User Reviews

I rented this movie because the Martin Cruz Smith book had recently come my way and I found it quite good. The movie is not unfaithful to the book, though it does suffer in comparison in the strength of the characterizations - in the book we learn why Youngman Duran, Mancuso's character, is so tortured which, of course, makes his ordeal much more significant and meaningful. I'm writing mainly to defend David Warner whom another reviewer characterized as as "bad actor". Warner is a terrific character actor who can presently be heard doing a rich villiany voice on the Saturday morning "Men in Black" cartoon (which is better than the movie, in my opinion). It seems Americans have trouble with classically trained English actors whose diction and style may seem too broad if your only frame of reference is Brad Pitt. Recently went to "Peeping Tom" and sat next to a group of teenagers who laughed all the way through, completely oblivious to the historical context of the film and its quality. So "Nightwing" is pretty good - good character acting (also love Strother Martin), lovely cinematography, nice Mancini score. Blood and gore special effects quite restrained a la 1979 technology, so if that's your thing this isn't your movie.

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.

Well, first of all I must say that for a movie from 1979, then "Nightwing" is actually not too shabby, and it still holds up for a viewing here in 2021.

I had the chance to sit down in 2021 to watch the 1979 movie "Nightwing" from writers Steve Shagan, Bud Shrake and Martin Cruz Smith. Sure, I had even heard about the movie prior to sitting down to watch it. But I've always enjoyed creature features, so of course I sat down to watch "Nightwing" as I was given the opportunity to do so.

And I must say that with the likes of Nick Mancuso, David Warner and Charles Hallahan on the cast list, I believed that I wouldn't be in for something all that bad. And as it turned out, then "Nightwing" was actually an enjoyable movie.

Needless to say that the actors and actresses in the movie definitely put on good performances, and they had some proper material to work with in terms of storyline and well-rounded characters.

The storyline in the movie was well written and brought to life on the screen in a pleasing manner by director Arthur Hiller. And as I mentioned earlier, the movie still holds its ground now, 42 years after it was released. And that, in itself, is a rather extraordinary accomplishment.

While "Nightwing" is listed as a horror movie, I would say that it was more of a thriller than an actual horror movie. There wasn't anything scary about this movie, at least not in the traditional way of horror movies. But it was an interesting story and one that grabs a hold of the audience and brings you on an enjoyable ride.

Visually then of course "Nightwing" is showing clear signs of being 42 years old. But as the movie wasn't really overly reliant on special effects, then the effects in the movie were passable enough to carry the movie for what the effects needed to do. Of course, by comparing it to today's special effects, then "Nightwing" is a relic.

I have to say that I was more than genuinely entertained by "Nightwing", and it proved to be a very enjoyable movie, like they used to make creature feature movies back in the day.

My rating of the 1979 horror movie "Nightwing" lands on a six out of ten stars. Well worth taking the time to sit down to watch this movie, trust me.

From Arthur Hiller Director of 'Silver Streak' 'Love Story' 'The Hospital' and many other great films comes 'Nightwing' Nick Mancuso is the deputy tribal policeman, who in a race against time to stop a vengeful shaman elders 'curse' on humanity due to him being against the expansion of western Ideals into his reservation.

The premise for 'Nightwing' is a brilliant high concept which can be called 'Jaws' with wings, the bat effects by Carlo Rambaldi which are by todays standard 'fake' but in this day and age of overused Digital Animation these effects stand out and don't look too obvious as modern effects tend to. David Warner plays a determined scientist, Kathryn Harrold is Mancuso's love interest who narrowly escapes the wrath of the bats. the highlight of the film is the sequence with the bigoted evangelists whilst camping in the outback meet a nasty end courtesy of the winged creatures. 'Nightwing' is an enjoyable Nature gone berserk movie which despite it's shortcomings is great fun. Henry Mancini's score is excellent.

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!

Sometimes a little-known movie can turn out to be an undiscovered treasure, but this isn't the case here; "Nightwing" deserves to be ignored, and isn't worth your time. Lots of talk, lots of padding, few scares. A nice Mancini score and the great-looking cinematography are its only positive qualities. Skip it and re-watch "The Birds" instead. (*)

Two tribes on the reservation. One, the Maski, is protected by Deputy Youngman Duran (Nick Mancuso), and the other by Walker Chee (Stephen Macht). the problem is that Chee wants to mine for oil on Duran's part of the reservation in an area that is holy ground.

High Priest Abner Tasupi (George Clutesi) has a solution and he opens the gates between life and death. It cost him his life - or did it, since he is not in his grave.

