The Night Stalker: Chopper

[MrRING]

This is the first in an occasional series of posts I hope to make about specific Night Stalker episodes and some fo the legends involved.

The episode "Chopper" involved a former 50's biker gang member who is killing off his old gang because his head was removed from his body.

This got me thinking about the ideas presented as legends in the show.

1) The idea is presented that after the Terror in Paris, there were stories of headless corpses who wander around looking for their heads because they were often buried with the wrong bodies. Is this a true legend from that time of history, or a Hollywood addition?

2) What is the origin of the story of a motorcycle gang member whose avenging spirit kills off members of it's old gang? This seems like a familar story line, even though I can't think of any specific instances just now...

 

[Philo_T]

2) What is the origin of the story of a motorcycle gang member whose avenging spirit kills off members of it's old gang? This seems like a familar story line, even though I can't think of any specific instances just now...

Just a guess, but that sounds like it could have originally been a pirate tale.

 

[Anome]

It sounds as much like tales of the Headless Horseman/Highwayman as anything else.

The revenge element is pretty common. Someone killing off people he felt have wronged him one by one. The fact that the avenger is dead and/or headless is just a minor detail, reallly.

Still, it could be worse. I thought they might be doing a new movie about Mark "Chopper" Read being tracked by Darren McGavin.

 

[GNC]

There's a daft 1970s British horror movie called Psychomania which features a leader of a motorbike gang who commits suicide only to return from the dead due to some kind of pact with the Devil.

He then gets the rest of his gang to commit suicide to join him, but they do it voluntarily in this case.

 

[MrRING]

Psychomania is great, GREAT cheese, and did you know that the super psychadelic theme was an admitted influence on trip=hop greats Portishead?

So, I take it the idea of France overrun by ghosts looking for their heads is a Hollywood legend, and not a historical legend?

 

[Anonymous]

Wasn't there a similar 'headless biker' storyline in a more recent TV show? Hell, can't seem to recall the name of the show for the moment, but it was that one about the supermarket tabloid that reported all sorts of weird Fortean stories which were actually true (headless bikers, possessed babies, electric ghosts etc.).

 

[Anonymous]

There's a daft 1970s British horror movie called Psychomania which features a leader of a motorbike gang who commits suicide only to return from the dead due to some kind of pact with the Devil.

Wasn't that writen by some highly respected dramitist? Can anyone help me on this?

And the Nightstalker was a fantastic program.

 

[phi23]

It was written by Arnaud D'Usseau who wrote several scripts in the 40s and then made a come back in the seventies with Psychomania and Horror Express.

 

[Anonymous]

It was written by Arnaud D'Usseau who wrote several scripts in the 40s and then made a come back in the seventies with Psychomania and Horror Express.

i must be thinking of another trashy 70 horror flick then...

Horror express is another good movie.

Sorry, way off theread.