 

When I read about it in Le Point, I thought it was a great idea and I was wondering when they would offer that service to other European countries... I was nicely surprised when I found out that they do already offer that service to other countries in Europe as well as Canada.

Brilliant! What's Nick Griffin's address again? 

[As a bonus, the word "fumier" (printed on the box) is also an insult in French..]

Ah yes, I do love the (not so) sweet smell of revenge...

Loup Dargent

Tags: Fumier France
Nick Griffin Internet