Edgar Wright on THE BLACK HOLE

[@kevinmarcus5125]

I love love love this film! I was 12 years old in 1979 and it blew me away! The music and effects are still awesome… the cast is full of favorites and I really love the robots! Robert Forster became a friend and he was just the coolest guy ever!!!

[@mikelewis8086]

Excellent review, excellent movie. Saw it in the theater when I was 4, and it twisted my little brain. I've probably seen the movie 300-400 times since then, no joke. I never, ever get tired of it. It had style, it was dark and twisted, and it made no appologies. There will never be another film quite like it.

[@gpwerner]

Seconded. Love how Wright compares John Barry's score to "a funeral dirge," because that's exactly what the viewers get for the baddies, in the end.

[@Me-qp8vz]

Oh please don't lie I bet you remember it being called a New Hope. Which didn't happen until the name change 2 and a half years later. You don't remember it from when you were 4. Why lie? Trying to look cool Infront of strangers. FAIL.

[@Me-qp8vz]

@@gpwerner lies

[@RevengeCreatureDelux]

Saw this as a kid and loved it - and guess what - I still love it! That WTF ending stuck with me for years! And hey - I love the 'Bots too!

[@only257]

Revenge Creature Reviews 🙃

[@leonardeuler9592]

Hi, VINCENT. I liked you when I was a little kid!

[@Me-qp8vz]

@@leonardeuler9592 Creepy dude beyond creepy...

[@davidteall1937]

Have a whisky, turn up the volume! Theres a lot to enjoy here! Great laser effects, very good model work - the cynus is very creepy looking when they approach it - a fine cast! Never heard of the main three when I was a kid! Knew perkins and borgnine of course, being a 70s kid. But Robert Forster's (also from the beloved alligator!)had a bit of a comeback - in Jackie brown and then in Breaking Bad. And to top it all, John Barry great score XX

[@ProjectFlashlight612]

1) I refuse to make any apology for loving this film. It's great fun, with incredible art and set design, and features in Maximillian the single most terrifying robot in movie history. The ending is actually brilliant....Reinhardt ends up in Hell and our heroes in Heaven because the realm beyond the hole is basically a 'living afterlife'. The ending is whatever you want it to be. 2) If any film deserved to be in 3D, it's The Black Hole. The hammy acting woulda been more bearable with that mindblowing addition.

[@only257]

ProjectFlashlight612 love this movie saw it on tnt network when I was 14 in 1998🙃📺🎞🎥📼😊

[@VonWenk]

I waited in line 10 minutes outside the Northland Theatre to see this, and I agree with you: the ominous John Barry score was great, and then my spirits sunk as soon as I heard Vincent talk. I was a teenager, and I don't think I picked up on the Heaven-and-Hell imagery of the ending, so thanks for that. My biggest takeaway from the movie was Anthony Perkins getting it through his clipboard.

[@porflepopnecker4376]

I wasn't a kid but I still liked this movie and saw it twice at the theater. And bought the soundtrack album. In addition to the great SPFX, it has a Jules Verne quality that I found very appealing.

[@jimvincent1831]

Indeed, "Captain Nemo in Space" with that gorgeously Victorian ship

[@only257]

Porfle Popnecker agreed the effects were great and good movie too 🍿🦕😎

[@gpwerner]

Another one to whom this film was a childhood favorite. The best thing about it besides John Barry and Maximillian Schell? Harrison Ellenshaw. He designed the Cygnus and developed, with space artist Robert McCall, many of the beautiful, if not entirely scientifically accurate, background matte paintings, including those Bosch-inspired ones of Hell that Wright loves at the end. Love that spinning blue, starry black hole!

[@Retrorevelations]

This movie is a masterpiece in it's own way. Not "perfect", but few films truly are. This film is very original in it's own way, and it stood out as a very dark and serious Disney production. I have loved it since first seeing it as a kid.

[@ProjectFlashlight612]

Oh, and John Barry's soundtrack is _majestic_

[@queenglamazona8789]

Best Part of the Movie.

