Asimov's Nightfall with a few monsters thrown in for screams...

Rating: Null/10 (26 June 2004)

I loved the concept when I read Asimov's story Nightfall. In that, Asimov writes about how an entire planet's population goes crazy when night descends on the planet with 6 suns due to a simultaneous multiple eclipse of all its suns. This film uses the core idea of a planet with multiple suns falling into darkness once every 22 years. (Asimov's story had night descend on the planet every few millenia or so).
For a few screams, the writers threw in a few million light-hating, flesh-eating things (that look like the aliens monsters brought out of retirement) and you have the film Pitch Black. The characters crash land on the planet just as the eclipse is about the occur and they have to find fuel for their ship before they get eaten by the thingies. Period.
On the positive side, the characters don't indulge in the usual clichés one expects in such a flick. There are no unnecessary love issues or melodramatic displays. The acting is not Oscar material but suffices. There is a sequence where a ringed planet obscures the suns causing the multiple eclipse. It's very nicely done. All in all, I'd give Pitch Black a 5 on 10.