This review needs more V.I.N.C.E.N.T. This was Disney's *FIRST* PG film, and in that context, I think this film was an amazing step outside its comfort zone while still maintaining Disney values. By Disney values, I mean that Disney, as a media provider to young viewers, cannot help but be aware of its impact on children's sense of right and wrong. (Just look at the pushback against Disney princesses if you doubt the connection.) I would present Black Hole as a starkly cerebral film for younger viewers. And V.I.N.C.E.N.T., the plucky robot sidekick, is pivotal to that role. His small size and adorable eyes make him almost childlike, so he is the one that a younger viewer will empathize with. My childhood notebooks are proof of that, which featured a floating, dual-lasered, big-eyed robot on every fifth page. Despite his child-friendly design, V.I.N.C.E.N.T. often appears as the wisest of the crew with his quips, bravery, and vision. He is the only crewmember who makes a new friend on their journey, sticking up for him against the robotic bully S.T.A.R.R. at the shooting range. Friendship, bullying--these are themes aimed at young viewers, and seeing them dressed up in a mature, atmospheric film compliments the intelligence of younger viewers. Furthermore, V.I.N.C.E.N.T. protects the crew from and ultimately defeats the nightmarish Maximillian in a David v. Goliath style battle that you wait the entire film to see. Reinhardt is crushed by the weight of his own hubris, but it is the childlike robot who takes out the Big Bad. He really is the hero of this film. Lastly, Very Important Necessary information CENTralized is the underappreciated voice of wisdom to the crew. His little pearls are all spot-on and highly memorable. My favorite: "There are three basic types, Mr. Pizer: the Wills, the Won'ts, and the Can'ts. The Wills accomplish everything, the Won'ts oppose everything, and the Can'ts won't try anything." This movie shaped me a lot as a kid. I daresay it was my first cerebral movie, and with all due respect to the Critic, I disagree completely that this is one to skip.
Sorry, I thought Vincent was the worst thing about the movie. Yes, he's cute if you're very young, but his humor is forced, inappropriate and fails completely.
I always had a sneaking suspicion that Event Horizon was inspired by a lot of the ideas in The Black Hole, but I've never heard anyone actually admit it. I too would love to see a straight up remake or even a special edition where they spruce up the effects.
+V4Now I would love to see this get a remake... It had many good ideas but they never went anywhere... For what its worth, which is not much... I really loved this film as a kid, and even now I still enjoy it...
+V4Now Agreed. It could be done well and utilize new hard science. But after Tomorrowland bombed and the cancellation of the Tron sequel, it seems Disney is done with live-action movies (at least for a while) so I bet any plans they had for a Black Hole remake (and there *were* plans) are probably all off now.
The late '70s and early '80s are my favorite era of Disney, where their movies weren't necessarily good, but they took huge risks during this time. It was truly an experimental era for them.
It's a weird movie, because it's actually very adult orientated. You've got the evil scientist with shades of Mengele, who gives the crew all his knowledge. You've got the killer robot in Maximilian. Zombie cyborgs. The previously mentioned knowledge... lost when Maximilian drills through it (that's what the book in the clip was). But Disney decided to make a kids movie out of it. And so you get the little floating robots with cute eyes painted on them. That's where the movie went wrong, even though Vincent is the best character in the movie (besides Maximilian). It really could use a remake to be what it should have been in the first place: a bit of a slow paced, partially psychological, partially zombie/killer robot sci-fi with touches of horror. And also touching upon how to handle the knowledge provided (it includes both artificial gravity and a solution to the Earth's energy problems, plus other things), after knowing how it was gained.
I loved the practical effects in this movie. It particularly shines when it shows miniatures of the ship being ripped apart by the gravitational field of the black hole - something you probably never see in any other movie for some reason (Star Trek Into Darkness had it but it was a bit of a CG mess, also way more modern). The asteroids hitting the arboretum dome and causing it to rip off. The generator(?) that becomes overloaded and blows up due to the shuttle crashing into the ship and it being ripped apart. Not to mention how brutal and industrial the USS Cygnus looks. Cheap effects, but sooo neat and sooo classical.
+Dijaknow person who hates Disney: Disney is for little kids me: plays were max million kills that guy pwhd: Jesus was that from a Disney movie me: yes pwhd: Je Je Jesus
+farjacko Maximilian was awesome. I wouldn't mind if he got appropriated into the Star Wars movies (with VINCENT and BOB) because we all know no Black Hole remakes/sequels are ever happening.
+Budman I saw The Black Hole when it came out back when. The movie was unfavorably compared to Star Wars and 2001 and did poorly, languishing in fan scorn for a long time. But I always liked it since Disney tried to make a SF movie without muppets, ewoks, or singing.
Budman These days it is all old hat, yeah, and the movie's indecision in story direction doesn't help much. But it's worth at least one viewing to see some Hollywood names trying to sell this baby, and robots Vincent and Maximilian who walk away with every scene they are in.
+Budman I loved the film when I was young - Still enjoy it now... OK! Its not the best in the world but its one to be admired for what it tried to do... You can sort of imagine how it would look in the hands of JJ Abrams or Peter Jackson....
