Nightflyers (1987)

Nightflyers is the most frustrating movie I have ever seen.

One can accept the horrid film that one wouldn’t touch without a lineman’s hot stick and a full Hazmat suit.  Hey, it happens.

What is truly frustrating, though, is the one that is almost good.

And Nightflyers starts so well!

We have the group of strangers getting ready to go off on the mysterious expedition, talk of some sort of uncanny alien force or creature, which may be sending signals.  There are some marvelously atmospheric shots of the ship in its hanger (ignore the science nerds who complain about all the smoke.  It looks cool, and that’s what matters), and the well appointed interior of the ship itself.

Then there is the mysterious, unseen pilot, the psychic, and a number of increasingly sinister events.

Unfortunately, it all falls apart at the three-quarters mark, and descends into some silly gore effects (the guy walking around after half his head has been sliced off has to be seen to be disbelieved), dead bodies walking around, and finally the Pilot’s dead mother comes to life.  Oh, and starts killing people, did I need to mention that?

So frustrating.  It makes one wish one could film a whole new ending.  The worst of it is that the original novelette by George R.R. Martin is a fairly solid mystery story – one which keeps the big reveals secret until the end, rather than just dropping them casually at the halfway mark.

Now, if they’d just made a creepy outer space mystery film with hints of horror – Space Hammer, you might say…

Well, it might have been great.

But at least it would have been good.