[@HiDesert004]

I don't know the background but I can only imagine the Disney execs were in shock at the finished product, but it was too late!

[@kimbaptempura4073]

Dark? No one seems to comment on how the villain (who literally goes to hell in the end) is a mass murderer who not only murdered the crew but animated their bodies to function as automatons - that was what made his fate in hell so fitting, he was now trapped for eternity in an iron suit surrounded by flames watching the forms of those he murdered just parade around him. So fucking dark for a Disney film, very good. Though, I saw this in the theater as well, at maybe 10-11 and was just disappointed it wasn't Star Wars. While dissapointed, there was still something that stuck with me, and when I re-watched it, I grew a new appreciation. What a ballsy film. Almost like the prequel to Even Horizon. With some changes this could have been an amazing straight up SCIFI/Horror film.

[@johnmunro4952]

I love this film. random Sunday afternoon fair, alternating between flash Gordon and the last Starfighter.

[@shawnschroeder2]

ditto!

[@dangale123]

It was a third goofy Disney, a third Star Wars and a third Poseidon Adventure with the ending from 2001. In a blender. And somehow a PG despite disembowelling Norman Bates.

[@only257]

Dan Gale 🙂

[@kimbaptempura4073]

Nah, no. It wasn't that...at all. Nice try.

[@Me-qp8vz]

Dribble.

[@kezadrone]

The end shot was a miniature not a matte painting. I was achieved with motion control.

[@richardmurphy9006]

I saw this as a kid and i guess it got me ready for Alejandro Judorosky movies the Black Hole has some genuinely trippey sequences

[@williamcrowe2576]

I forget which comics publisher it was, but the comic book adaptation was followed by a series called "Beyond the Black Hole".

[@RonRose]

Love the movie. I saw it twice in theaters back in the day. Had a few of the figures, too (a sentry robot and Maximilian). Great score and brilliant effects for the time. Yes, V.I.N.CENT and B.O.B. looked goofy, but I enjoyed the voice work by McDowall and Pickens so no complaints there. My only real beef is that here in the states the film is still unavailable on blu-ray.

[@Foebane72]

I think the VINCENT and BOB characters are Disney's personal stamp on the movie, cartoonish characters to appeal to children - just like Bit is in Tron. If it weren't for those characters, you could almost say that any movie studio created those movies.

[@fanorama1]

I have the soundtrack on vinyl!

[@quietman71]

I had an Ernest Borgnine action figure as well... and a Maximillian Schell action figure... and a Maximillian the robot action figure. As an adult, I can see this movie for the often silly piece of work it is, but I still love it. And the Cygnus is still my favorite movie spaceship of all time.

[@JohnInTheShelter]

John Barry scored this AND Starcrash. The theme sounds like the Force theme from Star Wars slowed down.

[@RustyX2010]

The remake of this movie is called Event Horizon

[@tracboy80]

They are nothing alike. Whatsoever

[@RustyX2010]

@@tracboy80 LOL

[@Me-qp8vz]

@@RustyX2010 vegetable.

[@mediamonarchyplus]

Disney's answer to Star Wars was buying Star Wars... and Marvel.

[@MattMcIrvin]

Took them a while, though.

[@theman2017inc]

Media Monarchy now that’s IRONIC

[@leonardeuler9592]

And Disney's answer to Alien was to buy Fox.

[@Foebane72]

I always liked this movie back when I was a child, and having seen it once again last night, I still do. Standouts are the music and ship designs, the creepy atmosphere and even some of the special effects, like the matte paintings. The robots are not so bad, and Roddy McDowall is a winner in any movie he's in. As for the ending, I like to think that the trip through the black hole messed with their heads: the villain feels guilt for what he did to the human crew and thus feels punished before he and they die, and the heroes, with their intact morals and humanity, feel their own interpretation of heaven before they escape and fly to just a planet with a star shining behind it, but looking miraculous, because there is one of the new worlds they've been seeking.

