Going into the theatre to see Pitch Black, I glanced up at the marquee. On the listing for Black it read: "Fight evil with evil." "What kind of stupid slogan is that," I asked my friend as we entered the theatre. He just shrugged. With a stupid slogan like that, needless to say my hopes for this movie weren't too high.

Fortunately, I was wrong. This movie kicked major, mad boo-tay.

The concept of the movie breaks down like this: a starship carrying freight and passengers in suspended animation is forced to make a crash landing on a desert-like planet after being damaged in a meteor shower. Once there the survivors (a motley assortment: the pilot, Fry, who must assume command when the captain is killed; Johns, a morphine addicted lawman; Riddick, a convicted mass murderer and one all around bad mofo; and Imam, a Muslim holy man who finds his faith severely tested by the events transpiring; his two teenage sons and a host of others) discover that the planet, which has three suns, is headed for an eclipse that occurs once every 22 years. No problem right? Wrong. They also discover that underneath the planets surface lurk creatures who can't live in the light and kill their victims ruthlessly. And they also discover that these same creatures wiped out a geologic team that the had the good fortune of being on the planet during the last eclipse 22 years ago.

After coming to this realization, the group heads back to their crashed ship to retrieve supplies that they'll need to escape, all the time hoping to make it before the eclipse begins. And wouldn't you know it, they don't. So know, they must venture back to the geologic station where the escape skiff is in total darkness, surrounded by millions of bloodthirsty creatures just waiting to get them (sounds like a video game, doesn't it?). From here, it becomes almost your typical Hollywood scare-fest. Almost.

This film is quite disturbing, in many ways. The three main characters (Fry, Johns and Reddick) have some serious problems. After all, Reddick is a murderer and Johns is hooked on morphine. I'll spare telling you what Fry does, but it more or less places her in the same category as Reddick and Johns. Yet the movie sets it up in a way in which you're cheering for them (with the exception of Johns). The only main character in the movie who shows any semblance of decency, Imam, suffers the worst. And trust me, you'll love Reddick by the end. That's right, you'll love a mass murdering, anti-social nutcase by the end. And if you don't love him, at least you'll be rooting for him.

I guess it holds true that if you go into something with low expectations, then you won't be disappointed. Well, Pitch Black didn't disappoint. It was an on-the-edge-of-your-seat sci-fi thriller, but a little bit deeper than that.