This was horror exponent Curtis' follow-up to the popular made-for-TV genre efforts THE NIGHT STALKER (1971) and THE NIGHT STRANGLER (1972), featuring Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, but with a new protagonist in Roy Thinnes' David Norliss. The overall style (down to the intermittent narration) and supernatural theme involved are remarkably similar though the San Francisco-based writer hero in this case is much more somber than the wisecracking but dogged reporter from Chicago. These two elements actually spelt doom for the Norliss character as it seems that when it was time to create a full-blown series (even if it extended to just one season and 20 episodes), the choice fell upon the humor-tinged exploits of Kolchak
In any case, the premise itself dying sculptor turns to the occult and is allowed to 'come back' in return for 'giving life' through his work to a demon is undeniably intriguing; the creepily effective zombie make-up (these scenes naturally constitute the film's highlights) resembles the one seen in DEATHDREAM (1972). Though the abrupt finale actually leaves Norliss' fate hanging, this can be excused since the film was obviously conceived as a pilot, so that his story was intended to resume in subsequent installments! Incidentally, there are a couple of other illogicalities owing to the necessary streamlining: while the events related in the film are seen to fit on just one tape, the final session in the creation of the sculpture entails no more than a couple of brief strokes to the eyes!
Supporting Thinnes (by the way, I've just acquired Season One of the vintage sci-fi series THE INVADERS [1967-8], which had actually made his name though I probably won't be able to include it in this Halloween challenge) is a good cast: Don Porter (appearing as Norliss' publisher), Angie Dickinson (the sculptor's wife), Michele Carey (her sister and a Norliss acquaintance), Claude Akins (the requisite disbelieving sheriff), Vonetta McGee (the occultist who gave the sculptor the magical ring which enabled his subsequent resurrection) and Hurd Hatfield (a debonair but shady patron of the arts with ambitions above his station). For the record, I'll be following this with two of Dan Curtis' feature-films HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970) and NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS (1971); I had also intended to check out his TV version of THE TURN OF THE SCREW (1974), but I decided to leave it for an eventual triple-bill of adaptations of the Henry James source novel along with THE INNOCENTS (1961) and THE NIGHTCOMERS (1971).
In any case, the premise itself dying sculptor turns to the occult and is allowed to 'come back' in return for 'giving life' through his work to a demon is undeniably intriguing; the creepily effective zombie make-up (these scenes naturally constitute the film's highlights) resembles the one seen in DEATHDREAM (1972). Though the abrupt finale actually leaves Norliss' fate hanging, this can be excused since the film was obviously conceived as a pilot, so that his story was intended to resume in subsequent installments! Incidentally, there are a couple of other illogicalities owing to the necessary streamlining: while the events related in the film are seen to fit on just one tape, the final session in the creation of the sculpture entails no more than a couple of brief strokes to the eyes!
Supporting Thinnes (by the way, I've just acquired Season One of the vintage sci-fi series THE INVADERS [1967-8], which had actually made his name though I probably won't be able to include it in this Halloween challenge) is a good cast: Don Porter (appearing as Norliss' publisher), Angie Dickinson (the sculptor's wife), Michele Carey (her sister and a Norliss acquaintance), Claude Akins (the requisite disbelieving sheriff), Vonetta McGee (the occultist who gave the sculptor the magical ring which enabled his subsequent resurrection) and Hurd Hatfield (a debonair but shady patron of the arts with ambitions above his station). For the record, I'll be following this with two of Dan Curtis' feature-films HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970) and NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS (1971); I had also intended to check out his TV version of THE TURN OF THE SCREW (1974), but I decided to leave it for an eventual triple-bill of adaptations of the Henry James source novel along with THE INNOCENTS (1961) and THE NIGHTCOMERS (1971).