A scientific group set out on a journey into space to find a magical creature. What they find is a killer computer on the ship they chartered.
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the audience applauded
hyped garbage
If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
For the original work that this is based on and several others, pick up a copy of the anthology "The Reel Stuff" edited by Brien Thomsen and Martin Greenberg, Daw Books Inc. 2008. This, "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick and "Who Goes There" ("The Thing") by John W. Campbell are the best of the lot. I'm sure Amazon has it.
When I enter Nightflyers as my keyword in Google, all I get is references to this movie. That's a shame, since the George R. R. Martin novel, novella, whatever, is a wonderful, intriguing, scary, intelligent mystery story, whereas the movie is the palest ghost of the book's greatness. Martin's book predated Alien by about five years, and I wonder if Ron Shusett or Dan O'Bannon might have gotten some inspiration from it.The movie is a typical '80s gore-fest, complete with misty, foggy sets, ridiculous dialogue and caricatures, and an explosive climax that totally ruins of the book's thoughtful ending. I like the actors who play Royd Eris and Professor D'Branin, and I admit I enjoyed Michael Des Barres's performance as the whacked-out telepath. But most of the acting was subpar. I thought Catherine Mary Stewart did what she could, but the script stripped away all the complexity of her character, who was much more richly drawn in the book. The movie also completely misses the book's subtle sense of humor. The book is closer in tone to John Carpenter's movie Dark Star, plus a great sense of mystery and spookiness. The movie spills the beans on Royd's backstory far too early and off-handedly, as opposed to the book's climactic revelation.So don't let this movie turn you off of Nightflyers -- read the book. By all means, read it!
When I first watched this film, I thought it was really cool, but then after seeing it a second time, I thing about how weird it truly was. From the ghostly premonitions to the weird lighting, it was quite a mess of a film. While I will give it a 5/10, I feel like this was being a bit generous. If you ever see this film, give a watch. Some people might actually find it tantalizing.
I remember this movie well, unfortunately not fondly. I had read the story by Martin almost a year before this movie came out and like a sucker, I was one of many in line to see it at my local cineplex. The horror!! No, not the supposed horror to be witnessed in the movie, but the horror of how bad this movie is. Great actors like John Standing, Michael Praed and Catherine Mary Stewart try desperately to make this dog of a film fly as a genuine sci-fi horror movie, and unfortunately they wind up failing in the process. I actually don't know what was darker, the sets they used to film the movie on or the theater but it was attrocious, especially with all that stupid mist clouding the scenery. I guess in the future, humidifiers run amok. Skip this one, unless your a sadist that enjoys seeing poor actors chew vast amounts of scenery, stick with the book instead.