[@kennethholland9021]

Saw this when it came out (I was 21), and having read about its development for several years, was somewhat disappointed that it wound up being a rehash of 20,000,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but I still loved it, and still do. It's also disappointing that it wasn't till I got the DVD a couple years back that I realized the great irony of Reinhardt, played by Maximilian Schell, being trapped inside the shell of his killer robot, Max.

[@dorianleakey]

I liked this movie years ago, not sure what I would think now, but the look of it was fantastic.

[@milospilo]

so why does no one ever mention that it's 2000 Leagues Under The Sea just set in space? Sure it's got elements of Star Wars etc. but that plot is Captain Nemo. Plain and simple.

[@ChrisRichardsonwtfgamer]

I've got to disagree. The only thing Reinhardt and Nemo had in common was command of a ship. Nemo was a noble man driven to acts of terrorism by tragic circumstance. Reinhardt was a power-mad murderer who lobotomized his crew when they rebelled. So no, this isn't 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. It's more like The Island of Dr. Moreau meets Forbidden Planet. A scientist goes mad and plays god. Visitors mess with his plans. Chaos reigns.

[@kimbaptempura4073]

One could also say that Event Horizon is a remake of The Black Hole

[@tracboy80]

@@kimbaptempura4073 nope, only thing in common is they both feature black holes

[@Me-qp8vz]

@@kimbaptempura4073 only one would say that. You!.

[@unclestone8406]

Silly as V.I.N.CENT and B.O.B.'s designs may be, I loved those guys for two simple reasons: 1. Slim Pickens and Roddy McDowall brought as much life to the characters as Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker/Ben Burtt did for C-3PO and R2-D2. 2. Freakin' lasers. Given the choice, I'd as soon take V.I.N.CENT up in an X-wing.

[@mofrakker]

Especially with the showdown towards the end.

[@msh6865]

I know there was some talk about a remake of TBH, maybe before Disney went on its Star Wars rampage. But, there is so much great potential in the core storyline here. A madman in control of a giant spaceship full of human robots, hell-bent on trying to discover the secrets of a black hole? A rescue ship damaged and perhaps lost, just trying to get home? Good versus evil, sanity versus insanity, man versus nature. Tasty! The only thing that might fall short would be in trying to top John Barry's magnificent score!

[@MelissaTimea99]

Disney has gotten really good with it's quality control. They really make sure it's a worth while production before it goes out. I would love to see a 2018 or 2019 presentation of this film.

[@Me-qp8vz]

The remake almost got made, the stuck the black hole scenes in Solo A Star Wars saga, then threw in the maw. Why do you think that whole sequence was so badly edited?

[@Me-qp8vz]

@@MelissaTimea99 Watch Solo the whole sequence in the Mawe was meant to be in the new black hole minus the Falcon.

[@only257]

Love this movie

[@Autostade67]

I think at the time this was the most expensive trailer ever produced. As far as I know the 'vector graphics' were created by Robert Abel and Associates (notable for several Clio winning Levi's ads, some sections of TRON, the video for the Jacksons' 'Can You Feel It', the famous 'Aluminium Can' Super Bowl robot ad - AND for tanking on the FX for Star Trek TMP [Douglas Trumbull had to take over]). If I'm not mistaken those 'primitive' graphics cost almost a million bucks to produce. I love this period of Disney history because people don't want to believe it ever existed...a dated and desperate studio literally going down a cosmic toilet (as it had been for almost a decade prior)...and oddly out of it came in my opinion the best film the Disney Corp. ever made (at least aesthetically): Carol Ballard's 'Never Cry Wolf' - with full frontal nudity yet (almost). And yes, I have a very, very soft spot for 'The Black Hole', that painterly godchild of '20 000 Leagues Under the Sea' and 'The Island at the Top of the World'.

[@joffetime]

Let's not forget this is a Disney movie where people get killed and not in pleasant ways.

