The Black Hole (1979)

Like Tron, this came out during Disney’s “dark phase”, that weird pre-Renaissance era before the company found its footing again in the late ’80s. It’s fascinating to imagine a film like this being released today. It would make approximately $0.

Made in the days when sci-fi didn’t have to be scientifically accurate and horror could be built from eerie music, imposing characters, and an unsettling, ambiguous plot. Probably to avoid having to write dense science dialogue and to work around special effects limitations, the film leans hard on redundant, superficial exchanges about the black hole, a desperate attempt to make it feel mysterious and terrifying. It worked on me as a kid.

Some moments have echoes of other sci-fi films:

• The rolling meteor through the ship? Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• The black hole descent? Contact.
• That creepy close-up of the eye in space? Superman III.
• The massive ship being sucked into the void? The Final Countdown.

The ending is strangely ambiguous, symbolic, and overtly religious. Heaven, hell, and a descent into the unknown. For a Disney film, that’s bold.

Maximilian is still one of the coolest robot villains in any film, pure menace in red armor. V.I.N.C.E.N.T. on the other hand, is a bit too cute. And the ESP scenes between him and the humans? Ridiculous. Why is there always a hothead with dumb one-liners in every space movie?

I used to have a Black Hole lunchbox. I wish I still had it.