Strictly average movie

Crappy film

The first must-see film of the year.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Nightwing is the title of an 'ecological thriller' written by Martin Cruz Smith, detailing an outbreak of vampire bats at an Indian Reservation in New Mexico. I hated that book; found it dry, boring and with characters I didn't care about. NIGHTWING the film improves on the book a little, but only a little: it's saved by a couple of okayish performances and some fun, cheesy scenes, but for the most part plays out the proceedings with a wearying po-faced seriousness. The one thing that NIGHTWING has in its favour is the setting, an Native American reservation in the middle of the New Mexico desert. At least the locale, and the inevitable political strife, has a different look and flavour than is usual for a monster B-movie. It's a shame, then, that the script is so darned pedantic, explaining every little detail and throwing in unwanted romantic sub-plots so that we're half asleep by the time the first bat attack comes.It's a shame, because that attack is a lot of fun – almost as fun as the fiery climax, in which David Warner is strung up on a rope and Native American hero Nick Mancuso goes crazy after chewing on some mystical root. These scenes have vitality and tension, which isn't spoiled by the crudity of the special effects – the bats here are a mixture of stock footage, silly rubber puppets (looking virtually the same as the ones in SCARS OF Dracula) and hand-drawn effects. Still, the inclusion of Warner is a welcome delight and he looks to be having a ball with his role here. I'm not sure how plausible Nick Mancuso is as a Native American, and I was put off by his dodgy wig for the most part; he's less annoying than Kathryn Harrold, though, who starts off as a feisty sidekick and before long becomes stupid-woman-in-peril.Some good moments, such as the one where a corpse starts bleeding or another where our heroes are separated from violent death by a flimsy chain-link fence, make NIGHTWING better than it has any right to be. I still don't think it's a very good film, as it's pretty boring, but you COULD do a lot worse...

In case you were hoping to sit back and enjoy a schlocky, over-the-top and typically 70's "nature gone wild" creature feature (in the same trend as "Frogs", "Squirm", "Grizzly", "Night of the Lepus" or "Day of the Animals"), don't even bother to watch "Nightwing"! Yes, this movie basically handles about killer bats and features one or two virulent animal-attack sequences, but primarily this is more of a talkative and wannabe-ambitious slice of eco-horror full of pro-Indian gibberish and moralistic messages. It's actually very reminiscent to that other 1979 eco-horror flick "Prophecy", and that wasn't any good either. In an enormous and remote New Mexican reservation, traditional Indian Youngman Duran argues non-stop with progressive Indian Walker Chee. For you see, a lot of severely mutilated cattle cadavers have been discovered lately, but Chee denies the obvious infestation of vampire bats because this negatively impacts his business negotiations with a large shale-oil corporation (indeed, the "Jaws" influences are never far away in horror cinema). So instead, Duran teams up with the rather eccentric professional bat-exterminator Philip Payne. Together they attempt to track down the bats' hideout cave as well as the whereabouts of a local beauty that went missing during a Christian camping trip. My movie-buddy warned me that this wasn't going to be a light-headed trash flick, but – alas – I didn't listen. Arthur Hiller's direction is more than competent, but the screenplay adaptation deep dives too much into Indian folklore and tribal rivalries, while it stupidly neglects the creature-feature potential. A terrible shame, since the nauseating bat critters, partially from the hand of Carlo Rambaldi ("Alien", "Deep Red"), come across as rather menacing when shown in close-up. "Nightwing" isn't at all worthless and features two memorable elements: a grisly attack on a group of campers sitting around a campfire and the performance of David Warner as the skeptical bat hunter. His long speeches about how vampire bats are the embodiment of evil and how this species contribute absolutely nothing to the functioning of the environment are the undeniable highlights of the movie. He sure hates the bats with a passion!

Perhaps we have grown harder to convince since the days when John Ford passed off Utah's Monument Valley as West Texas, but showing us the Grand Canyon followed by a radio voice locating us near Tucson when the movie was actually made outside of Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico, just doesn't cut it except for the kiddie crowd and the geographically challenged. This isn't even a good scary movie. There is no "horror" and less suspense. It centers on a preposterous premise of "bad" science (but that hardly makes it unique). And it includes a mishmash of symbols that should be generally insulting to Native Americans and their religious leaders. Kathryn Harrold is probably still embarrassed she took this role just to prance around and play the lone helpless woman whose only plot function is to be rescued by the hero. It seems more like a movie made in 1959 than one made in 1979. That said it remains my favorite "swarms of vampire bats carrying pneumonic plague on an Indian reservation" movie.

"They came just after dark. Thousands of them. They filled the sky."Nick Mancuso stars as a deputy of the Maski Tribal Police, faced with a major crisis along with other tribes in the surrounding territories: migrating vampire bats have a colony hidden in a cave somewhere in one of the desert mountains, thirsty for blood and attacking animals such as horses and sheep. David Warner is a vampire bat specialist who follows the bats, exterminating colonies when he finds them. He'll need Mancuso's assistance (the bats are hidden in a cavern somewhere in Maski Canyon, holy ground for Mancuso's tribe) to find the bats so he can kill them. The bats leave a stench of ammonia on those they kill and are carrying the bubonic plague. Stephen Macht is a vocal leader of another tribe, having brought white man's progress to his people, needing Mancuso to talk the Maski into allowing an oil company to come into their area to drill. This movie isn't just about killer bats on the warpath, but explores the customs, beliefs, and plight of the Native American people within a certain area. I must say that I was divided about this film. While I liked the cast a hell of a lot and thought the idea of centering your story around Native American characters (and an English scientist who hunts vampire bats) was refreshing for a "when animals attack" creature feature. That said, I found the bats themselves primarily campy looking and the movie is a bit overlong (there's a solid 80 minute movie here stretched out twenty more minutes). The attack sequence where Christians are swarmed and bled is less horrifying as it is unintentionally funny because the bats look so fake. The performances, however, for the most part, make up for many of this film's deficiencies. I did kind of roll my eyes, truth be told, at the end when Mancuso begins to see "ghost Maski" led by Abner, even communicating to him as the dead spiritual leader stands on an old Native American city inside a cavern where the bats rest during the day. Mancuso talking to Abner about "closing the circle" and keeping him from killing everybody so that the Maski people can rise anew like a Phoenix from the fire. Kathryn Harrold (The Sender), as usual, is really good as Mancuso's white love interest, a doctor who plans to attend college at Baylor University so she can gather greater knowledge and return with a better understanding on how to help the Native American people. Warner is a quality addition (no surprise) to the film, a more practical, logical man within an environment of superstition and customs he must contend with, his vampire bat hunter equipped with technological means and the expertise to catch and kill those bloodthirsty vermin. Macht, as a Native American with designs on cashing in on oil so that "his people can have clinics and schools", appropriately casts doubt on his real motivations for securing the trust of the Maski tribe. Strother Martin steals his scenes (was there any doubt?) as an old missionary-turned-store owner who married an "Indian woman" and spawned a daughter he begs Mancuso often to marry (Strother has primarily two scenes, one where he speaks disappointingly to Christian tourists about how the Indians hate him, with a wad of chew in his mouth). Martin does seem to believe in many of the beliefs from the Maski tribe, evident with how reluctant and worried he is to follow Mancuso onto Holy Ground where Abner was buried. The New Mexico locations will take your breath away and really add a lot to the film. I can't say that "Nightwing" is anything that great, but worth a watch for the cast and setting. As a creature feature, however, not that special.