I just rewatched this movie, and I have a bit of different interpretation about the ending. Yes, it absolutely could be that Reinhardt is condemned to hell...but...also The Cygnus itself is a bit of a metaphor for Hell, too, and Reinhardt and Maximilian plays avatars of the devil/Satan. In the end, they become one being, and rather than just being a denizen of Hell, they are actually it's Ruler, standing above the other tormented souls, just as they did on the Cygnus. Yes, Reinhardt is being punished, but he also simultaneously gets exactly what he wants. As for the rest of the crew, from what I can tell, the novelization basically indicates that they become one with the Universe. In essence, they go to heaven, reach enlightenment, are reborn to a new life, become God....
Coincidentally, when I was a kid, this was the first Disney film I ever watched that is rated PG, and it haunted my childhood since day one. I still like this movie to this day for many reasons. For one thing, The Black Hole was filmed in an obscure and dark tone that attempts to be as state-of-the-art as Star Wars, but struggled to tell the story as a scientifically accurate adventure into the dangerous path between our universe and the edge of a black hole. Regarding the film's dated SFX, faulty writing and its controversial ending, this is still fun to watch in my opinion. I believe that this film deserves a remake, if Disney can get back into using the scientific elements that can nail their improvements from the original (like how 'Interstellar' and 'Event Horizon' nailed their inspiration from this film), and rereleasing the original in non-grainy, colorful HD. By the way, gotta love John Barry's beautiful music score.
Also, remember the Simpson's Treehouse of Horror where Homer becomes 3D? When Homer says, "Has anyone seen Tron?", I think they really meant this movie, but in comparison, Tron is much more memorable. Heck, watch the opening of the Black Hole, and tell me I'm wrong.
Did he lose his thumb if you put his blaster in the wrong way? Also, they got the blasters wrong; they were supposed to be double barrel top-to-bottom.
"Take the young lady to the hospital..." Jesus, that line scared the shit out of me at age 4 and continues to today. Part of it is the fact that just about every kid by age 4 has had some unwanted medical procedure done on them and this just sounds uncomfortably like that ENT doctor you prefer to forget about. The view of her in some kind of restraint garment with a hospital cap on just makes it that much closer to the terror (I'd wager some of you have been strapped to a papoose board at one time...oh, does that make you uncomfortable?). Christ, my heart's out of control just typing this. But watching this as an adult (and it took me 20 years, and then another 10, just to revisit this), what's really creepy is what's happening in "the hospital". From what I can tell, the mad doctor's been lobotomizing his crew. That's a really dark theme and one that you could make a really horrific movie about today. It's as dark as Alien, if it were done right. Mad captain reprograms the security droids and has his crew lobotomized? That's a damn good story line. One that would no doubt get an "R" rating. The fact that this was a PG and my Dad took me to it and traumatized me for life just illustrates this movie's power.
I remember my parents tried to make me watch this when I was like 5 after I had just finished watching Tigger Movie for the 50,000,000th time god that film was my childhood
Everyone remembers how evil Maximilian, the robot, was, but his demise was awesome. He corners VINCENT and sticks scramblers on the poor robot's mainframe, causing everything on VINCENT to go haywire-one of his maintenance tools-a small drill-pops out and goes into Maximilian at a weak spot and disables him for good.
even as a kid this was one of my fav movies from disney, of course i was heavily into space movies back then, and yes i still enjoy this movie but even i admit there are some scenes that i find boring enough that i scan through them since i know what happens lol
I agree that Disney was making an attempt at an epic sci-fi movie that didn't make it all the way but the Black Hole was unique to all other sci-fi movies of the time. I was born in 1981 and often, usually every Friday night, my parents, sisters and I would go to our local video store to rent movies. We ALWAYS wanted to get, what I called, the Disney white-box, clam shell VHS tapes and each one of them would have an ad for all of the white-box clam shell Disney films available. In the ad The Black Hole would always come up. As a kid the ad would show the green wire-frame black hole from the intro. It was intimidating at the time. Then one day The Black Hole was shown on TV. It felt like a long, drawn-out movie but I love it...until the end. I liked the actors, dialogue and the plot was very intriguing. Years later when I hit adulthood I wanted to watch The Black Hole again to see what I didn't get the first time...like the ending. Still loved it, definitely had the NOSTALGIA annnnnnnnnnd I still couldn't figure out the ending. The DVD release of The Black Hole had a behind-the-scenes special, but what I gathered about the ending is that it was a last minute change. Why? No clue! Otherwise The Black Hole should be remade, and I think Disney could do it!
I actually missed out on 2014 and 2015's Disneycember videos... I was pretty busy during those years. Now I'm taking the time to watch them all this year! Also, never heard of this movie.
Ahhhh the BLack Hole. I used to have wallpaper from that show that was awesome. All the spaceships and stars and black holes... I loved it as a kid. STILL have never seen the movie though O.O
Thanks for reviewing this lost fun film from Disney. It could have been great, but ended up being OK, but it is fun to watch. I liked it enough back when. :) Vincent rocked, and Maximilian was a badass, and it was the first movie I saw that featured Anthony Perkins. Ernest Borgnine and Maximilian Schell as always earned their paychecks.
It was better I think than the critic is admitting. There was tension. The dialogue wasn't bad and the effects. I thought were actually decent. Ernest Borgnine was stupid. But the rest actually worked. I liked it. It was a good film. Better I think than he's saying.
+BrotherAlpha I've seen it twice now, and the second time around was actually kind of better. The first time, you feel pretty lost trying to keep up. But there are things you start to notice the second time around. Main characters are meh, no one cares. The interesting bits are the designs (even if the special effects and the people in the red suits pretending to be robots suck) and the overarching feeling of... emptiness. I actually feel like watching it again, now.
I have my own explanation of the ending which makes total sense if you think about it. It was all in the imagination of Kate as she was in a trance or a state of fear while the probe ship spun through the hole. Remember how the camera zooms way in on her eyes just before the hell part? That was to indicate what happens next was all in her mind. She imagined or dreamed that Dr Reinhardt and his evil robot creation, who killed her father along with his crew, was now in hell or a layer of Dante's Inferno which was referenced earlier in the movie by Harry Booth. In "reality" , Dr Reinhardt was killed by the falling screen on his ship which had broken apart and was sucked into the hole in a million pieces and Maximillion was rendered useless and just another piece of space junk sucked into the hole. Then she imagined them passing through heaven and her dream ended after the probe ship emerged through the other side. I also like to think the planet the probe is seen headed towards before credit roll is Earth so they finally get to go home
This could do with a modern remake, with better visual effects and a tighter focus in the story. But keep the atmosphere; I felt it from just looking at the clips.
This was my favorite as a kid. The music still gives me goosebumps. But, yeah, I can admit it's just not a good movie. I loved it at the time, but what did I know from good movies, I was only 7.
Whow, that's funny. I was just watching the Half in the Bag episode about Interstellar where they were also talking about this movie. And now you upload this.
oh man, this movie practically scarred me as a child. My family rented it since none of us had seen it, and we were fine until the imagery at the end, oh even at 10 I was terrified.
God I only remembered watching this film when I saw the robot and the antagonist scene when they're floating inside the black hole and seem to fuse together, God that was a long time ago. I'm so freaking old :(
Ironically, the movie death of Dr. Durant is more gruesome than the novelization. In the book, he's gunned down by Maximillian's lasers, instead of having his insides pureed. I saw this film in theaters as when it was released and it terrified me for years. Probably why I love it so.
If this were to be remade, it could be a terrifying space horror. Not relying on gore and jump scares, but on atmosphere and mystery. That soundtrack could be made less repetitive, but it really would need to return.
The Black Hole is more of a psychological thriller, with hints of horror, definitely perhaps the darkest Disney movie to date. You have a scientist on the brink of insanity, whose obsession has driven him to kill a part of his own crew and lobotomized the surviving members into humanoid slaves. Not exactly something Disney would usually do, right?
I remember seeing this on late night Disney once as a kid, you know back when the Disney Channel would air all kinds of older movies and shows like Zorro instead of running even more reruns of their crappy tween sitcoms about dogs that are secretly pop idols named after states or whatever, and I remember really enjoying it as a kid, though that big killer robot is the only thing I really remember. I should rewatch this some time.
I heard a while ago that Joseph Kosinski, who had worked on TRON Legacy at the time, was thinking about helming a reboot for this movie. After actually taking a look at the source material, I actually think that would be cool to see.
I saw this twice in the theatres, and probably a dozen or so times since. I even managed to get a few of the toys, which, obviously, were overshadowed by my Star Wars collection. No, it's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but I guess you could call this one of my guilty pleasures. I still enjoy it.
I remember my uncle showed me this movie when I was 11. It was very fascinating, especially because (from what I know) it was the first time Disney had ever attempted to make a movie entirely out of live action. I haven't watched it in years, but it still left quite an impression on my 11-year-old mind
I saw this at nine years of age and it technically became the Event Horizon of my childhood. Not good but so many things, that were amazing and unique, although it ripped other movies off. It is a creepy and also mystic space Dracula movie, that somehow really captured my imagination and had cheesy stuff in it, that made up for a relief within all the darkness, so that it didn’t overwhelm me as a child.
I haven't seen this film for a few years now, so I don't remember much about it, but I thought the imagery of Hell was suppose to imply that the lady's Father was Max, and being Max was absolute Hell.
Holy shit Doug u really put effort into ur channel and if ne one dis serves the subs is u my friend love ur channel keep up the great work hope it comes quick for u
At the time, the effects were pretty state of the art. Their motion control camera was actually better than what was being used on Star Wars and many people who worked on Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back worked on The Black Hole. It also has the best "creepy spaceship" design put on film. The videos looks bad because it hasn't been given a proper restoration/transfer by Disney. Disney doesn't consider it a prestige title and have let third parties do the recent home video releases from old film sources. The last time Disney themselves did a proper transfer was for the Japanese laserdisc. Hopefully someone at Disney will give this film a little love when the remake (supposedly still in the works) starts production and have a proper restoration done from the original film negative.
IDK: McDowell did a very good job to me: VINCENT was dry and sarcastic with just enough balance of proverbial wisdom. He must get credit for this performance too.
He is mute through the entire movie until the very end when VINCENT drills through him (which was ironic ) and he makes anguished screaming robot noises
Not bad for a movie. Maybe they should release it on DVD or Blu-Ray. It reminds like this movie refer to "Interstellar" before Christopher Nolan completes this loophole adventure than this.
I was going through my Dad's old college stuff, & stumbled on the book, so I read it, deciding to do my independent reading assignment on it, & was like "W...T...F????!!!" 😳 At the end! While I acknowledge it's attempt to answer what's in a black hole, & just LOVING the trippy, cosmic imagry, it was just a rather big middle finger to what the characters went through, especially in the 2nd half! (SPOILERS) & WHAT about the way they killed off Harry, literally the 1st character introduced?! The way their own ship was blown up with him in it is quite literally the only other time he's mentioned!!! On a lighter note, my enthusiasm over the book got me a big fat A on my assignment! 😊
I grew up with this movie as a child and I loved it...I still do. I like the characters...and I especially liked Vincent who is my all time favourite robot. Unlike R2-D2 he is practical...he can talk, fight, and fix things, and he gives out little tid bits of philosophy to the other crew members. The space shots are fantastic...very dark and very bleak...we forget how dark space really is. It is the atmosphere of this movie that drives it. I would not describe the characters as being wooden as much as being practical, they reach in away that shows that they are actually educated, that they belong on a space exploration ship, there are no corky characters in this story. Personally it is one of those unrated movies that slips to the way side...another good movie like this would be The Last Starfighter. The failing of this movie would be the ending, it is very metaphoric with the elements of heaven and hell, and the morality of does "the ends justify the means...", and all of this can easily be lost on the viewer.
I still have a soft spot for this movie, problems and all. It deserves more interest, though I don't think it's a great film. It is, in the end, watchable and does some things really well. And some others kind of poorly. I'd give it a C+ myself - it is adequate enough and capable, but not going to win much praise.
Maximilian is the scariest thing Disney has ever created.
Oh hell yes
Besides Miley Cyrus? 😂😂😂
What about Return to Oz?
Who’s Maximilian
No really who is Maximilian
I like the designs and some of the shots.
Quite cool actually.
This review needs more V.I.N.C.E.N.T.
This was Disney's *FIRST* PG film, and in that context, I think this film was an amazing step outside its comfort zone while still maintaining Disney values. By Disney values, I mean that Disney, as a media provider to young viewers, cannot help but be aware of its impact on children's sense of right and wrong. (Just look at the pushback against Disney princesses if you doubt the connection.)
I would present Black Hole as a starkly cerebral film for younger viewers. And V.I.N.C.E.N.T., the plucky robot sidekick, is pivotal to that role. His small size and adorable eyes make him almost childlike, so he is the one that a younger viewer will empathize with. My childhood notebooks are proof of that, which featured a floating, dual-lasered, big-eyed robot on every fifth page.
Despite his child-friendly design, V.I.N.C.E.N.T. often appears as the wisest of the crew with his quips, bravery, and vision. He is the only crewmember who makes a new friend on their journey, sticking up for him against the robotic bully S.T.A.R.R. at the shooting range. Friendship, bullying--these are themes aimed at young viewers, and seeing them dressed up in a mature, atmospheric film compliments the intelligence of younger viewers.
Furthermore, V.I.N.C.E.N.T. protects the crew from and ultimately defeats the nightmarish Maximillian in a David v. Goliath style battle that you wait the entire film to see. Reinhardt is crushed by the weight of his own hubris, but it is the childlike robot who takes out the Big Bad. He really is the hero of this film.
Lastly, Very Important Necessary information CENTralized is the underappreciated voice of wisdom to the crew. His little pearls are all spot-on and highly memorable. My favorite: "There are three basic types, Mr. Pizer: the Wills, the Won'ts, and the Can'ts. The Wills accomplish everything, the Won'ts oppose everything, and the Can'ts won't try anything."
This movie shaped me a lot as a kid. I daresay it was my first cerebral movie, and with all due respect to the Critic, I disagree completely that this is one to skip.
Vincent is definitely the most memorable character! I'd love to see him as a cameo in an upcoming Star Wars film!
This is a late reply but you just said exactly how I felt about the movie which is why I also still enjoy it today.
KindaAmbiguous - needs what now?
Sorry, I thought Vincent was the worst thing about the movie. Yes, he's cute if you're very young, but his humor is forced, inappropriate and fails completely.
I always thought this deserved a remake
Given the potential here, defiantly. It could look great and be improved with what we've learned in recent years
I always had a sneaking suspicion that Event Horizon was inspired by a lot of the ideas in The Black Hole, but I've never heard anyone actually admit it. I too would love to see a straight up remake or even a special edition where they spruce up the effects.
+V4Now I would love to see this get a remake... It had many good ideas but they never went anywhere...
For what its worth, which is not much... I really loved this film as a kid, and even now I still enjoy it...
+V4Now Agreed. It could be done well and utilize new hard science. But after Tomorrowland bombed and the cancellation of the Tron sequel, it seems Disney is done with live-action movies (at least for a while) so I bet any plans they had for a Black Hole remake (and there *were* plans) are probably all off now.
+Avadar 23.8 Perhaps more likely a level/world in Disney Infinity.
The late '70s and early '80s are my favorite era of Disney, where their movies weren't necessarily good, but they took huge risks during this time. It was truly an experimental era for them.
There is nothing more interesting about a massive empire's dark ages.
It's why the 1970s are such an interesting decade for me.
I honest to goodness have a pillowcase form this movie that I slept on every night I visited my Grandma as a child.
Scared the hell out of me.. Severely underrated and the ship is one of the most beautiful spaceship model ever
It's a weird movie, because it's actually very adult orientated. You've got the evil scientist with shades of Mengele, who gives the crew all his knowledge. You've got the killer robot in Maximilian. Zombie cyborgs. The previously mentioned knowledge... lost when Maximilian drills through it (that's what the book in the clip was). But Disney decided to make a kids movie out of it. And so you get the little floating robots with cute eyes painted on them. That's where the movie went wrong, even though Vincent is the best character in the movie (besides Maximilian).
It really could use a remake to be what it should have been in the first place: a bit of a slow paced, partially psychological, partially zombie/killer robot sci-fi with touches of horror. And also touching upon how to handle the knowledge provided (it includes both artificial gravity and a solution to the Earth's energy problems, plus other things), after knowing how it was gained.
I loved the practical effects in this movie.
It particularly shines when it shows miniatures of the ship being ripped apart by the gravitational field of the black hole - something you probably never see in any other movie for some reason (Star Trek Into Darkness had it but it was a bit of a CG mess, also way more modern). The asteroids hitting the arboretum dome and causing it to rip off. The generator(?) that becomes overloaded and blows up due to the shuttle crashing into the ship and it being ripped apart. Not to mention how brutal and industrial the USS Cygnus looks.
Cheap effects, but sooo neat and sooo classical.
The only thing I remember about this film is that terrifying robot
+farjacko IKR!
+Dijaknow person who hates Disney: Disney is for little kids
me: plays were max million kills that guy
pwhd: Jesus was that from a Disney movie
me: yes
pwhd: Je Je Jesus
+farjacko Maximilian was awesome. I wouldn't mind if he got appropriated into the Star Wars movies (with VINCENT and BOB) because we all know no Black Hole remakes/sequels are ever happening.
What's more mind-blowing is the fact that Maximilian killed Norman Bates
I remember Vincent and Bob the most from Black Hole. Those little guys were awesome!
This actually looks really interesting!
Soooo... it's Event Horizon by Disney?
maxcoseti: The Black Hole was made long before Event Horizon.
I know, I don't see how it's relevant though
There are definitely similarities! I suspect Event Horizon took direct inspiration from The Black Hole.
Not nearly as much inspiration as Disney took from Forbidden Planet.
@@ThierryVerhoeven -or Moby Dick for that matter.
V.I.N.CENT was the best part for me. He had so much sass, I was always amused when I saw him on screen.
Wow I've never heard of this Disney film before
+Budman I saw The Black Hole when it came out back when. The movie was unfavorably compared to Star Wars and 2001 and did poorly, languishing in fan scorn for a long time. But I always liked it since Disney tried to make a SF movie without muppets, ewoks, or singing.
+Observations from the Bunker From this video it doesn't look good, but if I have the chance I might give it a watch
Budman
These days it is all old hat, yeah, and the movie's indecision in story direction doesn't help much. But it's worth at least one viewing to see some Hollywood names trying to sell this baby, and robots Vincent and Maximilian who walk away with every scene they are in.
+Budman I loved the film when I was young - Still enjoy it now... OK! Its not the best in the world but its one to be admired for what it tried to do... You can sort of imagine how it would look in the hands of JJ Abrams or Peter Jackson....
+Budman
I didn't even know this *was* a Disney film.
I just heard of it from Robot Chicken.
I saw this movie when I was a kid. The surreal ending montage gave me nightmares for years.
I just rewatched this movie, and I have a bit of different interpretation about the ending. Yes, it absolutely could be that Reinhardt is condemned to hell...but...also The Cygnus itself is a bit of a metaphor for Hell, too, and Reinhardt and Maximilian plays avatars of the devil/Satan. In the end, they become one being, and rather than just being a denizen of Hell, they are actually it's Ruler, standing above the other tormented souls, just as they did on the Cygnus. Yes, Reinhardt is being punished, but he also simultaneously gets exactly what he wants. As for the rest of the crew, from what I can tell, the novelization basically indicates that they become one with the Universe. In essence, they go to heaven, reach enlightenment, are reborn to a new life, become God....
The Cygnus is the most awesome ship in sci-fi history and Maximilian is the scariest robot of all time. Thanks for reviewing this.
I haven't seen this since I was about 4, but remember having Black Hole pajamas and a few of the toys.
Coincidentally, when I was a kid, this was the first Disney film I ever watched that is rated PG, and it haunted my childhood since day one. I still like this movie to this day for many reasons. For one thing, The Black Hole was filmed in an obscure and dark tone that attempts to be as state-of-the-art as Star Wars, but struggled to tell the story as a scientifically accurate adventure into the dangerous path between our universe and the edge of a black hole. Regarding the film's dated SFX, faulty writing and its controversial ending, this is still fun to watch in my opinion. I believe that this film deserves a remake, if Disney can get back into using the scientific elements that can nail their improvements from the original (like how 'Interstellar' and 'Event Horizon' nailed their inspiration from this film), and rereleasing the original in non-grainy, colorful HD. By the way, gotta love John Barry's beautiful music score.
Also, remember the Simpson's Treehouse of Horror where Homer becomes 3D?
When Homer says, "Has anyone seen Tron?", I think they really meant this movie, but in comparison, Tron is much more memorable.
Heck, watch the opening of the Black Hole, and tell me I'm wrong.
Actually Doug, Alien and The Black Hole came out the same year, so it was unlikely Disney was trying to copy them.
When I was a kid I had a couple of the action figures but not the robots, so I teamed up Charles Pizer with R5-D4.
Did he lose his thumb if you put his blaster in the wrong way? Also, they got the blasters wrong; they were supposed to be double barrel top-to-bottom.
"Take the young lady to the hospital..." Jesus, that line scared the shit out of me at age 4 and continues to today. Part of it is the fact that just about every kid by age 4 has had some unwanted medical procedure done on them and this just sounds uncomfortably like that ENT doctor you prefer to forget about. The view of her in some kind of restraint garment with a hospital cap on just makes it that much closer to the terror (I'd wager some of you have been strapped to a papoose board at one time...oh, does that make you uncomfortable?). Christ, my heart's out of control just typing this. But watching this as an adult (and it took me 20 years, and then another 10, just to revisit this), what's really creepy is what's happening in "the hospital". From what I can tell, the mad doctor's been lobotomizing his crew. That's a really dark theme and one that you could make a really horrific movie about today. It's as dark as Alien, if it were done right. Mad captain reprograms the security droids and has his crew lobotomized? That's a damn good story line. One that would no doubt get an "R" rating. The fact that this was a PG and my Dad took me to it and traumatized me for life just illustrates this movie's power.
The scene where Kate was dressed as a baked potatoe? :-)
I remember my parents tried to make me watch this when I was like 5 after I had just finished watching Tigger Movie for the 50,000,000th time god that film was my childhood
Everyone remembers how evil Maximilian, the robot, was, but his demise was awesome. He corners VINCENT and sticks scramblers on the poor robot's mainframe, causing everything on VINCENT to go haywire-one of his maintenance tools-a small drill-pops out and goes into Maximilian at a weak spot and disables him for good.
No mention of the kickass opening theme?
KICK ASS??
It's one of Bernstein's WORST, IMO...just the same 7 notes, over...and over...and OVER...
As sampled by The Beta Band in "It's Not Too Beautiful"
It's a very haunting theme. It's fantastic. If you only hearing 7 notes you're missing what's going on underneath them.
Ummm. Not Elmer Bernstein. It's John Barry who composed it.
It's a great theme!!
even as a kid this was one of my fav movies from disney, of course i was heavily into space movies back then, and yes i still enjoy this movie but even i admit there are some scenes that i find boring enough that i scan through them since i know what happens lol
I remember loving the robots and drawing them incessantly as a kid, I used to try to draw BOB and Maximilian along with Judge Dredd back in the day :)
I find this better than 21st space odyssey any day
Finally watched this for the first time on disney+. The score by John Barry i thought was a highlight
I agree that Disney was making an attempt at an epic sci-fi movie that didn't make it all the way but the Black Hole was unique to all other sci-fi movies of the time. I was born in 1981 and often, usually every Friday night, my parents, sisters and I would go to our local video store to rent movies. We ALWAYS wanted to get, what I called, the Disney white-box, clam shell VHS tapes and each one of them would have an ad for all of the white-box clam shell Disney films available. In the ad The Black Hole would always come up. As a kid the ad would show the green wire-frame black hole from the intro. It was intimidating at the time. Then one day The Black Hole was shown on TV. It felt like a long, drawn-out movie but I love it...until the end. I liked the actors, dialogue and the plot was very intriguing. Years later when I hit adulthood I wanted to watch The Black Hole again to see what I didn't get the first time...like the ending. Still loved it, definitely had the NOSTALGIA annnnnnnnnnd I still couldn't figure out the ending. The DVD release of The Black Hole had a behind-the-scenes special, but what I gathered about the ending is that it was a last minute change. Why? No clue!
Otherwise The Black Hole should be remade, and I think Disney could do it!
Fun bit of trivia: this was the first Disney film to get a PG rating.
I actually missed out on 2014 and 2015's Disneycember videos... I was pretty busy during those years. Now I'm taking the time to watch them all this year! Also, never heard of this movie.
You forgot to mention Maximilian Schell, an Oscar-winner.
This has always been my favorite Disney film!!
Ahhhh the BLack Hole. I used to have wallpaper from that show that was awesome. All the spaceships and stars and black holes... I loved it as a kid. STILL have never seen the movie though O.O
one of my favorites
Is the scientist played by Maximilian Shell? He just looks a lot like him.
Yes.
That's him chewing the scenery as crazy Doctor Reinhardt
I was the first person to like a video by my favorite critic. This makes me way too happy. Love Doug's reviews so much!
