Les ailes de la nuit

I'm not really a great fan of vampire movies, in fact there are very few that I could actually name that I like, nonetheless I rented ‘The Night Flier' because the DVD cover looked rather interesting but I still didn't expect much from this movie.

Richard Dees (Miguel Ferrer) is a journalist for a sleazy and morbid weekly publication named ‘Inside View' and is assigned to cover the story of a mysterious pilot who flies into rural airports and kills whoever is there, draining the victim of all their blood. At first Richard doesn't want the story but after seeing how big a story it could be and also wanting to put ambitious young journalist Katherine (Julie Entwistle) firmly in her place he accepts the assignment and goes in search of information on the killer he later nicknames The Night Flier.

I was very surprised by the quality of this movie. Currently I am moderately wary of Stephen King adaptations and with it also being a vampire movie my hopes were not particularly high. The first ten minutes or so of ‘The Night Flier' are fairly slow moving and rather tedious but that soon changes as ‘The Night Flier' becomes a quite adept thriller. It's not a typical vampire movie and that is probably why I enjoyed it. Instead, ‘The Night Flier' is more of a crime drama as the movie is directed towards uncovering the killer rather than stopping the killer. This makes it an interesting thriller in a way and despite some noticeably gory scenes stays away from the obvious idea of concentrating solely on the killer's activities. Tension is built up exceptionally by not concentrating too much on The Night Flier. The way the movie plays out gives it a strong purpose as it leads to a blistering finale. What we are left with is a story about a man on the edge who will do anything to get his story. The character of Richard is a bitter man, possibly socially maladjusted and one has to question whether he is in some way disturbed by all that he has witnessed in his life? He shows mental strength in his pursuit of success and seemingly fears nothing, showing no compassion or sympathy for the feelings of others yet there are still moments when he comes across as a much `softer' human being. Miguel Ferrer does an excellent job of portraying Richard and his performance in the last ten minutes of the movie is almost profound. The ending is brutal, in some ways shocking and definitely not what I expected. By the end it becomes obvious that there were two levels of horror working in this movie that came together well to leave us with ‘The Night Flier'.

There were flaws with the movie though, a couple of plot holes and many unanswered questions, though perhaps that the intent was to leave an air of mystery over the movie. Apart from Ferrer I don't think the movie was well cast as most of the other actors didn't really seem to fit the tone of the film. Furthermore, despite many great make-up effects there were also a few (one in particular) that looked awful and seemed to be totally out of place with the rest of the film. The movie was also a little slow in places and does not really get very good until about a third of the way through. These few faults though aren't really enough to harm the enjoyment and whilst this may not be to everyone's liking I personally believe it to be a well made and appealing movie. My rating for ‘The Night Flier' – 7/10.

Richard Dees (Miguel Ferrer) is a nasty and bitter senior reporter from sensationalist tabloid Inside View. When a mysterious pilot starts killing persons nearby the airports, Richard's boss Merton Morrison (Dan Monahan) invites him to cover the matter, but he is not interest. However, rookie reporter Katherine "Jimmy" Blair (Julie Entwisle) studies thoroughly the story of a serial-killer that killed his victims Claire Ellis Bowie in Maine; Buck Kendall in New York; and Ray and Ellen Sarch in Maryland. But Richard steals her research and gives the following advice to Katherine: "Never believe what you publish...Never publish what you believe". He flies to each place in his plane and realizes that the killer might be a vampire due to his style and calls him "The Night Flier". Meanwhile Merton assigns Katherine to follow Richard to give a different view of the same story. When Richard finally finds The Night Flier, he descends to the hell in his insanity and Katherine follows his advice.

"The Night Flier" is one of the best adaptations of Stephen King for video, with an interesting horror movie with a different vampire story. The plot is well constructed, and the story is very simple, but also very frightening. Miguel Ferrer has a good performance in the role of a scum reporter. Unfortunately, Julie Entwisle has a very weak performance in an important character. The contrast between the final black and white scene and the following bright colored one is visually impressive. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Vôo Noturno" ("Night Flight")

Miguel Ferrer breathed life into the role of jaded tabloid reporter Richard Dees, who is determined to chase down the Night Flier, a serial killer who exsanguinates his victims as he travels from place to place in a small plane. Ferrer's character is a driven, self centered man who has no interest in life other than his next sensational byline.

A young female competitor brings out the worst in him, and he leaves her behind while he pursues the vampire responsible for the killings. What Richard encounters is more than he bargained for. The ending is actually better than for most of King's stories.

The acting, especially Ferrer's, is good. He also appeared in the TV miniseries adaptation of King's novel, The Stand, the same year The Night Flier was made. May Ferrer rest in peace; we will miss him.

This movie, unlike almost every other movie made from a Stephen King story, is awesome. Ferrer is perfect for the role of somewhat coldhearted tabloid reporter, Dees, and he makes the movie work in the end. There are a few cheesy things about the movie, the look of the vampire being the biggest, but it's easy to look past these little things and see the movie as it is. It's creepy and it's entertaining. I have watched this movie a number of times, and I still get excited to see it coming on cinemax or HBO or whatever.

The film's look is really done well, a lot of darkness adds to the overall feel. The places used to shoot the different airports are awesome as well, great small town look, where things like this might happen, and no one would even know. I love the movie, and I think it's probably the best King adaption yet. By the way, the word can either be adaption or adaptation...just in case anyone was wondering of my use of the word.:) 9/10

I went to see this film at the theater almost 25 years ago and was fascinated by it, even today I believe it is among the most successful adaptations of King's works.

I think Pavia has made a cynical, ruthless, intelligent and witty film, with several really cool gore moments, the villain is great, and in the same way the performance of the late and underrated Miguel Ferrer who brings a cynical anti-hero to the screen is great and slimy, with which, however, it is impossible not to empathize. A great film still too underrated, a small cult to be rediscovered very much better then actual terrible PG 13 ghost story.