31 Nights of Halloween - Night 21: Movie Night 2: Things That Go Bumpas in the Night

Ah yes, we meet again on this winding path to Halloween, each night-silent step finding us in yet another unexpected place. A hallmark of horror is the unexpected. Who could have thought the tamed video wasteland of television during the tyranny of the Big 3 networks could produce feelings of terror and dread? Besides the existential terror and dread of the unending cycle of quarter-hour commercial breaks, that is. But, indeed, such terror was thrust straight into the brain of 1972 via a minor horror classic that would go on to loom large in the nightmares of little kids and babysitters throughout the 1970s. Here we find a tale of a bulwark against evil, clad in a rumpled seersucker suit and armed with the latest in cassette tape recording technology, throwing back an encroaching evil still cold from the grave. But to view it, you don't have to risk your neck. Just sacrifice your eyeballs - and your sanity! - to the ABC Movie of the Week, The Night Stalker.

Oh, and stick around for the nifty Southwest Airlines commercial afterward.