[@NeilBulk]

This movie is a guilty pleasure. There's a lot wrong with it, but I still enjoy it.

[@VonWenk]

For years (not counting Touchstone or Hollywood Pictures), this was the only Disney movie I saw in a theatre, probably for that reason.

[@tracboy80]

Another Disney live action where that happens is Dragonslayer, 2 years later

[@zzuiderzee9309]

I still have my Ernest Borgnine (Harry Booth) figure. I was "going along" with this movie until the meteors hit the ship. You're right about the WTF ending.

[@George-rk1cm]

saw this when I was about 5, scared the crap out of me for years - fantastic movie

[@Truthseeker1515]

I was also 6 in 1973 but missed it.....One thing to notice, has anyone not found similarities between Maximilian, the robot and recognizers, the large hovering vehicles in Tron?

[@BauthorFowler]

The reason for the strangely religious ending is the writer wanted to go to Italy. He wrote the ending hoping the production would film the Sistine Chapel, and that he would go with them. As far as I know, Disney did shoot in the Sistine Chapel, but he didn't get to go.

[@jbirzer]

I don't know if I saw this in the theater when I was a kid, but I know I had some of the merch, including a kids book with stills from the film and the basic telling of the story. I also vaguely remember a comic book that continued on from the ending of the film. (basically, treating the "black hole" as a wormhole.) Personally, I have a lot of affection for this movie, even if it is flawed.

[@haroldellis9721]

I think Edgar Wright, my second favorite TFH host and one of my all time favorite directors, has nailed it. But I must differ with you, Sir, about the robots; for me, they were the best bit from the movie.

[@debgibsonfan]

V.I.N.CENT and B.O.B. were the best things about the movie.

[@percygryce722]

An Ernest Borgnine action figure is not so strange. Think: "The Wild Bunch."

[@ProjectFlashlight612]

(thinks of The Wild Bunch) All I'm getting is "A muddled, incoherent and hugely overrated movie that just goes on and on and on". I remember watching it years ago with some friends. We were expecting a classic. We got disjointed tedium The much-vaunted bloodshed was tame even for '69. Halfway through, my friend paused it and said "Is it just me, or does almost nothing these characters say to each other make any ****ing sense?" It wasn't just her.

[@PeterSellers22]

ProjectFlashlight612 You're in a minority of one

[@robzilla730]

Pretty sure they didn't make Wild Bunch action figures.

[@cyrussoxlegion]

I love The Black hole. Great film.

[@-REMOwilliams]

Wonder if Disney will ever do a decent 4K release of this film. Isolated score would be appreciated

[@jnoble12]

I think the ending to this movie is widely misunderstood. Just before the heaven/hell part, the camera zooms in on Kate's eyes making me think that whole thing was a figment of her imagination while she was in a trance going through the black hole while in reality Dr Reinhart died on the Cygnus after being crushed under a falling screen and the ship was destroyed in the hole and Max was disabled by VINCENT and was just another piece of floating junk being sucked into the hole. I also like to think that the planet seen at the end is Earth and the crew made it back home

[@blindtruth4614]

I had these action figures as well as a kid so I guess that I played with them too, If I remember right you could not get a figure for the beat up robot so I made a custom beat up version out of the figure you could get (sorry do not recall the name of these figures anymore)

[@CybershamanX]

Actually, it was the evil Dr. Hans something-or-other that was stuck inside his own robot which itself was named Maximilian in the gravity well Hell scene. Hey...it's a nerd thing... ;) Still...yes...have very fond memories of this movie. And, yes, it's because through our young eyes anything having to do with space, robots and laser guns is freaking awesome. Kids today are jaded because they are raised to know what special effects are and what a "good fx shot" is. I remember hearing that when the first silent film shot of a train coming right at the camera was shown that people ran screaming from the theaters because they couldn't handle how "real" it looked. Kind of makes you stop and think for a moment. Just for a moment though... ;) Oh, and the laser blasters are better in The Black Hole because...they have two beams instead of just one... ;)

[@RWSCOTT]

best thing about this film is the Cygnus and Robert Forrster. Film is (very) basically 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, set in space- the problem is Dr. Reinhardt has no raison d'etre, no point whatsoever to what he's doing. Capt. Nemo is sympathetic in that you get what he's about, and there's subversive joy in watching him wage war against those who take from the sea.

