The Black Hole (1979) w/Blastropodcast

This week on Alcohollywood, Mark (from the classy science-y comedy podcast Blastropodcast) joins us with our look at Disney’s attempt to cash-in on the Star Wars craze, The Black Hole! A group of hapless scientists and astronauts exploring a black hole find a haunted house-ship occupied by Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Maximillian Schell, channeling Captain Nemo) and a bunch of robots. Once there, they find betrayal, mystery, laser gun fights and surprisingly un-Disney disembowelings – elements that make for a rather atonal, if refreshingly earnest, science fiction picture.

Shockingly dark for a Disney movie, the film shows everything from horrifying murders to zombification to a literal descent through hell! The production design is stellar, and John Barry’s score is romantically macabre, but the monotonous, flat acting (even from acting legends like Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster and Ernest Borgnine) and the languorous pace stop the movie dead in its tracks. Still, there’s fun to be had, so take a listen and check out our drinking game and custom cocktail!