Nightflyers is the title of a 1980 novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

 by George R. R. Martin

George R. R. Martin

George Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, his bestselling series of epic fantasy novels that HBO adapted for their dramatic pay-cable series Game of...

, a 1985 anthology

Anthology

An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 by the same author that includes the novella, and a 1987

1987 in film

-Events:*January 31 - The Cure for Insomnia premieres at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, to officially become the world's longest film according to Guinness World Records....

 science fiction

Science fiction film

Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...

-horror

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 film based on that novella.

Collection

The collection contains the following stories:

• "Nightflyers"
• "Override"
• "Weekend in a War Zone"
• "And Seven Times Never Kill Man"
• "Nor the Many-Colored Fires of a Star Ring"
• "A Song for Lya"

Film

The film is about a group of scientists who begin a space voyage to find a mysterious alien creature, and in the process are victimized by the ship's malevolent computer. The film was directed by Robert Collector, and stars Catherine Mary Stewart

Catherine Mary Stewart

Catherine Mary Stewart is a Canadian actress. Her first notable role was as Kayla Brady on the soap opera Days of our Lives from 1981 to 1983...

, Michael Praed

Michael Praed

Michael Praed born Michael David Prince, 1 April 1960 in Berkeley, Gloucestershire) is a British actor, is probably best known for his role as Robin of Loxley in the British television series Robin of Sherwood, which attained cult status worldwide in the 1980s...

, and John Standing

John Standing

Sir John Ronald Leon Standing, 4th Baronet is an English actor.-Early life:Standing was born John Ronald Leon in London, the son of Kay Hammond , an actress, and Sir Ronald George Leon, a stockbroker...

.

The film was released theatrically on October 23, 1987 and mainly received negative reviews upon release, although the movie has started to gain a small cult following upon its 1988 home video release by International Video Entertainment. In a classic blunder of advertising, it was marketed as a halloween horror film, which it was not.

The movie has never been released on DVD and as of January 3, 2010, Lions Gate has not yet announced any plans to release the film on DVD.