The Night Flier

A very uninteresting adaptation of a King’s short story. A vampire phantom murdering the inhabitants of a small town airport has a lot of potential, but the inexperienced Mark Pavia made a run-of-the-mill forgettable film that is sinfully insipid. Slight thumbs up for the ending. 5/10 (02/03/2011)

A vampire and garlic? That doesn’t quite mix, but how about a vampire and a Cessna? Stephen King's short story about a ruthless tabloid worker on the trail of a bloodsucker with a pilot's license is 40 pages long, so extending it to a feature-length format (perhaps with Jimmy Olsen in a skirt) naturally introduces shortcomings. Unfortunately, the visuals also suffer, reminding me of a certain mysterious series where Jonathan Frakes kept us guessing. Well, at least I saw for the first time what it looks like through a mirror when a vampire is dealing with sand. (05/19/2023)

Considering the limited budget and Mark Pavia's lack of directorial experience, this is a very decent film that benefits from the quality literary source by S. King. It's one of the few cases where the horror master doesn't have to be ashamed of the adaptation of his work. Due to the limited scope of the story, the creators had to develop the plot more, and in the confrontation of both media, the film even comes out a little better for me.  Miguel Ferrer's excellent performance as a heartless tabloid journalist adds 20% to the film. By using very banal and cheap props (a pile of dirt under the plane, sounds from a telephone receiver), a feeling of oppressive atmosphere and evil premonition is evoked and maintained. My overall impression is just below the 70% mark. (07/14/2006)