The Night Stalker and Dead of Night on Svengoolie

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I see where The Night Stalker will be on Svengoolie again tonight. And Dead of Night, an anthology horror movie DC did in 1977, is supposed to be on next Saturday night. Check your local MeTV listings.

I know I saw Dead of Night back in the day, particularly because I loved Joan Hackett and I never missed anything she did. But the funny thing is I don't remember anything about any of the three stories. Hopefully it will be on next Saturday (sometimes what Svengoolie shows changes without warning) so I can see if anything comes back to me as I watch...

[Uncle Roger]

I also watched Dead of Night back in the day. It's definitely a mixed bag. The first story features Ed Begley, Jr., who has a time traveling car. (Probably more efficient than a staircase in time.) It takes a long time to get started and the twist isn't anything special. Whimsical but not at all scary. The second tale about a woman who seems to be dying of a vampire bite is somewhat better but that is largely due to the performances of Louise Sorel and especially Patrick Macnee. The third story is Bobby, the one with Joan Hackett. Hackett's young son recently died and the guilt ridden mom attempts an occult ritual to resurrect him. Bobby is played by Lee Harcourt Montgomery, of Ben and Burnt Offerings. Harcourt and Hackett play cat and mouse until the final twist. I won't spoil it, though you'll probably figure it out before Hackett does.
DC must have liked Bobby, as he remade it with Lysette Anthony in Trilogy of Terror II.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Oh, Louise Sorel is also in it - I didn't realize that. She's another actress whose work I try not to miss. It's funny when it comes to her, though. I know I saw a lot of the stuff she did in the '60s, like her Star Trek ep, and the '70s, like her Night Gallery, but I didn't really become a big fan of her until the '80s when she played Augusta Lockridge on the soap Santa Barbara, of which I was a huge fan. Who knows, maybe I had to be older to really appreciate her. But I have caught a lot of the myriad of other guest appearances she made on numerous shows and I do wonder why she didn't click with me because she's so good in them.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I just finished watching Dead of Night and I can honestly say I didn't remember even one second of any of the stories. Maybe I didn't see it back in the day. I find that hard to believe because I always watched DC's made-for-TV movies. But who knows, maybe I had to go somewhere the night it aired. And that was back before VCRs weren't widely in use.

Interestingly, there was not only a piece of music from NoDS used, but one from the '91 DS. Well, considering the '91 DS didn't come around until 14 years later, I should say that a piece of music in Dead of Night was also used in the '91 DS (the stinger in the pilot that played when Liz opened the box in Vicki's room and discovered David had left Vicki a dead rat).

And sadly, it wasn't Louise Sorel who played the wife in the second story, it was Anjanette Comer. Though there was nothing sad about her performance because she was quite good.