pretty decent movie, i still say the nightstalker was much better. nightstalker's success spawned this movie, they even used the same music. claude akins is playing an "unbelieving" lawman, and kolchak was a journalist while norliss is a writer. i know it seems like im bashing, but i enjoyed "the norliss tapes" enough to recommend it.
shareI have to admit that I think "The Norliss Tapes" is a worthy companion feature to "The Night Stalker." I much appreciated the fine acting from a solid cast, the creepy, mysterious and refreshingly serious tone, the genuinely startling and shockingly brutal moments of violence, and the thrilling fiery conclusion with that freaky devil guy. I recently rewatched the nifty Anchor Bay DVD for this film and it held up quite well on a second viewing.
"Warren Oates died for our sins"
I only recently discovered The Norliss Tapes, and my only disappointment was that it didn't get developed as a series. The tone is just right, the goings-on sufficiently mysterious that you don't know quite what's going on, even though you think you do, and the acting is, especially for television, refreshingly subdued. Making teevee movies, actors rarely have the time to put into finding the nuances of their characters, and so preformances can come off a little big - but that's not a problem here.
Okay - I do have another gripe. Why was Cort's face blue, for cryin' out loud?!? Right, I know he's supposed to look dead, bnut is ihs face the only part of him that died? Yeesh!
Well, that's off my chest now.
Both Norliss... and The Nightstalker were produced by Dan Curtis, God bless him, so the similarities should be no surprise. I think the latter succeeded not so much because it was better, but had a more grounded character. By grounded, I mean... well, what do I mean? Darren McGavin was a wonderful actor and really brought Carl Kolchak to life, but there still seems to be a bit less dimension to the character than there is in David Norliss. And he always looked the same - as though Kolchak had only one suit, one tie, one hat, one shirt, one pair of shoes, etc.
Anyway, I love 'em both - I just wish we could have seen a bit more of Norliss...
AMEN ! HE ALSO HAD A COOL 427 OR 454 VETTE ........
shareCort was the walking dead ! that's why he was blue, That made him all the more creepy when light hit his face . Absolutely terrifying and almost no showing of blood other than when Norliss is making the Blood circle . Dan Curtis was a genius !
shareI have theorized that Dan Curtis made The Norliss Tapes along with The Night Stalker at about the same time, hoping one of the movies would be picked up as a series, but knowing both probably would not...meaning he was giving the powers that be a choice, knowing they would only choose one to devlop, and when they made their choice it was The Night Stalker. Boy oh boy THAT movie gave me major nightmares, while The Norliss Tapes did not. Still I find the reanimated Cort absolutely horrifying, and the few moments he appears in the film make it worthwhile...we even get to see him in a moment of weakness, when he allows his wife to escape and there is a tear running down his face. Great stuff!!!!
shareJust saw this yesterday,and liked it---I enjoyed the mystery aspect, and I think one of the reasons it didn't get picked up for a series was that the Norliss character simply wasn't as dynamic and charismatic a character as THE NIGHT STALKER'S Kolchak--flat out, plus both NS movies had already been out. (( did like Roy Thinnes' previous series, THE INVADERS, which also had its own genuinely creepy moments.) That said, I do like the framework of the story and how it's treated, the acting was excellent (something you could take for granted in TV movies back then) plus great-looking location shooting, and it did have its genuinely creepy moments, on top of that. It's just a good reminder of how good TV movies used to be in general,before the age of tabloid & reality shows pretty much pushed them off the airwaves. Too bad they couldn't wrapped up the ending better than they did,though---very well put-together flick,though.
Still worth seeing for me because as a child,I used to like anything made by Dan Curtis,especially if it was a horror film, because that was a guarantee that it was going to be good/worth watching anytime. And,yeah, that vampire in the NIGHT STALKER was scary and violent as hell--I don't blame you for having nightmares---I felt the same way about SALEM'S LOT when I was little---once I saw that scene with the floating vampire boy, I could barely watch the rest of the series, because that scared the hell out of me,too!
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