The Night Flier (film)
| The Night Flier | |
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DVD cover
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| Directed by | Mark Pavia |
| Produced by |
Mitchell Galin Richard P. Rubinstein |
| Written by |
Stephen King (story) Mark Pavia Jack O'Donnell |
| Based on | The Night Flier (short story) by Stephen King |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Brian Keane |
| Cinematography | David Connell |
| Edited by | Elizabeth Schwartz |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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Release date
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Running time
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93 minutes |
| Country | United States Italy |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $125,397 (United States only) |
The Night Flier is a 1997 American horror film based on the short story of the same name which was written by Stephen King. It was directed by Mark Pavia (Fender Bender) and starred Miguel Ferrer and Julie Entwisle.
The story follows a reporter named Richard Dees as he follows, attempting to catch up with, a murderer who kills his victims in a vampiristic style. The killer flies to each murder scene in a black Skymaster airplane. At one point, Dees does catch up with the plane and finds dirt inside and the interior covered in blood, heightening the suspense of the film. The plot culminates in Dees' confrontation with 'The Night Flier' and his own loss of sanity.
Dees' secondary conflict involves a young female reporter named Katherine Blair, who joins the staff at the exploitative magazine "Inside View", where Dees ranks as senior reporter. At first he dismisses her as naive and, at best, a "Jimmy" (as in "Jimmy Olsen") and actively abuses her. She ultimately survives him and writes about Dees' death, her article prominently featured on the title page of the magazine "Inside View".
The film was first released on DVD by HBO Home Video on May 27, 1998. Since then the film has been released multiple times by HBO and Warner Home Video, and once distributed by Mosaic Movies in 2000.
The Night Flier contains many references to Stephen King's larger mythos, most of which were not present in the original story. In the scene where Katherine looks at some of Richard's previous Inside View articles, we see that most of the bylines relate to other Stephen King stories. 'Springheel Jack Strikes Again!' refers to 'Strawberry Spring', 'Headless Lamaze Leads To Successful Birth!' refers to The Breathing Method, 'Kiddie Cultists in Kansas Worship Creepy Voodoo God!' refers to 'Children of the Corn', 'Satanic Shopkeeper Sells Gory Goodies!' refers to Needful Things, 'Naked Demons Levelled My Lawn!' refers to 'The Lawnmower Man', and 'The Ultimate Killer Diet! Gypsy Curse Flays Fat Lawyer's Flesh' refers to Thinner.
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