Plot: A space freighter carrying low-rent passengers crashes on a weird alien planet with three suns. A vicious convict gets loose in the crash. But that’s not the survivors’ biggest problem. There are horrible things living in the darkness, and the planet is about to experience its first total eclipse in years…

DVD Special Features: Anamorphic widescreen, Making-of Featurette, Commentary by director David Twohy, actors Vin Diesel and Cole Hauser, producer Tom Engleman and visual effects supervisor Peter Chiang, Raveworld Pitch Black Event, Theatrical trailers, English and French subtitles, Dolby, DTS. This is the unrated director’s cut, folks!

The Good: I’m just gonna let it all out—this movie rawks. From the unexpected opening, starting with narration from the cryosleeping convict Vin Diesel and then slamming directly into the lovely assistant pilot attempting to jettison the passengers to save her own ass, to the shocker "up-yours, Hollywood" ending, this flick is just way cool.

The monsters are awesome. Scary and horrible individually, they’re downright terrifying in flocks. The cinematography is wonderful, and very unusual. Twohy is bold with the lighting (cast by the three pale suns), and the desert setting is stunning. The characters are interesting and fairly un-clichéd. The acting is all good and believable. And Vin Diesel! Oh my GOD! Let me just say that he is breathtaking with no shirt and silver eyes. That man is sex on wheels. I ovulate just looking at him.

Oh, and he’s good in his role as the convict, too. One of the fun things about this movie is the way it messes with your idea of who the good guys and bad guys are.

The Bad: Not exactly a happy ending, but a really interesting one. I’ve heard some science geeks pontificate on about how an ecosystem like the one on this planet could never evolve, blah blah blah. They can stick it up their black holes, I loved this flick.

Bottom Line: I suspect you’ve figured out how I feel about Pitch Black. So often I sit watching a movie, enjoying it, only to have it disappoint me bitterly at the end. Not this puppy. It was fun from start to finish.

Rating: Four Hemorrhaging Brains! (My favorite mixed drink. E-mail me for the recipe)