Best movie of this year hands down!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

I rather enjoyed this mediocre horror film. It succeeds at doing what it sets out to do -- ratchet up the suspense and provide the viewer with reckless and unthinking entertainment. And on top of that, there is some wonderful New Mexico location shooting, which can't be dismissed out of hand. You have never seen such vast expanses of rugged buttes, sandstone canyons, and pink dunes, all carefully accessorized by the occasional pale green of a shrub."King Kong," which set the rules for this genre, featured a gorilla doll that was about two feet tall and contained an armature, which is a brass skeleton of sorts with flexible joints, around which the flesh and hair are modeled.Narratives in the genre have a kind of metaphorical armature that follows the structure of "King Kong" the movie. At first, everything is innocent and peaceful. Complications are present, yes, but they haven't erupted. But then there are intimations that something is up. The natives kidnap Fay Wray, but for what purpose? A sea gull thumps against a closed door or strikes a pretty blond out of the blue. Cattle and horses are found dead for some mysterious reason. And what ever happened to those two miners with their mule? Suddenly the cause of the disaster is revealed -- crashing out of the forest or striking en masse from the skies or swimming sneakily into the lagoon, it doesn't matter how. Here, there is utter silence while the investigators wait for an attack -- then a cut to a close up of a vampire bat's hideous face zooming into the camera with a piercing shriek. Well, it may be homocentric to describe a bat's face as ugly. After all, they probably find us unattractive too, and they must find each other appealing enough to mate with. I call it bad taste but a vampire bat wouldn't.The hero is a lawman (Mancuso) representing the tribal council of the fictitious Maski tribe, although the real power brokers seem to be the dozen or so priests who run the reservation. The succulent Kathryn Harrold is his girl friend, a nurse. She was my supporting player in that bright star in the cinematic sky, the sublime and poetically executed "Raw Deal." David Warner plays roughly the same role he did in "The Omen," the researcher who does the leg work and tells the hero what's up. Stephen Macht is the leader of the equally fictional neighboring Pohana tribe, the dilatory unbeliever who wants to sell out the reservation for money. I always enjoy Stephen Macht. Mancuso, the nominal hero, is handsome in the way a TV star is handsome, but Macht's features have character. He could never be mistaken for anybody else. Plus he has a doctorate in dramatic arts and gave up a tenured position to become an actor, which is a pretty dicey thing to do.The script has its weaknesses, even given any low expectations we might have regarding the movie. Macht's politician claims at one point that half the time the priests go around stoned on Datura williamsii or Jimson weed. They wouldn't do that. Datura isn't a mellow high. It was used in some Southwestern ordeals and initiation rites. It induces often frightening and chaotic hallucinations. It's unclear why Mancuso seems to run around chewing on it and having long conversations with a ghost. One of those conversations interrupts his attempt to save the lives of himself, Harrold, and Warner, just as the plague-ridden vampire bats are about to attack him. He stops his rescue attempts and begins a foggy theological argument with a ghost while the bats whirl around his head. El momento de la verdad -- and he's telling a phantom where to get off.The visual effects are adequate, no more than that. Arthur Hiller, the director, might profitably have watched some of Val Lewton's psychological horror movies to learn how to scare the wits out of people while keeping the monster's appearances to a minimum. Still, there is all that majestic scenery, including Kathryn Harrold.

For the lovers of the truly idiotic, there's 1979's Nightwing, a thoroughly ridiculous pile of guano pretending to be a serious story about Native American mysticism and the dangers of great, winged hordes of needle-toothed rodentia.What makes Nightwing so embarrassing is that it's so very watchable. You can get your fill of angelic Indians, stupid (and soon-to-be-dead) Christian missionaries, and maybe the single worst performance in Kathryn Herrold's career (boy, she turned out to be a big star, didn't she?).It's a hoot (or a high-pitched sonar squeal) and I can't think of a better movie to recommend for your weekend living room movie festival, capping off the great cheapjack monster flicks of the 1970's (you'd better have Prophesy, Manitou, and Motel Hell along for the ride!).

I absolutely loved this movie. A young, Hot Nick Mancuso was definitely a bonus! :-) I liked how it delved into Native American lore...the visions inside the cave were awesome. The familiar faces of Stephen Macht and David Warner were also a plus. I can't believe I haven't seen this movie until yesterday. True, the story line could have been a bit better, but remember, this was made in 1979. They didn't have the tricks of the trade that the movie makers have now-a-days. The bats looked true to life enough to be convincing. The methods of the vampire bat hunter were a bit weak and..a bit silly. Would you lean over the top of a cave without being secured to something safe? YIKES! The music was great. Mancini scores always are. :-)

In this movie a educated Idian who has become rich wants to become richer by destroying tribal lands and ruin the environment by striping the area for the shale oil reserves, BTW you cant drill to get it you strip mine it out. An old Indian, Durans "granfather" calls on the spirits of the tribal ancients to bring a colony of Vampire bats to destroy the invaders into the sacred lands, Payne in a scientist and vampire bat killer who seems to hate them on a almost psychotic level then again there is the Van Helsing syndrome for the movie. Duran is the hero who tries to stop the mining and the killings with little success, Ann is his girl friend trapped in the dessert the only survivor of a bat attack(FYI: VAMPIRE BATS OR FOR THAT MATTER ANY BAT ARE NOT THAT Aggressive, ARE EASILY SCARED AND ALMOST NEVER ATTACK LARGE ANIMALS IE: HUMANS, UNLESS PUSHED, VAMPIRE BATS DO FEED ON CATTLE AND SOMETIME HUMANS BUT THEY HAVE ALL BUT NEVER BEEN REPORTED AS KILLING THEIR PREY EVEN IF IT IS PEOPLE) In the end Duran saves the girl, the scientist, traps the bats sets the oil on fire killing them, thus the land is free from being ruined by miners/oil hunters until the fire burns out as Duran says in a few hundred years. It is a good film made with 1970's fear of all thing not cute and cuddly but worth seeing.