Thanks for reviewing this lost fun film from Disney. It could have been great, but ended up being OK, but it is fun to watch. I liked it enough back when. :) Vincent rocked, and Maximilian was a badass, and it was the first movie I saw that featured Anthony Perkins. Ernest Borgnine and Maximilian Schell as always earned their paychecks.
It was better I think than the critic is admitting. There was tension. The dialogue wasn't bad and the effects. I thought were actually decent. Ernest Borgnine was stupid. But the rest actually worked. I liked it. It was a good film. Better I think than he's saying.
Dude, I remember Black Hole as one of the most intense movies I ever watched as a kid. Seriously.
I wonder to what extent the Recognizers in "Tron" were modelled on Maximilian the Robot....
Maybe now if they remake this movie as a animated movie
This might work
I know I've seen this movie, but I remember almost nothing about it. I might have to check it out again.
+BrotherAlpha I've seen it twice now, and the second time around was actually kind of better. The first time, you feel pretty lost trying to keep up. But there are things you start to notice the second time around. Main characters are meh, no one cares. The interesting bits are the designs (even if the special effects and the people in the red suits pretending to be robots suck) and the overarching feeling of... emptiness. I actually feel like watching it again, now.
Also, I forgot to mention, the music does a very good job at sounding otherwordly, eerie, and vaguely evil.
I have my own explanation of the ending which makes total sense if you think about it.
It was all in the imagination of Kate as she was in a trance or a state of fear while the probe ship spun through the hole. Remember how the camera zooms way in on her eyes just before the hell part? That was to indicate what happens next was all in her mind. She imagined or dreamed that Dr Reinhardt and his evil robot creation, who killed her father along with his crew, was now in hell or a layer of Dante's Inferno which was referenced earlier in the movie by Harry Booth. In "reality" , Dr Reinhardt was killed by the falling screen on his ship which had broken apart and was sucked into the hole in a million pieces and Maximillion was rendered useless and just another piece of space junk sucked into the hole.
Then she imagined them passing through heaven and her dream ended after the probe ship emerged through the other side. I also like to think the planet the probe is seen headed towards before credit roll is Earth so they finally get to go home
This could do with a modern remake, with better visual effects and a tighter focus in the story. But keep the atmosphere; I felt it from just looking at the clips.
this was one of the first sci-fi I saw even before star trek , and i loved it its one of the best moves of its time
This was my favorite as a kid. The music still gives me goosebumps. But, yeah, I can admit it's just not a good movie. I loved it at the time, but what did I know from good movies, I was only 7.
I saw this on TV when I was 5. I never forgot Maximillian, especially that ending. I wouldn't mind seeing them attempt a remake.
Whow, that's funny. I was just watching the Half in the Bag episode about Interstellar where they were also talking about this movie. And now you upload this.
oh man, this movie practically scarred me as a child. My family rented it since none of us had seen it, and we were fine until the imagery at the end, oh even at 10 I was terrified.
God I only remembered watching this film when I saw the robot and the antagonist scene when they're floating inside the black hole and seem to fuse together, God that was a long time ago. I'm so freaking old :(
Really? I actually enjoyed The Black Hole when I saw it in the theatre.
Ironically, the movie death of Dr. Durant is more gruesome than the novelization. In the book, he's gunned down by Maximillian's lasers, instead of having his insides pureed. I saw this film in theaters as when it was released and it terrified me for years. Probably why I love it so.
Seeing this as a kid when it came out, it really struck me as being very dark for a Disney film.
If this were to be remade, it could be a terrifying space horror. Not relying on gore and jump scares, but on atmosphere and mystery. That soundtrack could be made less repetitive, but it really would need to return.
I can't wait for your thoughts on "The Apple Dumpling Gang"
The Black Hole is more of a psychological thriller, with hints of horror, definitely perhaps the darkest Disney movie to date. You have a scientist on the brink of insanity, whose obsession has driven him to kill a part of his own crew and lobotomized the surviving members into humanoid slaves. Not exactly something Disney would usually do, right?
I remember seeing this on late night Disney once as a kid, you know back when the Disney Channel would air all kinds of older movies and shows like Zorro instead of running even more reruns of their crappy tween sitcoms about dogs that are secretly pop idols named after states or whatever, and I remember really enjoying it as a kid, though that big killer robot is the only thing I really remember. I should rewatch this some time.
and after the review lots of people went on a hunt for the movie
I heard a while ago that Joseph Kosinski, who had worked on TRON Legacy at the time, was thinking about helming a reboot for this movie. After actually taking a look at the source material, I actually think that would be cool to see.
I saw this twice in the theatres, and probably a dozen or so times since. I even managed to get a few of the toys, which, obviously, were overshadowed by my Star Wars collection. No, it's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but I guess you could call this one of my guilty pleasures. I still enjoy it.
I actually like TBH. It's not as high concept as Forbidden Planet, but at least it's not a space shoot 'em up like so many others.
Wasn't this also the plot of an anime? I can't recall the title, but Sage did a review of it.
Dude. I love this film. I don't think anyone younger than 50 (in 2025) would get it.
I loved this movie when I saw it in theaters. Its one film I'd like to see a remake of
I remember my uncle showed me this movie when I was 11. It was very fascinating, especially because (from what I know) it was the first time Disney had ever attempted to make a movie entirely out of live action. I haven't watched it in years, but it still left quite an impression on my 11-year-old mind
Disney hired Norman Bates?...
