Prime Video just added a sci-fi cult classic that turns 25 this year

In many ways, the best kind of sci-fi release is the one that flies at least a little under the radar. I'm a huge fan of the likes of the modern Dune movies, and Denis Villeneuve's titanic Blade Runner 2049, but that doesn't exactly make my taste unique, after all.

So, when I saw that Prime Video (in the US only for now) had added Pitch Black, I felt an opportunity to share a movie that shocking numbers of people still haven't heard of, let alone seen. It launched a franchise when it came out 25 years ago, despite that lack of hype, but the Riddick films abandoned its title to make for a confusing situation all told.

Pitch Black Original Trailer (David Twohy, 2000) - YouTube

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Either way, Pitch Black got added to the US Prime Video library earlier this month, and I can't recommend it highly enough. It's a great example of how sparse, clever film-making can make up for a budget that clearly doesn't stretch into the hundreds of millions.

It opens with a prison transport ship crash-landing on an uncharted world far in the future, with a high-value prisoner in the form of Vie Diesel's brooding and gravel-voiced convict Riddick. The crew does their best to survive, but soon realises that the planet is about to be engulfed in a total eclipse that will bring out truly terrifying aliens to chew them up.

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The chief twist here is that Riddick has some unbelievable night-vision abilities, which have played into his apparent crimes. That makes him potentially the one person who could help them survive, if they can get along well enough to make it happen. It's a game of character dynamics, interspersed with tension and a smattering of action.

The later Riddick films leant more into the latter, much like the Alien franchise moved a little away from pure horror over time. Still, this first outing for the character is the best one, in my view, as backed up by the highest Rotten Tomatoes score in the series. Still, at just 59% from critics, it's a proper cult classic in the sense that not everyone actually agrees that it's particularly brilliant.

Still, I'd stamp a recommendation on it for sci-fi fans. It's the sort of interesting addition to a catalogue that puts Prime Video in such a good position as one of the best streaming services out there.