Svengoolie: Cast Talks Dressing Up For Comic-Con and The Night Stalker [SDCC Interview]

Svengoolie has been a horror fan staple for over 55 years, with Rich Koz playing the titular host since 1979. The TV program sees Svengoolie and friends entertaining audiences during commercial breaks of movies, typically horror and sci-fi films. The show has been airing on MeTV since 2011 and added a fresh batch of new cast members after a nationwide talent search was held in 2022. That Hollywood Show got the chance to chat with the cast at San Diego Comic-Con last year, which marked the newer performers’ first time at SDCC. This year, THS had a reunion with Koz, Sarah M. Palmer (Gwengoolie), and Bill Leff (Nostalgiaferatoo). Things were extra special this time around because the cast decided to attend in their costumes.

During the interview, the Svengoolie gang talked about returning to Comic-Con and one of their recent episodes on The Night Stalker. The 1972 horror/mystery was originally an ABC Movie of the Week. It starred Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, an investigative reporter who believes a Las Vegas serial killer was actually a vampire.

Svengoolie at SDCC

“Oh, definitely, so,” Koz confirmed when asked if last year’s SDCC crowd was clamouring to see them in costume. ‘It seemed like a lot of people were. It was so nice, all the people that showed up, but they were like, ‘Oh, you’re not in costume.’ And so we talked about it, and we decided it takes a little more effort and a few more people coming with us. But it’s definitely been a great reaction we’ve gotten. It’s almost overwhelming.”

“I’m still lost,” Palmer joked when asked if she felt like a pro now that she was at her second San Diego Comic-Con. “I’m having meetings in different hotels, and I have to walk all the way back and forth. I’m just going in circles. In this place, it feels just like this liminal space that I still haven’t conquered yet. Luckily, though, we have a team to tell us where to go.”

The Night Stalker Lives

As for The Night Stalker being the movie that aired on Comic-Con weekend, that wasn’t a purposeful choice to line up with the con.

“We make our movie schedule way ahead of time, so it’s just a nice coincidence that it’s there,” Koz explained. “But boy, the beginning of the whole Carl Kolchak story is that movie, and what a great character. I’ve always just loved that rumpled reporter. And he’s irascible and just always trying to get people to. To believe that there’s something supernatural going on, and they don’t want to accept it, and in fact, they’re willing to, like, put them in jail. Even so, I love the series as well, and I’m real happy to be able to show this again.”

“A man named Dan Curtis produced this, and he had quite a horror legacy on television. He’s the one who did Dark Shadows, for instance,” Leff added. “And with Kolchak, The Night Stalker, he made a movie that was genuinely scary for TV … People thought it wasn’t going to be an easy task, but he made it look simple. Then he brought him back as the Night Strangler. There was a second episode, and then they tried it as a series, and it didn’t quite take off as a series. But it’s just it’s fun to watch that era of a guy that rough-and-tumble kind of reporter … And it is genuinely a scary movie.”

Tune Into Svengoolie

Svengoolie airs on MeTV on Saturday nights. You can view their schedule here. Check out our full interview from SDCC below: