The Night Flier Reviews

• Bloody great vampire flick

  
  By A2V3P1XE33NYC3 on 2004-08-22
  Watching a film based on a Stephen King novel is an adventure fraught with peril. No other author, not even Michael Crichton, receives as much attention from Hollywood as King does. Regrettably, in the rush to adapt everything this author has written over the past thirty years to the silver screen, terms such as "quality" rapidly flew out the window. While I haven't watched every entry in the King canon, I've seen enough of the good and more of the bad to know that blithely wondering into one of his films involves a considerable risk. It only takes a single experience with "Maximum Overdrive" (directed by the "Maine" man himself, incredibly) or "Cat's Eye" for a viewer to think twice about hauling that "based on a novel by Stephen King" DVD off the video store shelf. But for every disaster there does exist a "Carrie," a "Shawshank Redemption," or another film that makes the effort worthwhile. "The Night Flier" falls in the latter category, a movie so incredibly good that it's a wonder more people haven't heard about it. This is a film casual fans of Stephen King may not know about, and more's the pity because of their unawareness.
  
  Some nut in a pitch black Cessna is flying around the country and landing at small, out of the way airports in order to messily kill the personnel on duty. All of these grisly incidents take place in the middle of the night, not in and of itself particularly strange, but the actual killings raise a host of intriguing questions screaming for someone to investigate. No one makes a connection that these crimes might be linked until a bottom feeding trash tabloid paper called "Inside View" gets a whiff of the story. The star reporter for this rag, Richard Dees (Miguel Ferrer), eventually expresses an interest in the killings when the facts become too weird to ignore. This journalist (a term used loosely) boards his own small plane and begins to follow the crimes up and down the East Coast. Dees faces a host of problems during his investigation, including the reluctance of witnesses to speak about what they know. Bigger difficulties emerge in the form of Merton Morrison (Dan Monahan), the sleazy editor of "Inside View," and a hungry new reporter looking for her first big break named Katherine Blair (Julie Entwisle). Dees isn't too worried about these problems since he understands completely the ins and outs of tabloid journalism, and knows from years of experience how to hold his own against rivals and unenthusiastic witnesses.
  
  Dees's excursions slowly uncover a series of sinister clues to the identity of the unknown pilot. The enigmatic aviator's name is Dwight Renfield, and the guy only flies at night. He also seems to possess a weird ability to control the minds of some of his victims, victims left lying in county morgues with holes in their necks that you could drive a tractor through. Dees knows he's on to something huge, a story that could very well put him back on page one of "Inside View." As the reporter homes in on his quarry, he learns Renfield knows about him and knows what he's trying to do. Ominous incidents start occurring, messages left in blood in Dees's hotel room warning the reporter to cease and desist, stalking, things like that. Richard isn't the sort of guy that scares easily, however, so he takes these warnings as signs that he's about to break the big story. Meanwhile, back at "Inside View" headquarters, Dees reticence to reveal the juicy details of the case to Morrison leads the editor to assign eager beaver Blair to the story. The boss chuckles over imagining the hostility that will inevitably occur when Dees learns he's been steamrolled. Better Dees should worry about what will happen when he finally confronts Dwight Renfield than what Blair or Morrison are planning.
  
  I loved "The Night Flier" when I first saw it on pay television back in the late 1990s, and a recent viewing reaffirmed my initial impressions. This movie has it all in spades: sleazy characters deeply developed, a massively scary vampire, and gore ramped up to insane levels. Miguel Ferrer slams it out of the park as the cynical, world-weary Richard Dees, a journalist so fed up with the nightmares of humanity that he formulates the personal philosophy "Never publish what you believe, and never believe what you publish" in order to keep his emotional distance. The picture succeeds because King, and by extension the filmmakers, rework the vampire mythos in a fresh way. This story rightly equates trash media with vampirism, and you never know who the real blood feeder is in the film. Dees, for example, stops at a gory highway accident to snap a few pictures of the mangled bodies in the cars, not because he plans to write a story about the incident but because he simply can't resist exploiting a graphic tragedy. Merton Morrison, upon hearing a few tidbits about Renfield's latest spree, exclaims, "God, I hope he kills more people!" As bad as Renfield is, he pales in comparison to these modern day Draculas.
  
