The Norliss Tapes (1973)

Dan Curtis attempts another “Night Stalker” with Roy Thinnes

A writer in the greater San Francisco area (Thinnes) is assigned to investigate supposedly supernatural happenings, which leads him to the case of a widow in Monterey (Angie Dickinson) who claims she was attacked by her deceased artist husband (Nick Dimitri). Don Porter plays his publisher and Claude Akins a skeptical sheriff.

A television production, "The Norliss Tapes" (1973) combines Noir fiction with a spooky story and is very similar to a few other Dan Curtis productions of the early 70s: “The Night Stalker” (1972), “The Night Strangler” (1973) and “Scream of the Wolf” (1974).

The story goes that Curtis was aiming for a trilogy of movies with Darrin McGavin as paranormal reporter Carl Kolchak, but McGavin wanted to turn the character into a TV series with him producing, which left Curtis out in the cold. So Dan took his production team and created this flick and “Scream of the Wolf” with Peter Graves as the protagonist, both wannabe pilots that failed to morph into series.

This one’s not as compelling as those other three movies, but it’s not far off and has its points of interest, such as the formidable Thinnes as the grim protagonist and the constant awe-inspiring vistas of the north-central California coast, as well as the presence of Dickinson and the stunning Michele Carey on the feminine front, not to mention Vonetta McGee.

The set-up is a little convoluted and so it takes a while for the mysterious story to become absorbing. But the second half is compelling enough and delivers the goods with an element that goes beyond clichéd vampirism. Speaking of which, you’d think Lou Ferrigno shows up in red clay but, no, it’s someone else.

The film runs 1 hour, 12 minutes, and was shot in San Francisco, Carmel/Big Sur, West Hollywood (the Cort Estate) and Universal Studios.

GRADE: B-