Why so much hype?

Too much of everything

It's one of the most original films you'll likely see all year, which, depending on your threshold for certifiably crazy storylines, could be a rewarding experience or one that frustrates you.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

My VHS tape of Nightflyers was a prized possession of mine, until that media died. THEN, I found a digital copy of a laserdisc(?) WooHoo! Methinks, mehopes, that a 'remastered edition' will be released with the new Nightflyer Series! The film has such an immersive quality, an original sci-fi story and the soundtrack is classic 80's! Thanks to George Arr Arr Martin!

I became a fan of George R.R. Martin because of the novella and the movie based on the novella. Martin has a unique SF vision that really resonated with me. Every short story in the book Nightflyers is unique as only Martin can write it. The movie may not be the best SF movie ever made, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I revisited this 80s sci-fi flick last night. This has a lot of things going for it, most notably the effects work by Fantasy II Film Effects. Yes, the same group that toiled on ALIENS and THE TERMINATOR worked on this and their miniature work is exceptional. The sets and sound design are also great. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is just kinda blah with some bad 80s hair and clothes to date it. Something must have gone down during the filming because director Robert Collector, of RED HEAT with Linda Blair fame, took a pseudonym on the final film. A crew hires the spaceship The Night Flyer from Captain Royd to go and investigate something in space. What they don't know is the ship is controlled by a computer that houses the spirit of Royd's dead psychic mother. Before you can say Oedipal complex, crew members are being wasted left and right. Catherine Mary Stewart (NIGHT OF THE COMET) is the female lead and doesn't get to do much other than give a hard stare when things go wrong. Rocker Michael Des Barres shows up as a psychic whose head ends up bisected when he is on the wrong end of a laser. Worth checking out once I guess which shows you how much of a sucker I am for watching it twice. Based on a novel by George R.R. Martin.

When I enter Nightflyers as my keyword in Google, all I get is references to this movie. That's a shame, since the George R. R. Martin novel, novella, whatever, is a wonderful, intriguing, scary, intelligent mystery story, whereas the movie is the palest ghost of the book's greatness. Martin's book predated Alien by about five years, and I wonder if Ron Shusett or Dan O'Bannon might have gotten some inspiration from it.The movie is a typical '80s gore-fest, complete with misty, foggy sets, ridiculous dialogue and caricatures, and an explosive climax that totally ruins of the book's thoughtful ending. I like the actors who play Royd Eris and Professor D'Branin, and I admit I enjoyed Michael Des Barres's performance as the whacked-out telepath. But most of the acting was subpar. I thought Catherine Mary Stewart did what she could, but the script stripped away all the complexity of her character, who was much more richly drawn in the book. The movie also completely misses the book's subtle sense of humor. The book is closer in tone to John Carpenter's movie Dark Star, plus a great sense of mystery and spookiness. The movie spills the beans on Royd's backstory far too early and off-handedly, as opposed to the book's climactic revelation.So don't let this movie turn you off of Nightflyers -- read the book. By all means, read it!