Robert J. Maxwell 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.

seddon-2 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.

Paul Andrews Nightwing is set in the New Mexico desert on a reservation where the Maski Indian people live, Deputy Duran (Nick Mancuso) is called out to investigate a dead horse which has been bitten to death & it's blood drank but rich businessman Walker Chee (Stephen Macht) wants it kept quiet since he's trying to sell the land which is rich in oil. Walker is contacted by Phillip Payne (David Warner) an expert in tracking & killing Vampire bats who claims that Vampire bats are nesting in a cave on the reservation & they are spreading the bubonic plague unless they are killed which he is willing to do. Phillip teams up with Duran in an attempt to stop the plague from spreading & wiping out most of America...Directed by Arthur Hiller this is pretty poor fare from start to finish. The dull script by Steve Shagan, Bud Shrake & Martin Cruz Smith was based on his novel of the same name takes itself extremely seriously & I though it was a bit of a mess if I'm honest. At times it comes across as a drama more than a horror film as it tries to deal with various clichéd issues like the businessman who wants things kept quiet so as not to blow his big money deal, the differences between the Indian people & modern civilisation, superstition, prejudice & a Deputy who has to save the day. For a start lets get one thing settled straight away, this is not a film about killer bats in the way you would expect, no this is about the potential devastation the bubonic plague carried & spread by them could inflict on America. There are only two bat attack scenes in the entire film so don't expect a high body count or lots of gore. Then there's the fact that the film never really decides what it trying to do, it seems split between the rationalisation of the modern world & supernatural ancient Indian spirits & legends. Nightwing never quite makes itself clear whether there is anything supernatural going on or whether it's just Duran's interpretation of the situation, personally I think it's an uneasy juxtaposition which doesn't work at all & just confuses an already poor film. Then there's the fact it's pretty darn slow, not that much actually happens in it & it's just plain boring. The character's & dialogue are poor & the ending is pretty bad as well.Director Hiller doesn't do anything to make this more watchable, he directs at a leaden pace & at times seems to forget this is meant to be a horror film about bats. However considering the rubbish puppets & special effects provided by the worst special make-up effects man ever Carlo Rambaldi it's not surprising Hill didn't show them too much, the bat puppets are truly terrible & there's simply no other word for it. Forget about any gore as there isn't any apart from a couple of bat bites.Technically the film is alright with some decent cinematography but when a films just this bad it doesn't really matter how nice it looks. There's no style here, there's no scares or tension or atmosphere & I'm still not sure what sort of film this is meant to be or who it's meant to appeal to. The acting isn't great, it's nice to see David Warner in genre film but I'm not sure about his character, I mean are there really people in the world who do nothing but track & kill Vampire bats for a living? Otherwise everyone here is pretty damned forgettable.Nightwing is crap, that's just my opinion for what it's worth & it does seem to have good reviews on the IMDb so maybe in the minority although personally I don't think so. Very little here to recommend, watch The Bat People (1974) again instead as it provides far more fun & entertainment than Nightwing does.

black_wolf_1970 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.