A reporter for the tabloid newspaper "Inside View," Richard Dees has been a bit down on his luck lately, and is in desperate need of a new hit story to save his floundering career. When his boss informs him of a new report making the rounds, however, of a figure that travels by personalized aircraft that commits gruesome murders wherein the victims are mutilated and drained of their blood, Richard sees a good opportunity to get to the front page once more, and prove to the skeptics that this "night flier" isn't anything more than just a lunatic, and certainly not a "vampire" like some have been led to believe.
They say that you can't get blood from a stone, and I suppose that the same can be said when it comes to adapting short stories of Stephen King's. There's only so much that one individual can do, and I'll admit to not having read the short story this was based on in quite a few years (nor have I read anything from Nightmares & Dreamscapes in some time), but my memory was still fairly vivid when it came to this particular tale. The idea of a vampire that travels via a skymaster? That one seems to be pretty obviously pulled from the mind of a horror author, and most likely one on a lot of illegal drugs.
Original story writer Stephen King and director Mark Pavia weren't exactly subtle when it came to expressing their disdain and flat-out hatred for the press with this story. Richard Dees is probably one of the more loathsome "protagonists" I'm likely to encounter any time this year on the countdown, as he is cynical, sexist, obsessed with the macabre to the point where you might ask for him to politely just quit it, and seemingly begging for a death wish. His rivalry with new reporter Katherine Blair, a subplot invented just for the film, doesn't help make him any more human either. That particular subplot doesn't seem to go anywhere either to be perfectly honest, and really seemed to only set up a potential tagline for future use in "who said it?" quoting games with your friends. Thankfully, performance-wise, they're both fine for what they've been given, save for their boss who feels he's channeling his best evil Vince McMahon at times.
While the film does delve into the absurd throughout its time spent investigating the murders, it does sneak in some connections to other Stephen King novels and works as well. The character of Dees previously appeared in The Dead Zone, and headlines seen at "Inside View" make reference to Children of the Corn, Thinner, Needful Things, and many more. A nice distraction and nod, though it doesn't necessarily do anything to enhance the story obviously. There's also a character that Dees interviews while on a trip to Maine (take a shot!) who could have been the cousin of Jud Crandall of Pet Sematary fame for all I know. Perhaps this was a bad stereotype on my part, but darn it, I'm sticking with it.
Despite being one of, if not the lowest-grossing Stephen King adaptations to date, and containing a fairly lukewarm first hour, I think The Night Flier does turn on the gas in its final thirty minutes. With a showdown at Wilmington International Airport (in story and on set), it suddenly turns into a surprisingly satisfying little picture. When the title creature does reveal itself (don't complain about spoilers. Did you SEE the poster above?), it does look pretty darn cool, especially considering the rushed shooting time (one month) and budget. But is it too little, too late? Well, I....guess? If you don't mind sitting through all of the below-average cliches like alcoholism, trips to Maine, and an old man explaining things via flashbacks (see Pet Sematary fella), stick around for the adequate conclusion.
Alas, we bid farewell to Mr. King for now, but tomorrow we take a trip to the BLOOD DINER!
1 comment:
I think it's a fine little movie. Richard Dees was really well performed by veteran character actor Miguel Ferrer. He's in EVERYTHING and finally got some adequate screen time in this. The vampire could have used more fleshing out, like how does he keep getting away with it? Did he have another gimmick earlier on before he started knocking off airport crews? I love that King gave a tip of his hat to Wilmington NC, since he certainly did a lot of film work here prior to writing "The Night Flier" and doubtlessly walked those very corridors you see in the film. Perhaps even found some blood in the toilet?
Post a Comment