Enter Phillip Payne (David Warner) with the answer to why animals are dying. He is a vampire hunter - vampire bats, that is. Can he destroy the bats before bubonic plague covers the area?

Duran's girlfriend Anne (Kathryn Harrold) leads a group of Quakers on a camping and fishing trip when the bats decide they are tired of animals. The bats coming out of the night sky were really scary creatures. The Quaker men were somewhat unchristian in their efforts to survive, leaving two women to die, but they got theirs. The bat attack on the Quakers was so good, I watched it twice before moving on.

Swine flu gets mentioned as a possible cause of death of seven priests, but it was plague. It is suspected that the priests stole Abner's body and got the plague from him.

In the end, the bats were consumed the way they always are, with a little Indian magic, of course. Abner still won as the eternal fires will prevent mining.

Mancuso, Warner, and Nacht gave good performances, and it was interesting to hear about bats through the ages.

This adaptation of the Martin Cruz Smith novel (scripted by Steve Shagan, Bud Shrake, and Smith himself) is actually pretty faithful to the source material. Ultimately, it's not quite as satisfying as Smiths' story, where the characters were given more depth. But it's still a striking and interesting (if not great) film, an unusual mix of animal horror, human drama, and Indian mysticism. The actors in all of the major roles are pretty good, and director Arthur Hiller - a man known more for mainstream comedies and dramas such as "Love Story" - does his best working within a different genre. It's true that the film doesn't have very much suspense, but the animal attacks are NOT that badly done, despite the presence of some chintzy effects. At the very least, what "Nightwing" has to recommend it is beautiful New Mexico scenery and a solid score by Henry Mancini.

Nick Mancuso stars as Maskai policeman Youngman Duran, faced with sudden and mysterious deaths of animals and humans alike. An Englishman named Phillip Payne (David Warner) knows the score: the culprits are vampire bats, and he's the man to take care of the problem. Apparently eradicating this species is his life's work (one would think that animal rights activists would take exception to such a pursuit), because he believes that they embody evil. Yeah, I know, pretty thin for a motivation. Making life difficult for Duran is local mover and shaker Walker Chee (Stephen Macht), a man who's made it *his* mission to acclimate himself to the white man's world, and who's giving an assist to a mining company.

Overall, this isn't bad, even if lacking in style. It's fundamentally a decent story that's capably told. Mancuso is engaging in the lead, and Warner delivers his lines with total conviction, no matter how silly his character may be; the film benefits from his presence. The lovely Kathryn Harrold is appealing as Youngman's white love interest Anne Dillon, George Clutesi (who was in another Indian themed horror film from the same year, "Prophecy") is memorable in the small part of old priest Abner, and the great Strother Martin, in one of his final film roles, is a joy to watch as always as the bigoted trading post operator Selwyn. Among the supporting cast are character players Ben Piazza, Donald Hotton, Charles Hallahan, Alice Hirson, and Pat Corley.

"Nightwing" is definitely worth a look for the curious.

Seven out of 10.

******SPOILERS****** One of the main reasons that I like "Nightwing" is that the movie educates the audience about the subject matter in it. You learn more about Vampire Bats in just a five minute conversation between Phillip Payne, David Warner, the Bat investigator and Walker Chee, Stephan Macht, the Indian official then you learned about the same subject in all the movies that Hollywood made about Bats put together.

The movie also gives you an interesting look about what I think is it's main subject; the mystical and religious as well as the cultural customs of the American Indians of the American South-West. The movie "Nightwing" has a dual story in it. Deadly Vampire Bat attacks on people and livestock in the South-West, the state of Arizona. There's an attempt by a big oil conglomerate, Peabody Mining, to buy up and strip mine a large section of two Indian Reservations, the Pahana & Maskie. This is being done with the help of a corrupt top Indian official, Walker Chee, in the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A number of cows and horses are found dead and the local farmers as well as government officials are left confused and baffled by what caused it. These incidents have attracted Phillip Payne who's a bat researcher or as he calls himself "The Exterminating Angel" to the area. Payne has been tracking down the migration of Vampire Bats since 1973 from South America Mexico and now to the southern part of the United States and he thinks that a large colony of Vampire Bats are responsible for whats been happening in the places effected with dead livestock and now people. There has also developed a number of deaths due to Bubonic Plague which Payne feel that the Bats are transmitting to both people as well as animals. Both the Peabody Mining Corp. and Walker Chee want to keep all this out of the news in order to protect their attempted land grab in the area.

