The Dark Side of the Moon

This movie scared me senseless some ten years ago when I watched it with a friend! Thus I had no reason at all not to see it now that I got the opportunity to watch it again!

My opinion of it now, ten years later? Well, of course it is not at all as scary, but it is not that bad! I've seen several space-thrillers not getting anywhere close to this one. Nice claustrophobic atmosphere through the entire movie and an ending not too predictable!

If you're bored and want something to watch to pass time, this is a very good choice in my opinion.

Dark Side is quite an original story and deserves a merit for being a well written sci-fi film, apart from inheriting a B movie 'feel' about it. It parallels nicely with Event Horizon and Sphere as a movie that fits into the "crisis on a ship" genre. Joe Turkel from Blade Runner is particularly worth watching out for and Leslie the computer has interesting links with HAL from 2001.

In the year 2022, SPACECORE 1 is a space vessel with a crew trained to repair nuclear-armed satellites. They are on their way to one such satellite near the moon when the ship suffers a mysterious systems failure. Without power and running out of oxygen fast, they also must worry about drifting towards Centrus B-40, otherwise known as the dark side of the moon. Not long into their dilemma, an old NASA space shuttle approaches and docks with their ship. Despite no signs of life on the shuttle, the SPACECORE crew need oxygen, so the captain and his second in command board the battered craft. They get the oxygen that they need, but they also get more than they bargained for when they discover the corpse of a NASA astronaut with a triangular hole in his stomach. Bringing the body back to their ship turns out to be a dire mistake, as something pure evil is using the dead man as a host.

This is an excellent little sci-fi/horror gem that is far too under seen. The plot having to do with the dark side of the moon (obviously), the Bermuda Triangle, Satan, paranoia and possession is one of the most original I've ever come across. This thing has more imagination than years worth of big budget blockbusters put together. The execution is solid too, as the mystery unfolds amidst an eerie mood and seriously foreboding atmosphere. The film's look is appropriately dreary, a perfect fit for the bleak tone of the proceedings. Despite a tight budget, the effects are also well done.

All around, this is one of the creepiest space films I've seen. A key asset in making it so is the film's score. Special mention to the opening credits, which are played against a screen of fire as the haunting score plays over them.

The acting is fine and all of the characters are likable to some extent. Even Jennings, the hick with a screw loose, is appealing in an off the wall kind of way. Joe Turkel of Blade Runner and Kubrick fame is here as Paxton Warner, as is Robert Sampson from Re-Animator.

As the film spirals towards its finale, I was completely enthralled. The ending is a great one, and very much in tone with the rest of the film. The final shot and voice-over is classic, and pretty damn eerie and hopeless all at the same time.

This is a great film, one that deserves more recognition. I recommend seeking this out if you can. Its quite a shame that it flies below most people's radar.

The Dark Side of the Moon is a creepy but sometimes little stupid (storywise) space horror movie - we get the mark of the beast, the Bermuda Triangle, some space horror, a sexy AI/android. No doubt, this is a low budget B-movie but entertaining in that pulp fiction kind of way. Event Horizon (Paul W. S. Anderson, 1997) may have borrowed some ideas from this one, but is stronger in all aspects (acting, story, production). Anyway, if you want some space horror with a creepy atmosphere and you don't mind a B movie budget you may dare to lock your mind into this one.

It had been many years since I first saw this movie. Probably about 15 years, but I remember the premise was genuinely freaky and a few scenes stained themselves in my head. Finally after all these years I just got done watching the movie and had to sit through the credits to realize that the movie had ended.

The plot is that it is 2024 and a spaceship is out by the moon. A team is doing their normal routine when they have a power failer. This causes for the ship to not supply them with oxygen. So while they are trying to fix the problem a ship appears out of nowhere that is 30 years old and lands itself in front of them. Apparently the old ship is still functioning and they decide to use the oxygen supply from that ship and that is where everything starts to go wrong.

I was struck with this weird feeling after the movie was over and I wasn't sure whether or not I liked this movie. It took me about 10 minutes of thinking about this film before I realized that it was really good. The story is good, the acting is good, and the ending is incredibly creepy. I would have to recommend this movie to fans of both horror and sci fi because it really was a very good melding of both styles. In a way, I can see where Event Horizon may have got some of its ideas. 8/10 stars