Nightflyers (1987)

This is a combination of modern Horror and old Twilight Zone style science fiction.The story is fairly well told. In the 1980s, the idea of the living machine was not overused. It's an age old idea, as life is given to an inanimate object. In this case, there is an attempt to explain it as a scientific plausibility when a "witch" is incorporated into a ship.The movie tries to take both worlds, to satisfy the Horror crowd with witchcraft and "possession", and the Science Fiction crowd with the other possibility.And that's a minor point, but still a point I would rather the movie take sides on instead of intentionally and obviously grab at multiple audiences. Still, knowing that, one can't blame them.The story is fairly well told, a bit engaging. Most of the characters are quite likable, and we can believe their experiences and reactions. I am very surprised at the low rating on IMDb. I am a tough grader, with 5/10 being an average, decent film, and thought my 6/10 was low, but clearly, since I am a tough grader, and not a huge fan of this sort of film making, I am very suspect as to the motives of those who rate this film so low, especially since there were multitudes. You can infer a logical conclusion from that, one you can't prove, but know to be true.I didn't care much for the background sound, and it was a large reason why I didn't rate it higher. A film should be relaxing and easy to watch. I do understand that this is geared to the masochistic Horror crowd, but not totally. In any event, it is uncomfortable viewing, with inadequate Sound effects. The story itself receives a passing grade.

I can't believe the negative reviews. I think most of the reviews have been by persons who have not watched this film properly.This film is far more better than Event Horizon. It stands as a masterpiece on its own.The story is this: A group of skilled individuals have been recruited to go on a voyage into deep space to find an alien race that communicates through radio signals. A man with high telepathic abilities is hired to communicate with this race by listening to the radio signals.The spaceship in which the crew is traveling in has a captain that only appears to them as a holographic image. He never comes in direct contact of the crew. The telepathic man senses an ominous presence within the ship and he keeps this information to himself. Why is the captain of the spaceship avoiding contact with the crew? And what of the ominous presence within the ship? Watch the film to see what happens...Incredible space photography, special effects and thrilling background musical score. Great acting by the cast.10/10. What more do you want? Get it on DVD now!!! You won't regret it - trust me.

Michael D'Brannin(John Standing)has a great vision and that is to find a certain form of alien life/intelligence but needs a space vessel to seek it out. The ship he's able to find is captained supposedly by a mysterious man named Royd(Michael Praed)who won't reveal himself in person to the crew. Miranda(Catherine Mary Stewart who I thought was just fine)is a head-strong woman who is D'Brannin's confident, a person who believes in him and his life's goal & desire. The rest of the crew are not as assured of this mission, but go along with the ride anyway. They are mostly made up of tech-heads who wish to understand Royd more and try various ways to get more information about him. Then there's a woebegone Class-10 telepath Jon(the always watchable, flashy, flamboyant Michael Des Barres ripping to shreds every scene he's in)who believes he's found an evil presence on board the ship, at it's very core. This "seething malignant presence" hates the crew, Jon informs them in shouting tirades as he has "linked" with the very evil itself. Royd has found a person to confide in with Miranda, obviously a woman he's also attracted to. He finds her doing gymnastics(perhaps one of the few times the film really pursues character development by placing a past to a person)and is intrigued by her and the things Miranda has to say. Royd informs her that he is in fact a clone, created by a woman he calls "Mother" who died before the chamber birthing him completed it's cycle. Royd wishes to leave his ship and realizes that his immunity system is so weak he'll probably die leaving the ship, but his feeling of imprisonment makes his decision easier. His desire to do this makes the evil presence on the ship erupt as it's obvious who it is that is behind the violence that will take place..Mother. Jon wishes to "take over" the ship and believes he can defeat the evil that is control at the present..big mistake. He is instead controlled by Mother and forced to attempt the murder on the one she believes is responsible for putting thoughts of leaving in Royd's head..Miranda. The rest of the crew are merely fodder for her death belt. From Jon we find out what is indeed behind the evil..somehow the woman who created Royd transfered her consciousness and will into the ship's core meaning that it's her who controls the ship and it's computer. Somewhere on the ship lies her power and it must be destroyed or else everyone perishes.Yeah, it's rather mediocre, but I never found it to be as bad as everyone else posting user comments does. Now, this could be because I haven't read the book it's based on. I'll admit, there isn't much character development and the crew, for the most part, are merely here to serve as victims for the "Mother of evil". Lisa Blount who portrays Audrey, the crew member who questions nearly everything, especially the trustworthiness of Royd, is feisty enough, but a bit grating at the same time. James Avery(as Darryl, the cook who gets his fingers taken off in a kitchen explosion during one of Mother's emotional outbursts and then later re-applied during a surgery scene)tries hard in the role of token black guy who serves as emotional center to the nervous crew members who do not trust Royd or the other goings-on on board this alien ship. Glenn Withrow is Keelor, the nerd who understands the engineering side of things and has a scene where he finds the massive schematics of the computer showing us what they're up against. Hélène Udy is Lilly, the computer wiz mostly seen punching keys trying to get at what makes Royd(..and the ship)tick. Annabel Brooks is Jon's telepathic lover, Eliza.There's one great sequence where someone possessed by Mother attempts to kill Miranda and during the struggle gets his arm sliced off & face broken apart by a renegade laser. Another poor soul is sucked out into space when, in another one of her emotional tirades, Mother opens the cargo bay doors. During that tirade, Royd is able, he thinks, to stop Mother, but not before the cargo bay is breached meaning it must be patched before the ship implodes. So you know that going outside the ship is very necessary..is Mother really dead? I thought some of the special effects sequences were just fine and the murkiness of the ship's interior isn't something I was bothered by. It could've been better, I assume, since many consider this an abomination to a good novel. Whoever made this probably didn't have the money or proper resources to make the kind of ambitious project that novel needed.

Is it just me, or is this movie basically "Event Horizon"? It makes me wonder if Paul Anderson saw this movie as a kid and then subconsciously recreated it later. A crew of expendable caricatures head for deep space in a mysterious and uniquely experimental vessel which is secretly both sentient and malicious. The evil spaceship begins to throw spooky vibes and lethal accidents at them in equal measure, and a guy who is very "in tune" with the bodiless lurking evil gradually becomes obsessed and consumed by it, eventually graduating into a full-blown zombie possessee. He is killed in a messy, disfiguring way and yet because he is the ship's puppet/mascot he comes back again and again. Eventually what's left of the hardy crew manages to circumvent the "evil core" of the ship and explosions ensue. Does any of this sound familiar? It makes me wonder if EVERY contemporary genre film has its own obscure eighties counterpart that nobody remembers.-H