With nothing able to stop the "Killer Bats" advance as they attack and kill people and cattle almost undeterred as a last resort Indian Police Sheriff Youngman Duran, Nick Mancuso,tries something new to stop the killer bats. With the help of ancient Indian Mysticism that Duran learned from his friend and Maskie Indian High Priest Abner Tasupi, George Clutsei, he's able to stem the tide of the Vampire Bat invasion.

Defiantly better then most of the movies about the same subject with it's focus on detail science and history instead of horror shock and gore. The rivalry between the upright and honest Indian Sheriff Youngman Duran and the corrupt and deceiving Indian official Walker Chee alone makes the movie interesting all by itself.

The Bat menace in the movie was intelligently handled and the film tried as much as possible to keep the supernatural and mystical angle in check making it more real as well as effective. The final sequence of "Nightwing" in the deadly "Bat Cave" as Duran Payne and Duran's girlfriend Anne Dillion, Kathryn Harrold, were working against the clock, or better yet the night, to destroy the giant Vampire Bat colony before it woke up was nail biting and very effectively done. The scenes of the Bat attacks in the movie, there were only three, were believable as well as shocking even though the special effects back then, in 1979, were primitive to what they are in movies today.

All and all "Nightwing"is one of the most unknown, it's almost impossible to find it on VHS today and it's never been released on DVD, and at the same time best movies about "Killer Bats" that you'll ever see.

I liked this movie so much that it prompted me to take a trip to New Mexico and to eventually move there!! Unfortunately, due to medical problems, I was forced to come back to Kansas, but I will never regret moving to the Southwest.

Okay, so Nick Mancuso, who played Duran, sounded like he was from the Bronx occasionally and the tribes were renamed, but I purchased the VHS tape many years ago and check out every DVD web site hoping to find it there. It is probably the only reason I still have a VCR.++++++

The book was written by Martin Cruz Smith, an accomplished author, it was directed by Arthur Hiller, and the musical score done by Henry Mancini. Just how bad could it be?? If it is a horror movie you are looking for, this is not going to satisfy you. But a movie about the hardships and superstitions that still persist on the Navajo and Hopi reservations is as relevant as it was when Nightwing was made back in the 70s. I think that if the movie had not been billed as a "horror" flick, it would have gained much more of a following. I find it quite amusing that although it has never been made as a DVD, it is still found almost every other month on one of the pay movie channels. So I guess I'm not the only one who thinks that Nightwing is worth watching!

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.

Okay, it's not a good movie, how could a movie about a plague of killer vampire bats in the American desert possibly be good? Especially with all the corpses covered with bat pee, and a mad scientist played by a ham bad actor?

But it has some redeeming qualities. It's set on a beautiful southwestern Indian reservation, and our hero is a likeable tribal cop like my fave rave Jim Chee (and a stud). The location photography is nice to look at, most of the acting is decent, and the finale is worth a look. How do you kill off a whole cave full of vampire bats at once? I like their method...

I recently rewatched Nightwing (1979) on Prime. The storyline revolves around an Indian reservation where a town sheriff discovers dead animals and corpses scattered across the lands. As he investigates, he uncovers the threat of killer vampire bats that may have migrated to the area. The challenge becomes stopping them before they wreak more havoc.

Directed by Arthur Hiller (See No Evil, Hear No Evil), the film stars David Warner (Titanic), Kathryn Harrold (Raw Deal), Strother Martin (Cool Hand Luke), and Stephen Macht (The Monster Squad).

The movie has several positive elements, including well-executed character setups and circumstances. The sheriff is an easy character to root for, but David Warner's performance falls short, with overacting and poorly written, inauthentic dialogue. The bats exceeded expectations, and the kill scenes are solid. An entertaining burial scene adds to the mix.

In conclusion, Nightwing shows promise but doesn't fully realize its potential. I would give it a 4.5/10 but recommend seeing it once.

This movie's fun, if based on a questionable premise. We have the stereotypical Menace -- in this case, vampire bats -- who have to be exterminated before they Get Us All, and the pivotal character is an American Indian cop.

A tribal elder on a reservation is apparently behind the appearance of the bats, as he apparently shamanistically summoned them to "end the world." This because sacred grounds are being threatened by an industrialist, who wants to exploit resources.

Now, a word of reality here: movies to the contrary, real Vampire Bats don't suck blood. They evolved from fruit bats, and they nip their sleeping victims and lap the blood. The astonishing thing is that they do this without waking their victims. Their bite and anticoagulant saliva are being studied by medical institutions for new technological advances (in surgery and anesthesiology). They're neither aggressive nor dangerous.

