At a lonely tiny airfield the only man on duty goes out to a small black aircraft that is sitting on the runway. The man is murdered. The aircraft is registered to a Dwight Renfield (Michael H. Moss). Merton Morrison (Dan Monahan) is the editor of a cheap tabloid paper called Inside View. He thinks there’s a good story there. A man who thinks he’s a vampire flying around in a small plane killing people is just the kind of story he thinks will be appealing to his readers.
Morrison tries to assign the story to Richard Dees (Miguel Ferrer). Dees has his pilot’s license and owns a small plane. Dees is a jaded reporter with a snarky attitude and a mouth to match. He thinks the story is crap. He tells Morrison to assign it to the newly hired Katherine Blair (Julie Entwisle). Katherine is a young fresh faced reporter. Her lack of experience is made up by her eagerness. Dees calls her Jimmy Olsen.
Katherine does a little checking and finds out that this is not the only murder that fits the profile. The police haven’t caught the connection yet. She starts working on the story but Morrison gives it to Dees when his interest is peaked by the other murders.
Dees heads to Maine, the location of the first murder victim, Claire Bowie (Richard K. Olsen). Since he has his own plane he flies into the same small airfield. He talks to a plane mechanic, Ezra Hannon (John Bennes), who had seen the strange pilot when he landed. He tells Dees that the pilot of the plane was wearing a long flowing cloak but what he looked like is a vague memory. He also said he saw some dirt underneath the door of the cargo area of the plane. The dirt looked like something dead had been in it. He then says that he found Claire the next day. His throat had been ripped out.
Dees digs into the murders. He now believes that the story is going to be a big one. Morrison is screaming for something to print but Dees isn’t ready yet. He wants to investigate more. Frustrated Morrison tosses Katherine into the mix. Now the two reporters are in competition. But things are getting strange for Dees. He now believes that Renfield is aware that he is investigating. He is getting messages to stop his investigation but Dees is a pit-bull when it comes to a story. Dees ends up in a nightmare he can’t get out of.
“The Night Flier” was released in 1997 and was directed by Mark Pavia. It is based on a short story written in 1988 by Stephen King. The movie is a horror film and a psychological thriller with a touch of slasher movie mixed in. The character Dwight Renfield is, of course, named after both Dwight Frye, the actor, and Renfield, the character Frye played in “Dracula” 1931.
The movie was supposed to be released theatrically but it couldn’t get on the schedule until 1998. Due to obligations with foreign investors the film was shown on HBO in 1997 first. It was then released in theaters in 1998. The film didn’t do very well which is a shame since the movie is sufficiently creepy and actually somewhat on the gory side. For the most part the film fell through the cracks.
As far as vampires go this one is nice and nasty looking. It’s also a shape shifter. It does conform to most of the vampire norms but also has a couple unique things about it. It wears the usual cape, it has no reflection, it can mesmerize people, it only shows up at night and it sleeps on a bed of dirt. On the other hand it does far more damage to people than just two little bite marks on the neck and it pees blood.
The atmosphere of the film is wonderful. It’s dark, vague and very moody. Precisely staged thunderstorms are just little punctuation marks in the plot. The pace is slow but steady. Miguel Ferrer is one of those actors you love to hate. No exception here. His cynical view on everything ensures that his character is liked even less than a vampire. Still there is something about his sarcastic humor that draws you in despite the fact that he is basically a dick. The metaphor between the bloodthirsty vampire and the bloodthirsty journalist is not lost on most people.
It’s one enjoyable movie and great for a dark and shadowy night.