  Aside from the social messages in the film, "The Night Flier" also boasts one of the scariest looking vampires we've ever seen in a movie. That final showdown between Dees and Renfield, when the vampire finally shows the reporter his true face, will make you shudder. As for the DVD, a trailer, production notes, and cast and crew biographies are all the extras you get on the disc. I highly recommend this movie to fans of the vampire film genre. Heck, I recommend this film to anyone who wants to watch a genuinely scary film. "The Night Flier" is an unmitigated winner.
  
  
  
  
  

• Stephen King done RIGHT

  
  By A2ILHD7W0HIAVW on 2004-04-13
  Many Stephen King films just don't capture the scares Mr. King probably intended. Although The Shining DID and King hated that movie, so I am not sure if he likes The Night Flier or not. Well, he should. I read the story before the movie was made and the film if very faithful to the story and captures the feel perfectly. My town has a small airport like the ones featured in the story and film. No one goes there on a daily basis, so a small plane landing and the vampire pilot feasting on the small landing strip crew, is not only believable, but spooky for me (since I live about half a mile from our "airport".

  The Night Flier follows a tabloid has-been reporter (played by Miguel Ferrer with his usual gravel-toned zest) chasing a small plane pilot who travels from small airstrip to small airstrip killing the crews he finds in a way that suggests he is (or thinks he is) a vampire.

  My biggest problem with the DVD is that the killer is displayed on the front and back of the DVD packaging, thereby taking away any of the big surprise reveal of the killer's face near the end. I hate that. It includes a trailer and a slide-show type behind the scenes story about the making of the film.

  Bottom line, this is one of the good Stephen King films. It's not blatantly scary, but it does have a certain sustained suspense to it as the journalist gains ground on his prey.
  
  

• Stephen King done right

  
  By AJKWF4W7QD4NS on 2005-02-27
  Based on a short story by horror maestro Stephen King, the Night Flier is a prime example of a Stephen King TV movie done right. Genre stalwart Miguel Ferrer stars as a sleazy tabloid reporter on the trail of a killer who is using a small plane to travel from small airstrip to airstrip and killing the crews he finds there in a way which suggets that this killer may be a vampire. Bloody, visceral, and surprisingly smart and faithful to King's story, the Night Flier is King done right, and is a dreadfully underrated horror flick. The denouement is pure King all the way, and is worth the price of admission alone.
  
  

• A terrific vampire movie true to King's unique vision

  
  By A3KF4IP2MUS8QQ on 2002-06-30
  The Night Flier is easily one of the best film adaptations of a Stephen King piece of fiction. One thing this movie does is prove that a movie can be very enjoyable without any likable characters. The protagonist, Dees, is a successful tabloid reporter who has not produced a front-page story in quite a while. Dees is selfish, chauvinistic, egotistical, and permanently ornery--a complete, all-around jerk. His editor is a younger man who really loves his job, especially when he can put the screws to Dees. The tabloid features stories of alien abduction, grisly deaths, misshapen babies, etc. Both Dees and the editor insult the "hicks" and weirdoes who both supply their stories and purchase their weekly rag. Dees initially turns down the request to do a story on a vampire-like stranger who flies into desolate little airports and kills whomever he finds there, but a subsequent murder convinces him the story is a big one that can get his name and photo back on the front page. To complicate matters, though, a new young reporter whom Dees despises is also assigned the story. The two eventually cross paths in pursuit of the newly-dubbed Night Flier. By that time, Dees is almost convinced that the murderer is actually a vampire. The ultimate and inevitable confrontation takes place in the Wilmington, North Carolina airport. The conclusion of the movie is quite original, perfectly fitting, and eminently satisfying. King's story provides an unusual twist to the often-overdone vampire theme and guarantees the film's great success.

  I don�t know if this story constitutes an attack on the tabloid news business, but clearly every member of the film's Inside View newspaper operates without morals (never mind journalistic integrity) and without any respect for readers. I should note that viewers are treated to a fair amount of blood and gore--while horror fans like myself love to see it, squeamish viewers may have a few rough moments before the closing credits. Overall, this is a high-quality, well-made horror movie that manages to retain the magic of King's original story. Many other horror films may be more familiar to viewers, but few are more satisfying.
  
  

• DECENT VAMPIRE FLICK

  
  By A2UKC6QFG9L5GV on 2005-11-04
  "The Night Flier" is a good low budget horror flick which has only one minus already mentioned in other reviews - its box cover. Imagine some detective film which would have the killer's portrait with a knife on the cover. I still can't come up with a reason why the studio did it. I try but I can't. And now a little about the movie itself. It's rather creepy and mysterious (forget now about the cover), it sticks close to Stephen Kings' work spirit. Besides to my opinion it's the best performance to date of Miguel Ferrer. I haven't seen him like that before although he's always good. But here his ruthless and unscrupulous reporter really looks different and just awesome. His methods and black humor will make you grin and shudder.
  "The Night Flier" is not a milestone horror picture but it's quite decent and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it if you are not expecting something extraordinary.
  
  
• Keeps you guessing
  By A1TCOAJUQ4Q72R on 2006-07-13
  This movie is true to Stephen King and has you guessing until the very end. I really enjoyed this movie because it is not your typical horror or vampire movie.
  
  
• Worth Checking Out!
  By AIW8QDBRYHI1H on 1999-11-08
  Saw movie on tv one night. At first I thought, 'well, this is another vampire movie, with a twist, and a lame movie at that', but it was creepy enough to keep me watching, and then it really took off! I'm a horror film fan, but not a gore fan. In this case, it's worth sitting through for the bloody bite! King's story line is good, the movie is mostly schlock horror, but trust me, if you love horror, you must see this.
  
  
• This gave me nightmare's!
  By A18TMD8XZ4VHKT on 2004-08-22
  Honestly as an adult I should know better,that its all Hollywood,but seriously I didnt sleep for 2 days after watching this. I'll never look at an airport the same ever again...
  
  
• They finally got it right!
  By A2RMQW7RQ2VI6I on 2004-09-27
  This movie rocks, man. I'm so happy that they finally produced a Stephen King script almost entirely true to the original story. More than that. It's about 99% accurate. They added some stuff like a new female character played by Julie Entwistle, that wasn't in the book, but it turned out to be integral to the enhanced ending. Normally I'm very critical of people who watch these movies without having read the books first, but this time I think I can confidently say that even non-readers should like this movie. It's a masterpiece of suspense and gore. Rent it, folks, and call him the "Night Flier."
  
  
• A "VERY WEAK" 2 STAR vampire flick
  By A3FUBUJAIGM87T on 2005-03-02
  There is something about the fact that this vampire uses or needs an airplane to fly around from place to place that just takes away from any horror this film could really create. Stephen King's "The Night Flier" has a very poor plot and an even poorer cast of characters. Shame on you Stephen King!! Moreover, there is not one character in the entire movie that you can relate to or even sympathize with in the slightest.
  
  The movie centers around a selfish and crass newspaper reporter who is trying to track a serial killer who flies his plane from airport to airport in search of victims. It becomes increasingly apparent that this serial killer is not human.
  
  Now, the only reason this film does not get a 1 star rating is that the vampire is rather horrifying looking and the ending is slightly creepy, but everything else about this movie fails to evoke any interest in me whatsoever. If you really want to see a good vampire flick, you should watch the original "Salem's Lot", directed by Tobe Hooper (not that "new" garbage that came out recently on TNT), which is one of, if not the scariest movie of all-time.
  
  To be quite frank, I'm reluctant to give "The Night Flier" even 2 stars, but, as I said above, there are a couple of creepy/scary elements to it. If you see it on TV, you should check it out for yourself, but it's not worth a penny to me.
  