Nonetheless, the movie bats are a menace, and a force of nature. The film reaches a satisfactory ending, which solved the problem set up by the industrialist, too. Fun, but not to be taken seriously.

Not the worst film ever, but the representation of vampire bats is criminal and it's films like this that will lead to reprisals against them, stoking unnecessary fear as to their presence near people. I understand it's a horror but a disclaimer would help, just to ensure 'dumb, ignorant people' do not use this as an excuse to hunt and kill more animals, not that some need much of an excuse anyway! Please always do some research if you watch movies like this, just like Great White Sharks are nothing like they are represented in Jaws, Vampire bats are not bone crunching killers! I would rate higher if there was a disclaimer at the end, or some further information correctly describing vampire bats.

This was better than it's rep.

A horror film about bats? Why not? It seemed like a good idea. But in Mr. Hiller's hands it became a bit more soap opera than horror. That's not to say there isn't any horror however.

The effects sucked. Sorry. It's the only way to describe it. But the atmosphere was great. Dark nights in the desert already had most people eeried out.

The critics crushed this one with extreme prejudice. And fans of M.C. Smith's novel weren't that nice either. (Kind of like they wouldn't be later when they did 'Gorky Park.') A lot of good build-up, but the story was second rate. It's worth a watch though. It used to play late-night cable once in a while. Some vid-bins still carry it too. If bats are your thing...

This is one of the most un-horror-like horror films I ever saw. It isn't until the mighty David Warner turns up as Payne, a Van Helsing-type that things begin to get interesting. The music is as jaunty as has ever been found in a 1970s American tea-time drama and the beautiful locations are wonderful to look at but distinctly un-horrific.

A slow spooky realisation dawns on the inhabitants of an Indian colony in New Mexico, mainly thanks to starchy Payne's information. Knowledgeable he may be, but he ain't no charmer: just that kind of character Warner excels at.

But things are too slow and too unspectacular and really need a few more scenes of jeopardy to liven things up. I'm a fan of restraint in films like this, but I'm left waiting for something to happen too often. When it does, the special effects sometimes strain to convince. Just when you think things have shifted up a gear, the pace returns to its leaden pace. My score is 5 out of 10.

Not that I can think of any others. In fact, the only other killer bat movie I know of is "Bats" and it looked really bad. This one though I liked...as a kid anyway. It used to come on HBO and Cinemax all the time when I was a kid and I watched it numerous times, it was a horror movie that was PG and easy to see, a rarity in those days. This movie is of course about killer bats terrorizing an Indian reservation. There are conflicts of culture and other messages of this sort, but for me it was the killer bats. David Warner is in this one as a researcher, and he has a rather good scene where he is stuck hung up in a most dangerous position. There is also another Indian, who I think was some sort of law enforcement agent or some sort of park supervisor who is also trying to find out what is behind the strange killings. There is a good scene where the bats attack this group in the desert and many other good bat attack scenes. There are also a number of scenes that may be happening or they may just be a hallucination.

How many movies about killer bats do you know of that are actually any good? With "Nightwing" I believe I may have stumbled upon one that's actually a bit better than the generic "Bats" (1999), one I deemed to be the best (as in: all others were worse) I've seen so far. Mixing Indian mysticism & science clashing with economical progress in a creature feature about the 'desmodus rotundus'; in other words: an unusually large horde of vampire bats out for flesh & blood. While not exactly on par with, let's say "Jaws", it's still a far better film than its measly 4.2/10 would have you believe on here. The acting is a bit of a mixed bunch, but we are presented a variety of pretty likable characters, each serving their purpose to the well-balanced plot. Well-balanced, that is to say: there's not too much killer bat action, actually, but one massive nightly attack on a bunch of campers around the 45 minute-mark stands out as a memorable bloodbath and remains a horrific highlight of the movie. David Warner is excellent as the determined scientist that tracks down vampire bats and kills them (that's pretty much his mission in life, and he takes it very serious). The plot does an admirably effective effort to explain things as well as making the threat of the vampire bats tangible and we're talking a fairly large-scaled production here. Henry Mancini did a nice job on the score and legendary Italian SFX artist Carlo Rambaldi also made a fine contribution in the Visual Effects department. If you're into these type of eco-horror movies from the late '70s, "Nightwing" might make up for a fun double bill with, for instance, "Prophecy" (1979). Or if you're looking for another seventies flick were the desmodus rotundus steals the show, check out "Chosen Survivors" (1974).