31 Days, 31 Horror Movies: Pitch Black

Ran out of time today, which you probably can’t tell from how LONG I ramble, but the general randomness of the ramble might be a better indicator. Anyway.

My wife and I wanted to watch something together last night, so my initial leaning towards something gory and tasteless was right out. (Moe doesn’t mind gore – she loves The Walking Dead and John Carpenter’s The Thing– but tasteless gore is a no-go.) I tried to sell her on The Legend of Hell House (“It’s got Roddy McDowall in it. And it’s PG!”), but the title alone evokes a certain type of film she just wasn’t in the mood for.

There was one movie in the stack of offerings that she couldn’t believe I hadn’t watched for 31 Days, though, which is how we ended up watching:

Pitch Black (2000)

Pitch Black is a bit of an edge case as to whether it counts as horror or not. The first two thirds of the movie are more sci-fi/disaster/thriller. For me, though, that last third – when the suns finally go down and the true denizens of the planet erupt into the dark – that’s full-on horror. In fact, when I went to see the movie in the theater (and I can’t believe it’s been 17 years since it came out) I thought I was going to see a horror movie. I based that assumption solely on one scene in the trailer – the only scene I remember from it – the one with the guy by himself in the dark with a flickering flame. He takes a swig of alcohol and blows the spray into the flame, causing a brief flare of light… and revealing the horde of monstrosities just waiting around him in the dark.

Yeah, that’s what sold me on it.

Wait for it…

I wasn’t disappointed in what I got. In fact, I remember being fairly impressed with the cinematography (the use of different filters was something I hadn’t seen much of before), the effects, the acting and the humor. And the monsters.

I have the 2011 “Riddick Collection” Blu-ray, which contains Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. It also includes the Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury animated film (by Aeon Fluxanimator Peter Chung), but only on DVD. I’ve watched both films in this set and the video quality is great, with lots of color, detail and clarity. I’d say the effects on Pitch Black still look decent, which isn’t a given for a 17 year old, low-budget sci-film.

We watched the Director’s Cut, which contains roughly 3 minutes of expanded footage. I have no idea what this extra footage entails, I’m just generally inclined to watch the extended version of a film, given the option. This isn’t always the best course of action (hello Exorcist), but it certainly didn’t affect our viewing this time around.

A spaceship carrying cargo and passengers in cryosleep runs afoul of a rogue comet and has to crash land on an apparently lifeless planet. The few remaining passengers and crew must deal with harsh conditions, minimal supplies and the presence of a violent criminal. And that’s before they find out WHY the planet seems lifeless.

It’s because there are no bars. It’s strictly BYOB.

The disaster that sets off the events of the movie is violent and terrifying – I vaguely remember muttering ‘holy shit’ in the theater as pieces of the ship came off during the landing. The damn ship is a brick, never meant to fly, and that anyone survives seems a damn miracle.

But survive they do – at least some of them. No thanks to the docking pilot, Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), who attempts to jettison the passenger sections to stabilize the ship. Her copilot prevents her from committing mass murder, but ends up dying in the crash. In the absence of any other surviving crew the other survivors mistake her for the captain.

In a disaster movie, the external threat is usually magnified by internal conflict and Pitch Blackimmediately gives us that in spades with the presence of Riddick (Vin Diesel), a gravely-voiced killer with ‘shine job’ eyes that let him see in the dark. Though he starts out as a prisoner of Johns (Cole Hauser), it’s not long before he’s loose, ratcheting up the tension as the survivors look for supplies and a way off the desert world they’ve found themselves on.

Also there’s three suns. And a distinct bow to it.

I think I was more familiar with Cole Hauser and Keith David than any of the other actors when Pitch Black came out. Diesel has gone on to plenty of fame with the Fast and the Furious series, of course, but at that point in time I’d probably have recognized him as the voice of the Iron Giant before anything else. Mitchell has also gone on to do more horror fare, with roles in Silent Hill, the remake of Romero’s The Crazies and one of my favorite giant croc movies, Rogue. They all do good work in the film – as does Claudia Black as a tough-as-nails prospector and Rhiana Griffith as a kid who’s a little too impressed with Riddick’s badass routine.

And hairstyle.

When one of the survivors goes missing Riddick is initially blamed, but it quickly becomes clear that there’s something else on the planet with them. Something that’s hungry. In the face of that greater threat Johns offers Riddick a deal. Help them get off the planet and he’ll let Riddick go free.

All the cat-and-mouse games between Riddick and Johns, the moral struggles between Frey and Johns – that was all intense and suspenseful when I first saw the movie. Once you know the twists of the plot and the real danger it’s not as much fun, nor as suspenseful. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good movie, I just found myself waiting. Waiting for it to get dark.

And waiting for all this sexual tension to go somewhere.

The planetary eclipse is still an amazing visual, that huge, dark, ringed planet rising up over the horizon, moving inexorably to cover the suns, leaving the survivors in the dark for the first time since crashing. That’s one of my favorite parts of the movie.

It’s better on a big screen, I promise.

And then the monsters come out. They’re a good design and the CGI (though maybe a little stiff and shiny) is decent enough to sell it most of the time. One on one they’re bad enough, but the movie makes sure we know there are thousands – if not millions – of them. And they only thing they’re afraid of is light, which is a finite resource for our small (and rapidly dwindling) group of survivors.

With no other options and no way of knowing how long the eclipse will last, the group decide on a desperate journey through the dark to a waiting escape craft (found earlier and requiring batteries from the downed ship). So they set off with a few light sources, the batteries, and each other. They’re not all going to make it.

‘Cause this guy’s out there too.

There’s a moment near the end where Johns and Riddick have moved ahead of the others – Johns is doing his best to convince Riddick to use the survivors as bait, or more accurately, like chum behind a boat. Frey, picking up on what’s being discussed, has the other survivors slow down, giving them more space. When the inevitable confrontation happens and Johns and Riddick go at each other she gives the others the order to run. The two men have become as much a danger to them as the monsters they’re supposed to be afraid of.

I remember reading a review a while back that said that over the course of the movie Riddick finds his humanity while Johns loses his. I don’t really feel like that’s the case. Johns is merely pretending to be a decent human being and Riddick is pretending to be a soulless monster. Johns is honest only with himself, while Riddick tells anyone that will listen that he’s a murderer and that they would all be better off if they just killed him. It’s telling to me that he ends the movie without the glasses he’s been wearing for most of it. Even if his character turn feels a little fast there at the end.

“I see… at least two sequels…”

Pitch Blackspawned two sequels, mostly on the strength of Vin Deisel’s investment in the character of Richard B. Riddick. I prefer to think of Pitch Black as a stand-alone film, though. My enjoyment of it is enhanced by Riddick, but not defined by him. The sequels – which mostly leave horror behind and which I enjoy in decreasing amounts – expand on a universe and a character that I didn’t have that great an interest in and which feel unnecessary to my enjoyment of the original.

I did enjoy the video games, though!