According to reports, actor Johnny Depp has been given the go-ahead by Disney, to have his production company develop a feature film version of the classic TV series "The Night Stalker" for the studio.
Airing over ABC during the 1974-75 TV season, the original series, considered the inspiration for "The X-Files", followed Chicago newspaper reporter 'Carl Kolchak' (Darren McGavin), who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly ones law enforcement authorities won't pursue.
Often these crimes involve some element of the supernatural or science fiction, such as fantastical creatures.
The 'Kolchak' character originated in the novel, "The Kolchak Papers" by author Jeff Rice. In the novel, Las Vegas newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak tracks down and defeats a killer who turns out to be a vampire named 'Janos Skorzeny'.
During the series' run, it managed to tackle most of the major monster myths, including vampires, werewolves, mummies and zombies.
Four episodes focused on monsters and spirits based on native folklore.
The series also dealt with creatures from science fiction, including a killer android, an invisible extra-terrestrial and a prehistoric man thawed back to life.