[@pacoval4577]

I LOVE THIS MOVIE.

[@Phrancis5]

Disney's answer to Star Wars or any competition today is to fuckin buy em. Yeah, I have fond childhood memories of this film and it's creepy plot and moody but excellent musical score. I even had a little VINCENT figurine that's probably valuable now if I hadn't lost it. Sure, there are certainly old visual effects and plot holes to laugh at today, but beyond nostalgia, it was impactful for the time.

[@speeta]

A big reason for this film's unevenness is because it was produced at a transitional time at the studio, when Disney was trying to break out of the children's/family entertainment slot it had created for itself. Eventually that manifested itself as Touchstone Pictures. It didn't scream "Walt Disney Presents" at the top. A year or two earlier it would have been one of those tame Disney pictures, a year or two later it would have cut out the cute cartoon-eyed robots and the Darth Vader-masked sentries.

[@MattMcIrvin]

The original Tron was made in that same transitional period. It manages the tone a little better, but it's still a pretty weird movie from a very weird time.

[@Guernicaman]

Instead of remaking classics like Mary Poppins & Pete's Dragon, why can't Disney remake stuff like this instead? I mean, it's basically 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea...in space! The Black Hole definitely has the basis for what could be a good movie & with today's effects & Disney in a better situation financially than in 1979, they could pull off something pretty cool.

[@queenglamazona8789]

Loved the Black Hole, One Of My Favorite Science Fiction Movies. V.I.N.C.E.N.T. and Old Bob Were the Real Stars of the Film.

[@timcallender999]

I'll come to the defense of VINCENT and BOB. My head canon says that humans on long-duration deep-space missions need something to ease the psychological stress. Cute robots may provide that relief, so that's why they were designed with big cute eyes and plump round features.

[@williamthompson6665]

In-universe, the design of V.I.N.CENT. makes sense. He's compact, versatile, sentient, and much more intelligent than the humans around him. On long, isolated missions, you'd certainly want your A.I. to be as non-threatening and pleasant as possible. Much communication is through the eyes: even the little companion robots available today have non verbal expression through "eyes." Big cartoony eyes would be a feature, not a bug.

[@stephenstrange529]

I'd watch this over Star Wars any day. I love it, including the robots.

[@manmonkee]

I went to the cinema to see it,,, aaaah it's kinda one of those films you can love though you know it's bad, Roddy McDowell as a flying R2D2, whats not too love?.

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

I vaguely recall it as a guilty pleasure...

[@jimmyl324]

Black hole was good.

[@JOHNWLOUCKS]

I wasn't a big lover of this film when it came out. I do love Last Night In Soho !

[@borusa32]

It was a really 'out there' movie ending.

[@IANC4EVER]

this film is absolutely terrifying!

[@chillbuddy4178]

I remember seeing it and feeling quite entertained. It's from another time when things were a little more innocent. Of course nowadays with pop culture's obsession with asses they'd never be able to make a movie called the black hole

[@MGSBigBoss77]

Loved this film. And even by today's standards this movie has posters that'll put most wannabe Sci-fi films to shame with their photoshopped crappy posters. Compared to the ones for Disney's The Black Hole.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

well he was a kid we can forgive him for liking it

[@Me-qp8vz]

My biggest problem with this movie. The cowboy characterizations of the droids. As if cowboys from Texas would invent the droids...

[@jhhone]

Edgar Wright is so cute!

[@connorbrennan4233]

For my money, The Black Hole just felt too old-fashioned even for its time. It felt like it was made 15 years too late, despite the great effects.

