THE NIGHT FLIER
Bad, bad box cover. Bad box cover!
I mean, really - what's up with showing the vampire's face on the front cover of the box? If part of the strength of your movie is that you don't show that face 'til the end, you'd think...nah, what am I doing, accusing them box-designers of thinking.
Anyway, if you've seen the box, you've seen the vampire, and that's the only aspect of this film I found particularly disappointing. Not only do we know what he looks like long beforehand, but honestly, it's kind of lame. Not how I would've done him at all. He sounds great, but really, the fact that he is a monster is enough - he doesn't have to look like a b-grade monster too.
...but, for the most part, the movie's excellent. Nice and creepy, with a good script and production values that sort of give the impression of the film trying to be made in a manner that sets it right between the Shawshank/Claibornes and the Sematary/Needfuls. The score is really good too, a lot better than one might expect from a movie that largely went straight to video. Miguel Ferrer was great, and the leading lady (whose name escapes me, because throughout the whole thing I thought she was Phoebe Cates, incorrectly) wasn't bad. The gore-soaked climax was a nice touch, too. Yum.
The plot has Ferrer, a cynical reporter for a fourth-rate tabloid, chasing a mysterious serial killer who flies in his black airplane, only a night, to his victims. It soon becomes clear that the killer thinks he's a vampire.
A rare, extremely faithful adaptation of the excellent short story, although the lady was a cinematic addition. But a good job was done by (almost) all involved here. Check it out; for King fans, it's a must-see.