Label: Unearthed Classics
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo, Vintage English LPCM Stereo 2.0
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: D.J. Webster
Cast: Robert Sampson, Joe Turkel, Camilla More, John Diehl, Alan Blumenfeld
The straight-to-video 90's sci-fi film The Dark Side of the Moon (1990) opens with a text crawl and a shot of a massive spaceship dropping into scene from above, clearly borrowing from the iconic opening of Star Wars, setting the not-untrue expectation that what you're about to watch might not be the most original sci-fi film you've ever witnessed, but bare with it, this film definitely has something more to offer.
The story, set in the year 2022, involves a repair ship that orbits the Earth repairing essential satellites, includeing missile-armed Earth defense systems. The Spacecore 1 is piloted Captain Flynn (Robert Sampson, Re-Animator), and co-pilot Giles (Will Bledsoe, Up The Creek), with the rest of the crew being comprised of scientist Paxton (Joe Turkel, Bladerunner), mechanics Jennings (John Diehl, Mind Ripper) and Cookie (Wendy McDonald, Blood Frenzy), and the ship's physician Dreyfuss (Alan Blumenfeld, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lines). In a nod to Alien and possibly 2001: A Space Odyssey we have a artificial intelligence that controls the ship by way of overly sexy lady-android named Lesli (Camilla More, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter).
While making the repair rounds the ship experiences a major malfunction while entering orbit on the dark side of Earth's moon, an unexplained glitch that short circuits the life support system, leaving the crew with only a few hours before they deplete their breathable oxygen supply, which starts the clock running, adding a nice tension to the film.
The ship's sexy computer Lesli assures the crew that everything is perfectly fine with the operating systems despite all other indicators contradicting her status report, leaving the crew in a mad scramble to find a way out of their predicament. Strangely a long-decommissioned NASA Discovery space shuttle appears on the horizon, the Spacecore 1 manages to docks with it and sends a team to investigate it, inside finding a lot of seawater and the waterlogged corpse of an astronaut. A bit of investigation reveals that this particular space shuttle and astronaut were reported to have crashed into the ocean in the vicinity of The Bermuda Triangle, which adds another layer of mystery to the film. How did a ship that went down in The Bermuda Triangle on Earth years ago end up on The Dark Side of the Moon?
While the low-budget film borrows liberally from Alien and Star Wars, among others, it manages to throw in a few unique elements that keep it fresh. Atop the novel The Bermuda Triangle angle there's a cool religious element, with something evil possessing the crew members one by one, leaving the remaining crew to hastily repair their ship before the oxygen runs out or they lose their souls.
Audio/Video: Straight-to-video sci-fi flick The Dark Side Of The Moon (1990) debuts on the digital format from Unearthed Films imprint Unearthed Classics, framed in 1.85:1 widescreen in 1080p HD. This transfer is sourced from a new 4K scan and it looks fantastic with a natural looking grain structure throughout. A few scenes are softer than others but colors are robust and well-saturated overall, and the black levels are solid, which is good because this is a shadowy film. There's a bit of grit and white speckling evident in a few shots, but overall this is a very pleasing and filmic looking transfer, more so than I expected from a straight-to-video film of this vintage and budget.
Audio comes by way of a pair of English PCM Stereo 2.0 tracks, one is a restored audio option, the other apparently being an unrestored stereo track, the latter having a bit of hiss on it, and the restored track having more volume and depth to it.
Extras com by way of three Skype-conducted interview with actor Alan Blumfeld, FX artist R. Christopher Briggs and stuntman Chuck Borden, adding up to about 96-min in total. We also get an audio commentary with Producer Paul White moderated by Stephen Biro of Unearthed Films, a still gallery, a budget breakdown for the film, plus a 24-page booklet with an overview of the film with extensive liner notes about the production and the cast and crew with images from the film peppered throughout.
The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork that is duplicated on the slipcover, this disc itself featuring a scene from the film of the Spacecore 1 orbiting the dark side of the moon.
Special Features:
- Interview with FX Artist Chris Biggs (35 min)
- Interview with Allen Blumfield (40 min)
- Interview with Stuntman Chuck Borden(21 min)
- Audio Commentary with Producer Paul White and Stephen Biro
- Trailers: A Record of Sweet Murder (1 min), Dark Side of the Moon (2 min), Dis (2 min), Nightwish (2 min), The Song of Solomon (2 min), The Unnameable (2 min)
The Dark Side of the Moon (1990) is a straight-to-video sci-fi gem that wears it's influences on it's sleeve, but the story has enough interesting supernatural elements that I was hooked. The performances are strong, and the production values are surprisingly good, while it's not quite on the level of Event Horizon (1997) it has that flavor to it, a definite recommended for fans of scrappy low-budget sci-fi horror.
