Review of The Black Hole (1979) by Edith N — 07 Jun 2007

Wow. Where to start, aside from to note that this film makes [b]absolutely no bloody sense[/b]?

Okay. Let's start simply. Let's talk cast a minute.

There are [i]ten people[/i] in this movie. I mean, many, many extras in robot suits, but ten people--three uncredited, one of whom doesn't actually get any lines. There's also a robot who's pretty important but doesn't get any lines. (It should be noted that I'm including the two robots with voices as people; the robots without voices are not.) Pretty much half the people in the movie will be someone you've heard of, including Ernest Borgnine, who looks [i]very[/i] out of place. The uncredited guy-under-the-mask is, in fact, the director.

It's interesting to see what state-of-the-art effects in 1979 looked like. The DVD comes with a "making of" that ignores plot and characters entirely to focus on how the effects were done.

Which, I have to tell you, is the only reason--aside from cheese value--to watch the thing. It's not a good movie. By any stretch of the imagination. It has several performers who are far too talented for their work here. It has, apparently, the first all-digital score. (In the making of, incidentally, the guy hosting it--who seems to be a writer; if it said who he is, I missed it--says he doesn't know what the ending means, either.).

I am, you'll note, giving this a (marginally) passing review. Why? Oh, I know--you thought I had better taste. However, like [i]Tron[/i]--which Graham bought while he was home!--the phrase "for its time" comes up a lot in the special effects, which are great . . . for its time. It's got a pretty good cast--poor Roddy McDowell as the irritating robot--and the score's okay, though far from great. The idea of filming the robots upside down whenever possible because you won't look [i]under[/i] them for the wires is quite clever.

But seriously. Ernest Borgnine in space?