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.
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.