Pitch Black

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Fusion is a wonderful thing. In the world of culinary delights it works to stimulate our tastebuds and inspire us to mix flavours and cuisines. In literature and film it offers all sorts of wonders by blending multiple genres together to create something with depth, complexity, and that looks both like and unlike anything else. One great example of this is the film Pitch Black.

A strange, yet interesting film to say the least, Pitch Black tells the story of a ship carrying a variety of passengers that gets struck by the debris from a comet and crash lands on a barren, alien planet. While exploring, the ship’s passengers –a preacher, his sons, a couple of prospectors, a merchant, a cop and his prisoner- soon discover they are not alone, but that the planet is overrun by vicious and carnivorous aliens that come out at night… and a solar eclipse is imminent. When the darkness hits, the group’s only hope for survival is have Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel), the murderous criminal whose eyes have been fixed to see in the dark, to lead them back to their ship.

A science-fiction action horror movie, Pitch Black is the classic story of a bunch of misfits banding together. A mixture of The Breakfast Club, Con Air, and Alien –if you can imagine such a thing- it has a very simple survival plot, recognisble to no end, that is made just that little bit different by its being set in the distant future.

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But what sets the film aside from others like it is definitely its ironic use of lighting. For the majority of the first half, the film is dramatically lit, to the point that it’s almost in complete sepia tones reminiscent of the silent era. The other half, of course, takes place in either total or semi darkness with suspense and jump scares dominating with grand aplomb.

The development of a handful of characters is relatively engaging, despite most being pretty typical archetypes of the genre, and the creature design was definitely something unique and frighting.

Mostly, Pitch Black is a mindless and mediocre horror movie set in space, but who doesn’t love a good one of those once in a while?

Director: David Twohy, 2000

Cast: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Claudia Black, Rhiana Griffith, John Moore, and Simon Burke