>>REVIEWS
NIGHT STALKER
Thursday
ABC
SUPERNATURAL
Monday
Citytv
ABC, I don’t understand. You’re a network that gets the rights to remake a ’70s cult-hit TV show and then you go and make something with almost none of the flavour and wit of the original. Huh?
The program I speak of is Night Stalker starring Stuart Townsend (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Gabrielle Union (Bad Boys II). In reality, the series should be called X-Files 2, since it’s more of a rehash of the exploits of FBI agents Mulder and Scully than an update of the original Night Stalker starring Darren McGavin (A Christmas Story).
On the old series, McGavin played Cal Kolchak, a tenacious and abrasive newspaper writer who stumbled onto a new supernatural menace in each episode. While it was never explained why vampires, werewolves and even a Spanish moss monster always conventionally landed in the lap of the only reporter loony enough to believe in them, the show was full of irresistible mind-candy charm.
The new incarnation of Night Stalker lacks the original’s humour and heart. Townsend’s Kolchak is a seriously dour dude who finds supernatural explanations for every unsolved murder that comes down the pike. His crime reporter partner, Perri Reed, played by Union, is always there to initially doubt his theories. A driven male paranormal believer teamed with a female skeptic investigating cases where the spooky hypothesis guy is always right. Yep, they are making X-Files all over again, but without the trademark Mulder and Scully chemistry and the fresh storytelling style. No wonder this series is currently sucking in the ratings.
Oh and here’s an idea: if you’re going to call a show Night Stalker, you’d better have some freaking monsters for your reluctant hero to stalk! The two episodes I’ve seen have featured nary a bloodsucker, headless biker, soul-draining succubus or any of the other B-movie-type baddies so popular on the original show.
Where are the monsters, you ask? Well, they are on a show called Supernatural, a series more Night Stalker than ABC’s new Night Stalker. Supernatural tells the tale of Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) Winchester. They are brothers who carry on a long family tradition as paranormal ass-kickers. In a recently aired episode, the boys tracked an otherworldly doppelgänger that took on the guise of many different people to commit murder. In one scene this devilish shape-shifter abandoned the appearance of Dean Winchester by tearing off great gobs of flesh and tossing them to the floor. Gross-out scenes like that announce that Supernatural fits the bill in my pre-Halloween search for some truly fun horror television.
The series, airing in our area on Citytv, Space and the WB, is far from a perfect show. Padalecki’s Sam, the more uptight of the Winchester siblings, often brings as much emotion to his role as your average wax mannequin, but hey, when has crowd-pleasing horror ever been about the performances? It’s about creepy special effects, the occasional unexpected jolt and malevolent entities guaranteed to scare the living crap out of your average preteen. And on those levels Supernatural delivers. The blood-streaming-from-her-eyes urban legend spook Bloody Mary and a werewolf like Wendigo are two of the other superbly satisfying monsters that have already shown up on this series. Like a young boy excitedly sliding into a theatre seat for a long-ago horror-feature matinee, I can’t wait to see what unearthly baddie Supernatural can throw at us next.
More Spooky TV
Non-dramatic series can deliver chills as well, as these examples demonstrate
· Dead Tenants (TLC) – A team of psychics, mediums and other real-life ghost busters uncover and exorcize spirits in residential settings. Expect lots of unattractive people gasping and grimacing violently as they channel spirits reluctant to cross over to the other side. Must-see TV!
· Psychic Witness (TLC) – Chilling murder-scene re-enactments drive this compelling look at psychics who work with law enforcement officials to solve modern-day crimes. It’s nice to see professional psychics finally doing something more productive than hitting the daytime talk-show circuit to predict whether or not Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will stay together.
· Creepy Canada (OLN) – The Wilno (Ontario) Vampire and the Bell Island (Newfoundland) Hag are just two of the made-in-Canada beasties that can be found on a series that also includes many ghost stories. And you thought Sasquatch was the only monster we have to brag about. |
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