Pitch Black

You aren’t afraid of the dark are you? Well if not, then I highly recommend checking out Pitch Black starring Vin Diesel as the main character named Riddick. The movie starts out with a malfunction on a spaceship simply meant to take people from one planet to another as a sort of ferry. As a result of the malfunction, the ship crashes on an uninhabited planet characterized only as an ever lasting desert wasteland with three suns keeping the planet under constant heat and light. The female copilot of the ship named Fry assumes command, doing her best to get everyone off of the planet safely, feeling guilty because she was willing to dump the human cargo and save herself when she realized the ship was on a collision course. Among Fry's fellow survivors are some Islamic pilgrims headed for New Mecca, led by the Koran-thumping Imam, a Lara Croft-wannabe archeologist-type, a bounty hunter with an itchy trigger finger named Johns, and his prisoner Riddick, a convicted murderer with surgically-enhanced night-vision. At first, the survivors are leery of having the hulking figure of a convicted murderer amongst them, but they quickly discover that Riddick is the least of their concerns.

After some looking around on the wasteland planet, the group discovers that they are not the only living creatures there. There are beings that thrive on this planet, but are hurt by sunlight so they stay in the darkness and shadows, lying in wait for their chance to greet their new crash-landed guests. These creatures live in hives and colonies deep under the planet’s crust so as not to get caught and burned by the light of perpetual day. Needless to say, the natives of the planet get their chance, for this is an action/horror film after all. Once the castaways figure out that they are on the menu for the natives of the planet that will very soon be cast into an eclipse, they begin to frantically start searching for ways off the sand soaked rock of a planet. Will they make it in time? Will they actually trust a killer and escape artist who can see and hunt in the dark to help them all escape to safety instead of just saving his own flesh? Is Riddick kidding when he says, “When the lights go out, this psycho family of ours will tear itself apart.”? You’ll just have to watch this eerily dark action thriller to find out.

In my opinion, this movie has a decent amount of action in it, accompanied by horror and suspense, all of which keep the viewer on the edge of their seat throughout. Riddick’s character even throws in a bit of interesting psychology as does any thriller and horror movie- it makes you think and ask questions to yourself or those around you. Do you dare find out what awaits you in the dark? If you do, I highly recommend this sci-fi/horror popcorn flick that goes to prove 'what you can't see can hurt you'.