Review: The Dark Side of the Moon

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2019

Images from the Internet

The Dark Side of the Moon

Directed by DJ Webster

Wildstreet Pictures / Unearthed Films / MVD Entertainment

87 minutes, 1990 / 2019

www.unearthedfilms.com

www.mvdb2b.com

There was a period of time where science fiction and horror crossed genres, and it was great. The Alien franchise, Galaxy of Terror (1981), and so many others fed off the success of previous films, and once the majors found the hits, the smaller studios and indies grabbed their boards and rode the dollar waves. If this sounds cynical, well, I mean it that way only about ten percent. I actually like some of the smaller films as much as the ones budgeted at a gazillion dollars.

That being said, here is this release. If Star Wars (1977) was A-list and Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) was B-level, then this is very competent C-cinema. Then add to it the ilk of demonic possession like The Exorcist (1973) and the questioning of identity such as John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), and you’re a bit closer to this mash-up.

Will Bledsoe

Taking place in the far off space travel future of 2022 (wait…what?!), a cargo ship meets up with The 18th Discovery space shuttle, another NASA (non-commercial) craft from decades before, which had splashed down and crashed, disappearing into the Bermuda Triangle (also known as the Devil’s Triangle). And like so many other films, there is something aboard this abnormality that is not only evil, it’s Satanic. That’s right, not a monster, this is a possessive spirit that migrates from body to body, capturing the person’s soul along the way if they are a non-believer in the Christian god.

It’s a bit over the top (paraphrase: “The second you questioned the existence of God, you were mine!”), our good shipping crew was in peril, as the song says. But let’s backtrack to that a bit. The humans in question is a sextet of a repair crew sent to fix an orbital nuclear weapon (Space Force?!) but their spaceship malfunctions and ends up heading towards the surface of the dark side of the moon. That’s when they run into the errant shuttle and the fun begins. Well, for us viewers, natch, not for them. Also, in the “crew” is the robot system, based on a mixture of HAL and possibly the cyborg “Ash” character in Alien (1979). But in this case, the computer is shaped like a sexy female named Lesli (British actress Camilla More), who sits in a chair the entire time and wears a tight leather top that shows off some deep cleavage. Siri never looked this good.

Camilla More

The two “heroes” of the film are the Commander, Giles (Will Bledsoe), and the nice, Jewish [implied] doctor, Dreyfuss (Alan Blumenfeld). Giles is the strong-jawed type who will put himself in peril for others, and Dreyfuss is more of the laid-back… well, let’s just say he’s somewhere between schmuck and mensch, mostly to the former. Most of his dialog in the first half is “I don’t know.” So, it’s pretty obvious as some point he’s going to rise to the occasion when the need arrives in the third act. Oy. Another two actors that had other fame are Robert Sampson, who played the Dean/Megan’s dad in Re-Animator (1985), and Joe Turkel, instantly recognizable as bartender Lloyd in The Shining (1980).

Like in Alien (a touchstone in most of these kinds of films), the crew gets picked off one by one, but that’s obvious. And like The Thing (ditto), no one knows who has the evil within, so anyone who is alone at any particular time is suspect and paranoia = suspense for the viewer. All the check marks are there, and the first-time feature director (known for making music videos, such as Til Tuesday’s iconic “Voices Carry” and religious nut Amy Grant’s “Baby Baby”) uses it well, infusing darkness and shadow to keep you off kilter).

Alan Blumenfeld

The sets look great, considering this wasn’t a huge budget megafilm. Some of the explosion effects are kind of cheesy, but so were the ones in the original Battlestar Galactica (1978). Other than that, it’s what you could imagine a corporate repair ship might look like (i.e., one the administration would not care about – other than budgetary – because it’s a job they would never do), with dingy walls and dark corridors (again, see the Nostromo in Alien).

What is adorable, for lack of a better word, is the technology presented. This was filmed pre-Internet, and the computers used are obviously cathode-backed. Even the keyboards look antiquated, and the onscreen images are 8-bit at best (think first generation Tetris). Of course, there was no way a minor budget film could experiment much visually considering CGI was in its extreme infancy and would be highly cost inefficient.

Joe Turkel

The physical effects are practical, especially the bloody ones – and there are a few of them – other than those pesky explosions. Mostly we see a lot of snake-eyes, going back to the biblical serpent in the garden is one way to look at it.

Considering the director’s past with Amy Grant, I am assuming that there is a religious message here, to believe in the Christian god in order to (try and) defeat Satan. Or perhaps he’s arguing against that by Giles’ attitude. Honestly, I’m not sure.

So, let’s get to the extras, most of them are Q&A interviews led by Jay Kay, and then I will get back to discussing the film. First up is Alan Blumenfeld (40 min.). It’s a bit long, but mostly interesting as the discussion is centered around Alan’s career in general, and this film in particular. It’s not very deep, but enjoyable. The problem is with the sound, as the volume of Jay Kay’s mic keeps dipping; it’s Alan’s answers that are more central, so that’s okay albeit a bit annoying. Next up is FX artist R. Christopher Biggs (35 min.), who has done so much in genre films that I’m just gonna recommend looking him up on IMDB for his career list. Most of what he talks about his how rough the shoot was for the SFX crew, which kept my attention, but it was also cool hearing him talk about his work on other films such as the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Then there is the interview with stuntman Chuck Borden (21 min.), who only worked on the film for one day; honestly, this one was a bit dry, but I muddled through.

Wendy MacDonals

For the commentary we get producer Paul White and Unearthed Films’ head the Stephen Biro. Again, Biro is the Q in the Q&A, though he does add a bunch of information as well. It’s not the most exciting commentary track but filled with good bits anyway.

The last digital extras are the Budget Breakdown (1 min.), which I’ve never seen on a extras list before that I can remember, and a Stills Gallery (mostly screen shots and posters; 2 min), and there’s a very nice and thick color booklet in the case cover filled with facts and pictures.

Two points of interest before I bust outta here: first, this is the first screenplay for the writing team of Carey W. Hayes and Chad Hayes, who would eventually find fame with the likes of The Conjuring (2013). The other is that this film is very similar in storyline to Event Horizon (1996), and I wonder about the connection.

As sci-fi horror goes, this is a really good example of what was being created on a regular basis back in those days of following the audience, and somehow as hokey as this sometimes is (Satan! In Space!), it manages to work.