Movie review: ‘The Night Flier’

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Once every so often I come across a film that was out of my memory but jumps back up and I’m reminded of it because its star has family roots to a classic. “The Night Flier,” which is a vampire tale told in a Stephen King story, is one of those. I saw it years ago and forgot about it until I was reviewing “Porky’s” recently (click here for that review). One of the stars of “Porky’s” is in “The Night Flier” and I checked and found it on YouTube.com. The star of “The Night Flier” is Miguel Ferrer, who is the son of acclaimed actor Jose Ferrer – he was the prosecutor of Humphrey Bogart in “The Caine Mutiny” (click here for my review) and was also with Jackie Chan in “Battle Creek Brawl” (click here for my review). So I revisited “The Night Flier” and found it much as I remembered it: basically a TV movie with a bit more gore than your average film and a nice turn on making the vampire scary (it doesn’t have the traditional lengthened incisors … or is it canines?).

‘The Night Flier’
(1998; 94 minutes; rated R; directed by Mark Pavia and starring Miguel Ferrer, Julie Entwhisle and Dan Monahan)

A CREATIVE VAMPIRE STORY … DONE JUST SO-SO

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links on Feb. 6, 2019. I again expanded the review on Oct. 16, 2022.)

Mark Pavia has only two directing credits for motion pictures and one’s “The Night Flier” from 1998, which is a neat vampire tale he adapted for the screen from a Stephen King short story. While the film isn’t good, I don’t believe it is the reason that Pavia only directed one more in 2016 and then dropped off the Hollywood map. Actually, compared to some of the horror dreck out there, it’s not that bad … OK, it’s bad, but not that bad.

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The film isn’t that old, but it looks like it was filmed as a reclamation project from a 1970s TV show. It has stereotypes that are half-heartedly done at best (such as the hard-drinking reporter) and its only virtue is that even Pavia couldn’t screw up the premise and creativity of King’s story.

In any case, “The Night Flier” is the story of a tabloid news organization that loves the lurid headlines and finds its audience in line at supermarkets (remember those publications?). The nasty rag’s editor has come across a potentially juicy story: Someone is traveling the eastern seaboard and killing people after landing at rural airports. The killer offers hints of the supernatural and ultimately is dubbed “The Night Flier.”

At the same time the tabloid’s once top reporter (Miguel Ferrer as “Richard Dees”) is having a dry spell and doesn’t think much of the usual homicides or creeps making news and initially doesn’t think much of the tip. However, a rookie reporter (Julie Entwisle as “Katherine Blair” – she’s also the director’s wife) starts making headway on the case and, so, it becomes more interesting to him – especially since another murder has been reported.

Since he’s conveniently also a pilot with his own plane, he begins his pursuit with the first victim and follows through to the latest. Along the way, Entwisle gets back on the story but Ferrer bulldozes her and, using his talent to talk to people in towns where tragedy has struck, gets more and more on the story – he’s even warned off by the killer, who by now is believed to be a vampire or a vampire-like creature of the night.

Ferrer catches up to the creature at a small airport and finds a dozen or so mutilated bodies in the waiting room. He then comes face to face with the vampire (we see him now – yuck! a great job of scary makeup), who has him in a trance and Ferrer believes the bodies are attacking him. He lashes out with a weapon and, of course, the cops arrive and see him hacking around the bodies. Ferrer is gunned down by the cops while the vampire slinks off into the night in his all-black airplane. Cue the credits.

Here’s a look at … well, you might call them the top-of-the-cast …

  • Ferrer, who is the son of Oscar winning (and two nominations) actor Jose Ferrer, doesn’t do much here and looks every bit the TV actor that the production deserved. He’s not terrible here … but doesn’t show us anything either. Ferrer was also in “RoboCop;” voiced for “Mulan;” and was on TV’s “Crossing Jordan.” Ferrer died at 61 in 2017 of throat cancer. He had a prolific career of 127 acting credits stretched over four decades from his first in 1981.
  • Like with Ferrer, it’s difficult to judge Entwisle’s talent from this film. She’s OK at one moment but then is either wooden or newsprint-thin on the emotional level (no pun intended, but I’ll take it). Her character doesn’t show any cleverness or toughness, so she doesn’t establish much here. Like her director husband, Entwisle had a limited career in Hollywood with only one other credit for the movie “In & Out.”
  • It took me a moment to recognize “Porky’s” veteran Dan Monahan (he’s the reason I recalled this film while looking at his filmography for that review). He plays editor “Merton Morrison” and has nearly the same energy as he did in the “Porky’s” franchise. It’s not much of a character to develop and certainly doesn’t reach the audience he did as “Pee-Wee Morris.” Hmmmm … maybe a little homage to “Porky’s” with the last name? He was also in the horrific comedy “Up the Creek” (click here for my review). Since his last acting credit in 2000, Monahan has worked with local theater companies across the country.
  • Michael H. Moss plays “Dwight Renfield” and is the vampire here. He doesn’t do much and you only see him for only a couple of minutes in total and he has absolutely no chance of developing the creature into anything. He was also in “RoboCop 3.” Sadly, the best thing you can say about Moss is that his work is instantly forgettable in this one.

Sigh. The rest of the best of the supporting cast plays small town victims of the vampire. Like second-players on TV shows, these folks are OK but do not offer anything special (get a sense of repetitiveness with this phrase?).

Since you might be able to find it for free on YouTube.com give it a shot, but don’t go out of your way to find it. It’s not that good as a horror flick and there’s no other reason (such as acting or direction) that would otherwise steer you to it.

“The Night Flier” had an abysmal showing at theaters with an anemic (no pun intended here either) $125,397 in ticket sales and was the 268th ranked film of 1998, according to Box Office Mojo. By all indications it would have been somewhat of a bomb anyway, but it had already been released in November 1997 on HBO before it showed up on the big screen. The No. 1 film of the year was Tom Hanks in “Saving Private Ryan” with $216.5 million. Here are the films from 1998 that I’ve reviewed for my blog:

Additional cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • “The Night Flier” was actually nominated for an award. Yes. True. For acting? No, of course not. For direction? You gotta be kidding. So, what for? It was for the Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for “Best Home Video Release” in 1999.
  • Ferrer also appeared in two other adaptations of Stephen King stories. It was “The Stand” TV mini-series from 1994 and “The Shining” TV mini-series of 1997.
  • The director was given 30 days to film and he did it in 29. No kidding!
  • King was asked to do a cameo in the film. However, he said he had other obligations on a book tour. Yeah, right, I’m sure that was the reason!
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “In the scene where Katherine is looking at all of Richard’s bylines, the framed copies of ‘Inside View’ contain many references to other stories by ‘King, Stephen’: ‘Springhill Jack Strikes Again!’ – Strawberry Spring. ‘Headless Lamaze Leads To Successful Birth!’ – The Breathing Method. ‘Kiddie Cultists in Kansas Worship Creepy Voodoo God!’ – Children of the Corn ‘Satanic Shopkeeper Sells Gory Goodies!’ – Needful Things. ‘Naked Demons Levelled My Lawn!’ – The Lawnmower Man ‘The Ultimate Killer Diet! Gypsy Curse Flays Fat Lawyer’s Flesh’ – Thinner.”

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