Pitch Black (2000)

Max Schreck as Graf Orlok in "Nosferatu" (1922)

Film Arts Guild

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

Film.com's FREE movie of the week is "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror." This 1922 classic of cinema based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (but with names changed) directed by F.W. Murnau and starring Max Schrek in one of films most famous and frightening make-up jobs.

CinemaSource

Studio: Universal Pictures Studio: Universal Pictures

Rating: R

Release Date: Feb 18, 2000

Running Time: 108 mins. (V)

Country Of Origin: United States

starring: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Claudia Black, Rhiana Griffith, John Moore, Simon Burke, Les Chantery

director: David Twohy

Pitch Black

In the not-too-distant future, a docking pilot makes a forced crash-landing of her spacecraft on a distant planet. As the survivors explore the uncomfortably hot planet, they must band together. The planet is eerie, arid, and lifeless. But as the sun sets and the planet plunges into total darkness, other inhabitants emerge -- including a fiendish murderer with a nose for blood.

The primal fear of the dark is the basis for the compelling story that evolves in "Pitch Black."

While there's a familiarity in terms of the plot mechanics (crashed spaceship, threatening creatures), the film manages to invert them thanks to the solid direction of David Twohy and the screenplay by brothers Ken and Jim Wheat.

Incorporating disparate genre archetypes (the movie mixes "Swiss Family Robinson" with "Ten Little Indians" by way of "Alien"), "Pitch Black" provides a thrill ride from its…