  
  
  
• Evil has a flight plan!
  By A3S9887MZFNNH1 on 2000-05-21
  At first I was relucctant to see this film, but eventually I did and I felt bad for hesitating as this film is brilliant. Not all movie adaptations of Stephen King are any good but 'The Night Flier' is one of the better ones. The F/X are great and the acting not too bad. Perhaps actor Miguel Ferrer will be more recognised in film now as this is his biggest role I've yet seen. (He also starred in King's THE STAND). Not just a creepy vampire movie, it's original and entertaining and plenty of gore for gorefans. A film to get your teeth stuck into.
  
  
• Horroriffic
  By on 2004-06-01
  You usually see in vampire movies of some dude that looks like human except he has sharp teeth, and bulgy eyes. But that doesn't count for Nosferatu, that scared the heck out of me too. But Stephen doesn't want it to be just another vampire movie, but a movie that is much more diffrent and more strange. The gore is in the movie is so realistic, it seems as though they used real blood in the shots, and it makes you more afraid of the vampire, or I should say beast in the movie. Stephen makes the beast not like a vampire, except for the blood sucking, but more of some type of supernatural being, like SpringHeeled Jack, or someother true story humanoids. The cape kinda makes it a little less scary, but how when that old man tells how the cape looks like bats wings, makes it more frightning. The beast doesn't turn into a bat, but a dog, a very common house pet. That should make you start watching your back when you see a chocolate lab retriever. To say the least, this is the most horrific movie I've seen, next to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
  
  
• Night Flier is a Night Crash & Burner
  By A1BOM0OCI8H0IW on 2000-08-16
  After seeing the movie - and then reading the reviews on Amazon, I have to say that I don't get it. What do people see in this film? Night Flier was so incredibly boring and trite that I had to try to watch it a second time to see if I had just been too tired the first time around. I enjoy Miguel Ferrer's work in other films but in this one he just seems to stumble through. It's not his acting that is the problem, it is the bad script and extremely boring flow of the film. I could not, in any good conscience, recommend this drivel to anyone.
  
  
• Worse than bad!
  By A4Z46IFAUVDO6 on 2000-08-21
  This is so lame I had to fastforward to get to the good parts. Problem was...I couldn't find any. I haven't read King's story from which this was adapted, but the storyline offered in this film is stupid and about as deep as a ghost's footprint. Don't waste your time, because there are 200 other horror films out there that are better viewing. You'd have to pay me $100 to watch this again, even with the fastforward in full motion. One star is too generous! More like negative 15 or something like that. Garbage, garbage, garbage!
  
  
• Could have been good.....but loses its way.
  By A3G3DXHBPXYDS4 on 2002-07-25
  This could have been a good movie of the horror genre. It takes a creative and imaginative mind like Stephen King's to create a story about a vampire who flies around at night killing people at airports and sucking their blood. The ending is lame and a great letdown. The vampire is being tailed by a reporter from a sheet like the National Enquirer. He doesn't know the killer is a real vampire. The vampire tells him to get off his tail. He doesn't listen and the vampire confronts him. This is where the story loses its way. Somehow the reporter gets blamed for all the killing. He was set up by the vampire to take the fall for his killing. The reporter ends up in the scandal sheet as "The Night Flier" and the vampire gets away to kill another day. It could have been a much better movie if the vampire just killed the reporter or the reporter killed the vampire with a stake through his heart. This is an example of many movies which show great promise but are unable to create a complete finished product which shows good continuity from the beginning to the end.
  
  
• Oh, Stephen, Stephen, Stephen......
  By on 2002-09-01
  I believe it was Captain Kirk who said that genius cannot operate on an assembly line. The good captain was correct, and, unfortunately, Mr. King's recent projects are excellent evidence of this. All of the fundamentals of good fiction are violated in this movie. The "heroes" are so totally flawed that it is impossible to develop any real sympathy for them, so you end up not caring when the crap goes down at the end. The plot is poorly paced and boringly repetitive. The final result seems to be a commentary on how bad paparazzi-type jounalists are, instead of what it could have been: a rousing story of a pair of journalists on a merry hunt to find a vampire. Also, wayyy too much blood and gore. Whoever produced this disappointing film should watch the original "Haunting" to see how a good horror movie is done. My advice? Let "The Night Flier" crash into the sea of obscurity, there to be lost forever.
  