[@leonardeuler9592]

0:40 R2D2 and C3P0 had very silly designs, even for kids. Vincent and Bob had decent designs for kids. Vincent and Bob >> R2D2 and C3P0

[@tracboy80]

Said no one ever

[@tinderbox218]

Edgar Wright is older than he looks

[@gordons-alive4940]

It's a total mess, clearly a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. That said, it's got some impressive visuals for the time and often is entertaining.

[@kamandi1362]

I'd much rather watch this and Star Trek: The Motion Picture than any Star Wars film (especially the post-Jedi ones).

[@cameron1975williams]

Independent of everything, that's a great trailer. Disney is a giant corporation that cares about nothing but making money. It'd kill Bambi's mom all day long to make a buck.

[@Me-qp8vz]

Edgar was 6 when The Black hole came out, but he claims to remember when Star Wars came out when he was 4? Sorry but I was 5 when Star Wars came out and I don't claim to remember it... lol Maybe he remembers Empire like I do but Star Wars in 77 no chance. Why does everyone on youtube lie so much...

[@parkpunk2]

This is not even CLOSE to the worst movie ever on Trailers from Hell.

[@CybershamanX]

But...it was only mission #7419...."I"... ;)

[@euclideszoto997]

Jim Carey lookalike?

[@aaronjclarke1973]

❤❤❤

[@integral]

Couldn't get past the cheesy special effects and the embarrassingly bad "cute robots." But yeah, if I'd been six when I first saw it I'd probably have a soft spot for it.

[@Ishkur23]

This movie was a god damn mess. It couldn't decide if it was an action-adventure, a thriller-suspense, a creepy horror, a serious drama, a religious fantasy or Disney kiddie merchandising flick. It's like it was trying to be Star Wars, Alien, Silent Running and 2001 all at the same time. It jumped focus too much and that's what doomed it. There are some scenes that are totally awesome, and others that are just cringe-worthy. Specifically, any scene with the robots in it. Although Maximillian was badass.

[@blindandwatching]

Its obvious that the movie was rushed in to production. Nobody had really decided what it was going to be. The robots were fine. They are just A.I. machines designed to mimick human traits to ficilitate their operation with people. People like to make eye contact when they talk so the eyes painted on the robots are a reasonable design feature. The thing is that I don't think the producers, writers, or directors knew what a black hole really is. Its a dead star that has collapsed in on itself under its own weight with time and space collapsed in to nothingness. Going in to a black hole is a one way trip to no-where.

[@Guernicaman]

Perfect material for a remake/reboot, IMO.

[@jnoble12]

my biggest complaints was the lack of respect for the laws of gravity and physics. And meteors are chunks of cold rock, not flaming comets.

[@tracboy80]

@@blindandwatching also supermassive black holes can be formed by clouds of very dense gas. This one turned out to be a white hole or worm hole, steller-mass size, an Einstein-Rosenbridge scenario as Rheinheart even mentions at one point.

[@davidmouser596]

Godawful film when I saw it decades ago and time has not improved it. But a great trailer that promises much but it lies!

[@MizMite2002]

This Farce Awakens.

[@dornravlin]

edgar right looks good for 40

[@Me-qp8vz]

Time to block this channel, the lies have made me sick. And this is only the fourth video I have watched.

[@kt9166]

Yep. Bad film. I always thought they were shooting for a cross between STAR WARS, 20,00 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and a Serious Science Fiction movie, and blew it on all sides. Also, I hate, hate, hate the John Barry score, with it's WEE-OOO overtones. What was he thinking? Maybe just the paycheck. There is talk of a remake. Okay. Just drop all the garbage and make that Serious Science Fiction movie!

[@Jimvanhise]

Saw this when it came out, never since. Annoying robots. Ridiculous production design (giant corridors of wasted space and tiny quarters for people to stay in). End of the movie has the characters in the vacuum of space without suits because the actors didn't want to have their faces obscured. A mess from start to finish.

[@GODCONVOYPRIME]

this is a very eerie film, it is extremely enjoyable.