The Night Flier (1997)

It wasn't a surprise that by the late 1990s Hollywood was running low on Stephen King stories to adapt.  While they had done well in the theaters in the 1980s by this time it became apparent that many of his longer novels worked better as television miniseries, even if they had to be heavily rewritten to get around network censorship.  By 1997 there was only one theatrical release of his stories, and even that technically didn't see theaters until 1998, since it was released prior to that on HBO.  That was The Night Flier, an adaptation of a short story from his collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes.

Richard Dees (Miguel Ferrer) is a writer and photographer for the tabloid Inside View.  He is one of their most famous contributors, providing gory photographs and sensationalized articles for his boss Merton Morrison (Dan Monahan).  Upset that his latest photograph didn't make the front page he refuses the story of a supposed vampire flying into rural airports in his Cessna and feeding on the inhabitants, thinking that it's another serial killer that will soon get caught.  Instead, he lets the story go to a new reporter, Katherine Blair (Julie Entwistle).

That changes when the killer - calling himself Dwight Renfield (Michael H. Moss) - strikes again.  Seeing his ticket back to the front page Dees steals the story from Katherine and, in his own plane, begins pursuing Renfield, who himself starts to warn Dees away.  Meanwhile Katherine continues to pursue the lead herself and follows closely on Dees's trail.  What neither of them expect is this time there may be some truth behind the rumors. 

This is the first movie directed by Mark Pavia, and he has only directed one other, and that was 19 years later.  He co-wrote the script with Jack O'Donnell and the producer, Richard P. Rubenstein, had given him 30 days to make the movie.  He managed to get it in early.  Rubinstein was often a partner with George A. Romero, particularly on the Tales from the Darkside series, and that is what The Night Flier feels like.  It feels like an extended episode, or a television movie.  It is no surprise that it ended up on HBO prior to a wide release as it feels like a film that belongs there and not in a theater.

The short story is one of King's most memorable.  The interaction with the boss and the competition with Katherine were all added in for the movie, and the ending was changed to make it less vague, but the meat of the story is still there.  The problem is Miguel Ferrer, as good as a character actor that he was, is not a leading man.  Dees is played like a supporting character throughout, the stereotypical drunk tabloid journalist, and though Ferrer isn't bad there is nothing that makes the character stand out.  Same goes with Katherine, despite Julie Entwistle doing her best.  What Pavia and O'Connell failed to do was flesh the characters out at all.  The lack of depth is fine for a short story, especially one that is based on a concept rather than character development, but leaves a movie feeling a bit lacking. 

What isn't lacking is the makeup work on Renfield.  KNB did a good job bringing the vampire to life and making it clear how non-human it is.  However, for the pains Pavia went to hide the face until the end, New Line went and slapped it right on the poster.  I don't know if the full look was revealed in Fangoria prior to the film, but it is something that should not have been spoiled.  Also, when the movie gets to the actual events in King's short story - which is toward the end - things work.  The carnage in the Wilmington Airport is a key part of the story and is well done in the movie as well.  The Night Flier needed much more of that and less attempts at trying to be a tabloid X-Files.

The Night Flier (1997)

Time: 97 minutes

Starring: Miguel Ferrer, Julie Entwistle, Dan Monahan, Michael H. Moss

Director: Mark Pavia