  
• PORKY GROWS UP
  By A3LZGLA88K0LA0 on 2004-01-09
  At first, you think it's Jeffrey Combs (Reanimator); then you keep watching and wondering who is this jerk playing the nerdy editor of this slimy tabloid, Inside View. Then when the credits roll, you see it's Dan Monahan. Then you go on to Amazon and do a search for Monahan and lo and behold, you remember---he was in the two Porky's movies. Slap your head. Oh, and yes, he's not the star of the movie. Miguel Ferrer is that, and never has he been so sleazy, disgusting or revolting. And that's to his credit, as his performance drives this Stephen King adaptation. The movie is not faithful to the King story, but give credit to the screenwriters for crafting an unusually complex look at not only vampirism, but at the cruelty of the tabloids. Exploiting death as much as the vampire requires the blood of humans; Ferrer uses the dead to get bigger and better numbers in sales, and also to redeem himself from a faltering career. Enter Julie Entwisle as the young, go get em "Jimmy Olsen" who wants to take the story Ferrer refused. And yet, by the end of the movie, her youthful naivete gives way to the cynicism of Mr. Ferrer. While the ending is a little "out there" it does give us some kind of resolution to Ferrer's inhumanity.
  Not a great film, it's a little slow paced, but it's worth viewing.
  
  
• the Night Flier
  By A1IXIJ7CWDLTO3 on 2000-05-03
  First of all: I am a Stephen King fan, but I have not read this story. I know its from his collection "Nightmares and Dreamscapes", who was first published in 1993. Its a story about this reporter for a magazin who writes about all the supernatural stuff they can dig up. Richard , the reporter, have worked for this magazin for years, and most of his articles have pride the frontpages. One thing about Richard is that he likes to have it his way, so when he'we been asked to do a article about some killing on the airports at night he says no. The article about this "nightflier" goes then to a new female reporter. Richard doesnt like this eather, so he takes the job from her, want to do it himself. She gets mad and starts to invstigte this herself. One by one they are getting closer to this "nightflier". They gets contact whit this sick man who thinks he are a vampire. There is just one thing, you have to be carefull when you talk to vampiers, they can kill you, you know. But even though Richard and the other reporter gets more and more scared they ceep on searching for him. They will regret this...

  Another vampire film you might think, but no. When Stephen King write about vampires they are not just vampires. The story is original. The dirctor have done a really good job makeing a movie on this one, it is really creapy. And the acing is ok to. - Recomanded
  
  

• Death From The Sky
  By A1I4H55WFFALAS on 2000-07-19
  An excellent adaptation of Stephen King's short story (Nightmares And Dreamscapes) pits a newspaper reporter against the story of his life, or death as the case may be. A mysterious Cessna leaves a trail of carnage and Miguel Ferrer must piece it together and anticipate where The Night Flier will land next. Ranks with The Stand, The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption as one of the best film adaptations of King's work, and a must see for any diehard gorefest fan!
  
  
• The worst movie I've ever seen.
  By on 1999-08-13
  This film is so dumb it is more funny than scary. What could be worse than a vampire who not only dresses up like a Bela Lagosi impersonator but also goes around in a little black air plane. What a joke.
  
  
• BLOODY FANGTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!
  By on 1999-10-17
  This film is a def gem! When this first appeared on cable I said to myself,"self this is gonna be another low-rent stephen king film that does the story no justice".Boy was i wrong! Finally saw this on video & it rates as one of the better vampire flicks to come out in sometime! Miguel Ferrer is his usual self(underrated & simply great) the f/x are excellent(ala dusk till dawn) & the movie has a def eerie atmosphere that gets under your skin(sorta like dolly). Vampire fans pick this up & enjoy some old school horror w/modern day f/x. Dwight Renfield(ya gotta love it)!
  
