Arrow Films, out now

A ship crashlands on a planet – but should the survivors fear what’s inside more than what’s outside?

The film credited with really launching the career of Vin Diesel, Pitch Black was a very effective shocker when I saw it in the cinema on first release – working on the Farscape books at the time, it was essential before interviewing Claudia Black. There’s some terrific cinematography, jump scares, very good alien creature design by Patrick Tatopolous which was brought to life very credibly, and strong central performances from Diesel and Radha Mitchell particularly. Its reputation was, unfortunately, tarnished a little bit by the overly bloated sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, a movie it took me three times to get into – and succeeding only because I wanted to see (rather than read about) what happened before the third, and much leaner, film came out.

Arrow have carried out a 4K transfer and even on Blu-ray, the picture is much sharper and the shades more distinct – important in a movie whose second half is pretty much entirely set at night. The soundtrack is clear, and you have the choice of the (three-minute longer) Director’s Cut should you wish.

As ever, Arrow have gone to town with the extras. As well as the various value added pieces from previous releases (such as commentaries), there are new interviews with key personnel including a decent length one with David Twohy, who is still justifiably proud of his work. For those of us who’ve been long hoping for it, the animated Dark Fury – that bridges the gap between this and the next film – is also here and there’s also the rather unusual Syfy Channel piece, Into Pitch Black, with an alternate take on what happened next.

Verdict: If you’ve not seen this before, or, more to the point, been put off checking it out by the bloat of The Chronicles of Riddick, then this is well worth getting; if you’re already a Riddick fan, the extras provide plenty of new material. 9/10

Paul Simpson