Leofwine_draca 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...

GL84 When a series of strange deaths surrounding an Indian reservation are shown to be the work of vampire bats, a scientist enlists help from a local priest to help rein in the beasts' rampage before they can spread out to other areas.A pretty average creature feature, this one's watchable but certainly not without a few problems. As is typical of the time, there's far too much bull-headed characters that, instead of showing them to be free-spirited and display strong core values, paint them as backwards and far too tightly controlled by their spiritual past which makes it hard to get involved in the beginning here with the reservation under conflict with the oil mining companies that come off as just stale in this day-and-age. We still get a nice, modern build-up of the creatures' appearance with animal attacks giving the tell-tale clue to their existence and it's not until people are attacked do we even see the creatures, as they make their first on-screen appearance quite late in the film, resulting in the two sides coming together and using their skills to rid themselves of the menace. This is all good stuff, with some nice action scenes that show the creature attacks as well as the tactics to get rid of them, the finale is tons of fun and there's even some decent special effects for the creatures that aren't as laughable as expected. Overall, it's quite fun if still flawed.Rated R: Violence and Language

udar55 A group of vampire bats descend upon two Indian reservations that stand as the ground for a feud between honest Deputy Duran (Nick Mancuso) and money hungry Walker (Stephen Macht). Also cruising around the desert is Phillip Rayne (David Warner), a guy who hunts vampire bats. What the heck is going on with this film? What should have been a straightforward "JAWS with wings" gets turned into a bizarre commentary on Indian mysticism, politics and environmentalism. But PROPHECY (1980) this ain't. Anyway, I dig someone trying to do something original and all this would be fine if the film wasn't so boring. The few moments there are bat attacks are so poorly handled by director Arthur Hiller, that you can only dream of how someone with a sense of suspense could have pulled them off. All of the actors are fine, but their motivations are paper thin. "I kill them because they are evil," is how Warner justifies his ridiculous supporting turn as the vampire bat hunter with a state-of- the-art van and no means for financing. On the plus side, there are some stunning locations in New Mexico and a great score by Henry Mancini.

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.