Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

 The Italian mob family, Sposato, killed a guy named Francois Edmonds from Haiti...big mistake. They think another gang, led by Fargas' Sweetstick Weldon, is responsible for a rash of back-break kills to the Sposato family. Kolchak, though, investigates and discovers that voodoo might be responsible, practiced by a vengeance-seeking mother, Mamalois (Paulene Myers). Francois will not stay buried, and it seems Charles Aidman's Police Captain Winwood might be a target since Kolchak deduces he's on Sposato's payroll.  I gotta admit that this particular episode wasn't quite as good as I remembered. Kolchak in a car graveyard pouring salt in a zombie's mouth and sewing it shut to protect himself from a voodoo back break in the murky dark didn't quite give me the willies as much as giggles. The episode hasn't aged well since voodoo in the 70s and 80s often appeared quite westernized as horror film fodder, though I am the first to admit I love "Sugar Hill...

 After watching the two Kolchak television movies, I thought it would be cool to watch some episodes from the show currently on Peacock. The first episode was on Jack the Ripper, seemingly still alive and kicking. Somehow, besides electricity, Ripper can withstand gunfire, mow through Chicago cops, leap from buildings, and take a car hit head on.  This has some similarities to the first film in that the Night Stalker overpowers police and has the police Chief (and Vincenzo in the news office) takes great offense to Kolchak's repeated efforts to get at the Ripper, offering his own explanation about how the current killer (using a sword pulled from a sheath cane) attacking adult workers at night is no ordinary man. Breaking out of a maximum security prison is enough of an example to take the Ripper seriously as someone beyond the typical criminal that can be arrested and stay arrested. Despite the attempts to keep Kolchak at his desk (working Dear Emily letters for a reporter ou...