  
• Incredibly boring and unoriginal, an utter waste of time!
  By on 1999-10-03
  One of the many awful films with Stephen King's name attached to them...do yourself a favor and see 'The Dead Zone' instead.

  Really deserves a MINUS 3 stars...
  
  

• A great adaption of Stephen King's short story!
  By on 1999-01-19
  Although this isn't the best adaption of Stephen King's work, it certainly isn't the worst. In my opinion the best adaptions of his works were Carrie, Misery, The Body(Stand By Me), and It. The worst were Children of the Corn(All 5) and The Lawnmower man. Renfields face is what made it so good, that was one of the best looking vampires I'd ever seen in a movie! One day I took a copy I'd recorded from when it came on HBO to school with me. We had been instructed by the teacher the day before that she would be out, and if some one would bring a movie, the substitute would let us watch it. Our substitute that day was sick and did'nt want to teach, and I was the only person with a movie, so she let us watch it,every one in the class loved it.
  
  
• a litte gory and bloody.
  By A2FXR18NGM5LIM on 2001-08-31
  i was a little disappointed in this one. lots of blood and gore, great is you like that kind of stuff. a little different than what i am used to with stephen king.
  
  
• Poor Story Line
  By AHUDPU70J9DIG on 2001-10-16
  Very disappointing, at the end you'd say "That's it", there is no excitement or story at all.
  
  
• I own this movie.
  By on 2002-02-08
  I like this movie. I think it is scary. Stephen king is a good horror master and I hope he continues to do more horror movies.
  The DVD is good It tells about the movie and cast and has a trailer and a full and wide screen side. Buy it.
  
  
• Oh what a great movie! So close to the original story!
  By A2YZXPW2EYNUJK on 2002-11-11
  When I first saw this movie it kept me glued to the television. The twist at the end was excellent. Didn't see it coming at all. That's what makes a good story, keep the watcher/reader guessing. The blood and gore was necessary to show how brutal the vampire was in his "eating" habits. Man, when that thing opened his mouth to the reporter, you could have put a bicycle in there. Don't even get me started about those two huge teeth! Much better than little pointy canines. I found the book after watching the movie and liked it even more because it was a pretty faithful interpretation. His power of hypnotism must have been extremely powerful to be able to wipe out a whole airport. Great movie.
  
  
• Ignore the tards, this movie kicks
  By A3JF6YGA7DD8KX on 2003-09-06
  I never pay attention to reviews and it's always been to my betterment. If you're an avid fan of the phenomena that is the vampire genre you'll love this movie. I've got vampire nite in my crypt where I play The Night Flier, (Original) Dracula, Shadow Of The Vampire, Nosferatu The Vampyre (Werner Herzog), among other classics and this movie truly does the niche justice. I can't get enough of it. Miguel Ferrer does such a terrific job in it as he has all of his other Stephen King parts. If you've seen 'The Stand' you know what I'm talking about. The guy's an "A" class actor without being pretentious. I d/l alot of movies off of the internet and this is definitely a purchase. It doesn't have anything special in the way of extras which is a let down, but it's a solid flick. But then again, I really like that second Blair Witch movie that everyone hates so much. That was another d/l'd movie that I ended up purchasing because I watch it so much. Bottomline: If you're a fan of the genre, this movie is a good purchase for around $15 or less.

  Rock on Houston and props out to my man Johnny V and the Muddster.
  
  

• beware of the night flier
  By A82LIVYSX6WZ9 on 2003-10-24
  great short story from Stephen King adapted into a movie with Miguel Ferrer nontheless. basically about some murders and Ferrer goes on the hunt about this plane and a mysteryous secret that will be revealed to him in the end. the end is the highlight with all the bodies coming alive and then Ferrer sorta chops them into pieces and its all an illusion of the mind, that was great. for King buffs, others might want to steer clear of the ending if your sqeamish
  
  
• Delusion
  By on 2003-11-17
  Plenty of expectations, party because of the rating, partly because of King's involvement, then it totally let me down...
  
  

• Stephen King's Storm of the Century
• The Tommyknockers
• Salem's Lot
• Stephen King's It
• Stephen King's Cat's Eye