The Dark Side of the Moon (1990)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Really Surprised!

Admirable film.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Okay I admit, at first glance a plot that involves outer space, a missing ship, the devil, the moon, and the Bermuda Triangle to boot might sound like a terrible idea for a movie. Yet, 1990's direct to video charmer "The Dark Side of the Moon" (No connection to the epic Pink Floyd album) manages to pull it off rather decently. The year is 2022 and a space ship responsible for maintaining a fleet of nuclear armed satellites starts having a series of mysterious equipment malfunctions. To make matters worse, the crew finds out they will run out of air in twenty-four hours unless help arrives. But then, in a seemly stroke of good luck, they discover an old NASA space shuttle floating around (where else?) the dark side of the moon. Nobody from the shuttle answers the crew's radio calls and when they board it, they discover the body of an astronaut with a chest wound in the shape of a perfect triangle. But the shuttle also has air and rather than let it go to waste, the crew takes it along with the body. Big mistake, for not long after that, crew member Giles Stewart (Will Bledsoe) discovers through his ship's computer (Which for some reason is in the form of a sexy female android named Lesli!) that the shuttle crash landed in the Bermuda triangle twenty years ago! Too bad he didn't discover this sooner because one by one the crew is being stalked, killed, and taken over by a dark, unseen force, the devil himself. Can the crew overcome this evil or is it too late?Even though this is an unusual plot for a movie, everything comes together nicely to create a compelling film. One factor is the film's dark atmosphere that is created by having as little light as possible on the sets, which quickly establishes that our protagonists are surrounded by an escapable blackness that threatens to swallow them up. The special effects, while not the greatest in cinema history, also serve the film well. The ships floating in space look real enough and speaking of space, it has never looked quite as dark and bleak as it does here. Even the make-up and voice effects used for when a person is overtaken by the dark one are creepy in a subtle way, especially when it comes to the eyes! But the thing that really makes the film stand out is the top caliber of the acting used throughout the picture by everyone, be it Joe Turkel as the ship's chief mechanic, Alan Blumenfeld as the ship's doctor, Robert Sampson as the captain, or Giles Stewart as the ship's lieutenant. This is one of those cases where the actors know they are not doing "Hamlet" but they still give it their all and because of that it makes the movie all the more better. Compare that to the low budget monster films made today, like Syfy's original movies. True, the movie is a bit of a rip off of "Alien" but as another reviewer here said it's one of the better rip offs of that classic. "The Dark Side of the Moon" is certainly more entertaining than most of today's films, including (Dare I say it) 2013's "Gravity", which wasn't bad but was overrated. If you like low budget charmers and have some time on your hands, check this out if you get the chance. P.S. I'm pretty certain the movie is available on you tube.

PLOT OUTLINE: The year is 2022. While on a mission to repair nuclear-armed spy satellites in Earth orbit, the spaceship Spacecore 1 suffers inexplicable power failure. As it drifts towards the Moon, the crew realize that they have only 24 hours air & heat left. But the real nightmare starts when an old space shuttle mysteriously docks with them, bringing onboard a parasite that is revealed to be the Devil.Call it what you like, but the one thing you can't accuse The Dark Side of the Moon of is not sticking close to its source material (in this case the landmark sci-fi / horror classic ALIEN). The cast is kept to seven actors, two of them are women as well as one of them being an android (although the android's identity is not a secret). The only difference is that we get not one but two large spaceships for the action to take place in.On a technical aspect, The Dark Side of the Moon is quite good. The actors take their roles seriously & deliver their performances with a passable competence. Three of the cast are also veterans of the genre, with Joe Turkel coming from BLADE RUNNER, Robert Sampson from RE-ANIMATOR & Camilla More from Friday THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER. Director D. J. Webster keep things going at a modest pace while attempting to generate as much atmosphere as he can on a low budget (mainly by having the lighting kept to a minimum, which makes watching the VHS tape a real headache since the picture is so dark that only a completely dark room will allow you to see what the hell is going on). Not to mention a score that fits the film well, made by Mark Ryder & Phil Davies (who made the classic TRANCERS score). The only problems I had with the film were the interior shots of the shuttle, which are way bigger than what it should be.If the technical aspects are good, then what drags the film down to the B-movie gutter is the script. It tries to blend religion with science fiction, something that almost never works, with some bizarre ideas about the Bermuda Triangle being a plot by the Devil to beef up his soul collection; Ol' Scratch being a parasite that hides inside people's bodies (a real half-cocked concept stolen from THE HIDDEN); much nonsense about the significance of 666. It is not hard to imagine that the ideas on paper have some merit, but on film it only proves to be routine B-film fodder that doesn't rise above the sea of similar films that came out during that decade.You know what's the scary part? Eight years later, the concept was resurrected as EVENT HORIZON by RESIDENT EVIL director Paul W. S. Anderson.

The initial impression of this film is that the writers threw it together as fast as possible with no research or really much thought at all.The first, and possibly most frustrating, problem is the numerous and obvious scientific inaccuracies. A human cannot survive in space without a spacesuit. Even if he is carrying the only means of survival for the crew. A rifle fired in a spacecraft does not end well for anyone involve. (Still not sure why they packed an arsenal of assault rifles anyway). There was a surprising abundance of gravity and oxygen on the abandoned shuttle, which of course was never designed to leave low Earth orbit, let along travel to the moon. The list goes on...Even if these shortfalls don't bother you, the acting sure will. Captain Mullet was the most competent of the crew, and that says very little. Each character was one dimensional, so of course the actors had to go overboard with the only emotion they were allowed to express. The old guy's creepiness, the former combat soldier's urge to kill everything, the woman's uselessness, and the doctor's cowardice/cream allergy all foreshadowed their individual (vain) attempts to move the plot forward.The writing was completely nonsensical. The acting was terrible. It all works well together to redefine the term 'B-movie'.Despite Captain Mullet's selfless heroism and noble intentions, why should we be led to believe that a nuclear blast will kill Satan?

I have seen this movie twice and although the actual plot could be deemed as a little far fetched, it really works.Basically, after a systems failure a ship gets trapped upon the darkside of the moon, where all kinds of weird goings on begin to take place as slowly the crew members are picked off one by one by an unseen assailant/assailants.The actual film idea itself is excellent and it really does use darkness in the film for the right reasons and as always, desolate space ships make excellent places for horror to hide round every unlit little corner. Add the fact that there is nowhere to run and the horrible feeling of claustrophobia and you have a gem of a move that is slick, doesn't seem over-produced and has a genius idea of a story running through its core.It is nice to see a film made to scare and not to shock.