*DISNEY KILLED NORMAN BATES?!*
I saw this at nine years of age and it technically became the Event Horizon of my childhood. Not good but so many things, that were amazing and unique, although it ripped other movies off. It is a creepy and also mystic space Dracula movie, that somehow really captured my imagination and had cheesy stuff in it, that made up for a relief within all the darkness, so that it didn’t overwhelm me as a child.
I've never even heard of this movie until now!
I haven't seen this film for a few years now, so I don't remember much about it, but I thought the imagery of Hell was suppose to imply that the lady's Father was Max, and being Max was absolute Hell.
Daleks:are we a joke to you critic ARE WE
My favourite defunct roller coaster in western england from the 80s
The ending which showcases hell is the creepiest thing ever.
I'd like to know what Brad Jones thinks about the film.
That ending always stuck with me.
Holy shit Doug u really put effort into ur channel and if ne one dis serves the subs is u my friend love ur channel keep up the great work hope it comes quick for u
At the time, the effects were pretty state of the art. Their motion control camera was actually better than what was being used on Star Wars and many people who worked on Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back worked on The Black Hole. It also has the best "creepy spaceship" design put on film. The videos looks bad because it hasn't been given a proper restoration/transfer by Disney. Disney doesn't consider it a prestige title and have let third parties do the recent home video releases from old film sources. The last time Disney themselves did a proper transfer was for the Japanese laserdisc. Hopefully someone at Disney will give this film a little love when the remake (supposedly still in the works) starts production and have a proper restoration done from the original film negative.
Did this movie's ending inspire event horizon?
I wouldn't be surprised.
I also get a lot of Event Horizon vibes from this! Weird!
Not just the ending, I think.
The movie is surprisingly enjoyable as a horror movie - "Event Horizon" used A LOT of it in its screenplay and has much more cult following sadly.
"Event Horizon" is laughably stupid. I had to force myself to get through it ONE TIME. And it was painful!
If The Black Hole was more popular, it might make for a cool theme park ride at Epcot or Tomorrowland
I realy liked it as a kid, it gives me nostalic feelings. Before the Goonies and Back to the future came out.
This movie was incredibly ambitious for Disney.
I think Maximillian was the inspiration for The Terminator.
falloutghoul1, I guess so!
IDK: McDowell did a very good job to me: VINCENT was dry and sarcastic with just enough balance of proverbial wisdom. He must get credit for this performance too.
A review that begins where everything ends
i liked the film and still do
Don't give it a pass. It's actually fairly decent.
BS NC I love this movie.
Maximilian should be saying "KILL THE HUMAN!" like that old arcade game, Berzerk.
He is mute through the entire movie until the very end when VINCENT drills through him (which was ironic ) and he makes anguished screaming robot noises
Not bad for a movie. Maybe they should release it on DVD or Blu-Ray. It reminds like this movie refer to "Interstellar" before Christopher Nolan completes this loophole adventure than this.
Umm, Disney did release it on DVD. I bought my copy in 2002.
I was going through my Dad's old college stuff, & stumbled on the book, so I read it, deciding to do my independent reading assignment on it, & was like "W...T...F????!!!" 😳 At the end! While I acknowledge it's attempt to answer what's in a black hole, & just LOVING the trippy, cosmic imagry, it was just a rather big middle finger to what the characters went through, especially in the 2nd half!
(SPOILERS)
& WHAT about the way they killed off Harry, literally the 1st character introduced?! The way their own ship was blown up with him in it is quite literally the only other time he's mentioned!!!
On a lighter note, my enthusiasm over the book got me a big fat A on my assignment! 😊
I grew up with this movie as a child and I loved it...I still do. I like the characters...and I especially liked Vincent who is my all time favourite robot. Unlike R2-D2 he is practical...he can talk, fight, and fix things, and he gives out little tid bits of philosophy to the other crew members. The space shots are fantastic...very dark and very bleak...we forget how dark space really is. It is the atmosphere of this movie that drives it. I would not describe the characters as being wooden as much as being practical, they reach in away that shows that they are actually educated, that they belong on a space exploration ship, there are no corky characters in this story. Personally it is one of those unrated movies that slips to the way side...another good movie like this would be The Last Starfighter. The failing of this movie would be the ending, it is very metaphoric with the elements of heaven and hell, and the morality of does "the ends justify the means...", and all of this can easily be lost on the viewer.
I grew up with it, also. What I hated were the action figures. They were like what G.I. Joe would come to be, but the thumbs broke off really easy.
Can you please do an updated review of this movie?
I still have a soft spot for this movie, problems and all. It deserves more interest, though I don't think it's a great film. It is, in the end, watchable and does some things really well. And some others kind of poorly.
I'd give it a C+ myself - it is adequate enough and capable, but not going to win much praise.
Definitely C+.
This is kinda looks like a G rated version of Event Horizon.
It was the first Disney film not to be G-rated.
this is a underrated movie
4:22 Is that a laptop? nope, its just paper.
really enjoyed this as a kid, but not so much as an adult
What is the song playing in the background of the video?
whats the music playing in the background?