Stephen King's The Night Flier

Movie
German title	Stephen King's The Night Flier
Original title	Stephen King's The Night Flier
Country of production	USA , Italy
original language	English
Publishing year	1997
length	93 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Mark Pavia
script	Mark Pavia Jack O'Donnell
production	Benjamin Carr David R. Cappes Richard P. Rubinstein
music	Brian Keane
camera	David Connell
cut	Elizabeth Schwartz
occupation
Miguel Ferrer : Richard Dees Julie Entwisle : Katherine "Jimmy" Blair Dan Monahan : Merton Morrison Michael H. Moss : Dwight Renfield John Bennes : Ezra Hannon Richard K. Olsen : Claire Bowie Elizabeth McCormick : Ellen Sarch

Stephen King's The Night Flier is an American horror film from 1997. The film is based on the short story " The Night Flyer " from Stephen King's 1993 short story book Nightmares .

action

Time and again, people are brutally murdered and found completely drained at small, remote airports in the American provinces. Obviously, there's an insane serial killer behind this who thinks he's a vampire. Exactly the right material for Richard Dees, the hardened star reporter of the scandal sheet “Inside View”.

Like a bloodhound, he follows the trail of the madman who calls himself Dwight Renfield and only travels at night in a black Cessna Skymaster 337 . Dees gets involuntary support from the beginner Katherine Blair, whom he soon depends on. As usual, Dees is unscrupulous in his research and does not shy away from desecrating the grave if it serves as an effective photo. In his own airplane, he consistently follows the trail of death and despair left by the "Night Flier", as he now calls him, and in the process truly catches up with him.

At another remote airport, Dees, who has since become obsessed with the hunt, thinks he has finally reached his destination. When he enters the hall, he is offered one blood bath. The sucked out and partly torn corpses let his nerves fail for the first time. He storms into the toilet to throw up when he notices someone using the urinal behind him, but cannot see him in the mirror. That and the blood-red stream that disappears in the drain convince him that Dwight Renfield is more than just a serial killer. This threatens to kill him if he continues to follow him and disappears. Dees doesn't want to give up where he is already sure of his story and demands to see Renfield's face. In fact, Renfield turns around and reveals his demonic, bat-like grimace. He then cuts his wrist and forces the terrified Dees to drink from his blood. Then Dees sinks into a dreamlike horror trip. He sees the dead rise as vampires who now attack him. He defends himself with a fire ax and chops the creatures into pieces.

Suddenly, police officers rush into the airport concourse with Katherine. In his madness he attacks the police officers who shoot him down. For them it now looks as if Dees himself was behind the series of murders the whole time. Katherine confirms that “Inside View” suspected him of being the mysterious “Night Flier” himself, following exactly the resolution that has always been Richard Dee's motto: “ Never believe what you publish and never publish anything You believe. "

When Katherine goes to the window, she sees an attractive man with a long cloak, who mounts his black Cessna Skymaster 337 and flies off into the night.

Reviews

“The“ Twilight Zone ”-style horror fairy tale lacks logic and bite. In return, if not cut out, there are bloody shock elements every minute. "

- Cinema

“A home-made horror thriller developed at a slow pace that has nothing more to offer than a disappointing ghost train horror. Even the attempt to argue about reporter ethos, fear neuroses and the interaction between reality and fantasy seems more chatty than profound because of its intrusiveness. The only thing worth mentioning is the performance of the main actor. "

- Lexicon of international film

DVD release

• Stephen King's The Night Flier / April 6, 2000 / Highlight DVD

Others

• The scene in which Katherine looks at the wall with the cover stories published by Dees contains numerous allusions to other works by Stephen King. Dees has therefore written stories about the killer known as " Springhill Jack " ( strawberry spring ), also about a decapitated woman who gave birth to a healthy baby ( breathing technique ), about a child sect who practices voodoo-like rituals ( children of corn ), about a diabolical antique dealer ( In a small town ), as well as about naked demons who eat grass ( The Lawnmower Man ) and about the ultimate killer diet ( The Curse ).
• The character Richard Dees is the same reporter who tries to get an interview with the main character Johnny Smith in Dead Zone (1979).
• A magazine on Dee's desk shows a mummified corpse in its coffin on the cover. This is a scene from the film: "The Crypt in the Swamps" from 1995.
• Most of the murder photos, including those of the horribly mutilated prostitutes in the editorial office, are not posed, but come from the photo album of a murdered detective who worked in Los Angeles from the 1930s to the 50s. The album was later released under the title " Death Scenes ".
• Originally, actor Aaron Michael Lacey was slated for the role of Night Flier .
• The name of the vampiric Cessna pilot Dwight Renfield is an anagram , which is composed on the one hand of the name of the actor Dwight Frye and on the other hand of the name of the character Renfield, which he played in the classic film Dracula (1931).
• After a re-examination in 2009, the film, which was previously approved for ages 18 and over, was approved for age 16

Web links

• Stephen King's The Night Flier in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Stephen King's The Night Flier atRotten Tomatoes(English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Review of Cinema
2. ↑ Stephen King's The Night Flier. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .