I've been watching these lately... the films from Disney's so-called "dark era" from 1970-1987 when they were experimenting with darker themes and imagery. While a lot of these films under-performed when they first came out, they've since become cult classics (in some cases).

I first saw "The Black Hole" in the theater when it came out. I was six years old. A lot of that movie's nightmarish imagery stuck with me.



Then there was "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and this memorable scene...



There was also TRON, a breakthrough film so far ahead of its time that it under-performed.



(Yeah some of these are Disney Plus trailers... I'm aware of that.)

When we got Disney Plus one of the first things I watched (after Steamboat Willy lol) was The Black Hole. I remembered it vaguely from seeing it as a child, particularly the evil robot Maximillian, who scared me. Unfortunately the whole thing doesn't hold up well. You could see what they were going for but it fell flat.

Maximilian killing Anthony Perkins was one particularly traumatic moment for me from that film.

TBH is very much trying to be a pseudo-religious experience (not unlike 2001: A Space Odyssey) particularly toward the end. It has one of those typical special effects sequences inspired by 2001. Other movies of the 70s had them too, most notably Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Superman: The Movie.

Either "The Black Hole" or "The Watcher in the Woods" was notorious at the time for being the first Disney movie to be released with a PG rating. "Black Hole" had exactly one outburst of profanity in the movie's opening moments to establish its street cred as a not-just-for-kids movie. But most of it was still so obviously for younger viewers. There was a lot of goofy robot business that was clearly meant for young kids. Almost all of the dialog and plot points were presented in a way that made it accessible to a pre-teen viewer. Even the killing of Anthony Perkins' character, shocking though it was (And must have been to really young viewers in particular) was presented in a totally bloodless manner. Then you had the 2001-inspired moments at the climax that left children and adults alike scratching their heads.

Jeff's assessment about it falling flat is pretty fair. From a technical perspective it was very well-made. I saw it on TCM some years back, and I recall it holding up quite well in that respect. Unfortunately they tried to make what was basically a kids' movie look like it was for grown-ups, and that confused approach undermined it.

Yeah, I agree with Jeff, but, like SECONDS, it is a very interesting view today in its cinematic historical context.

I feel it was the ideas in the Dark Disney films that made them dark moreso than the gore and language levels.

Jack Kirby drew the Black Hole Disney Sunday strip adapting the movie in 79.

I did not know that! I had the Black Hole pop-up book...

Then, of course, there was "The Black Cauldron" in 1985... which flopped completely.

Disney's animation department had a rough time in the 80s. It didn't get back to classic levels until the Little Mermaid.

Yeah, I was one of the dozen or so people to see "Oliver & Co." in the theater.

So that other person in the theater when I saw it was you!

Not a bad movie at all, from what I can recall. By no means one of Disney's best.

What also belongs in this discussion is Dragonslayer. I saw it at the theater in 1981. If memory serves me, it was heralded as the first ever Disney produced film that was PG. I think they invented their Touchstone label for it.

I remember enjoying "Something Wicked This Way Comes," but Black Hole was rather Meh.
Tron was okay. I played the Arcade game a lot. I enjoyed Dragon Slayer quite a bit, and I think it is the only Disney
movie from this era that I own on disc. I might give Black Cauldron another watch one of these days.

I saw Dragonslayer. Fun movie.

I was a fan of both Dragonslayer and Tron, but I've never seen Something Wicked or The Black Hole. It's weird that I haven't seen TBH because it was right in the zone of things I loved as a kid. I have no explanation for not having seen that one, because I remember when it came out and that there were model kits of the robots and so on. I never even saw it on TV and it must've been on TV at some point...what a strange thing it is not to have seen it.

You'd probably like "Black Hole," Simon. Like I said, it's well-made and great to watch visually, yet the silly aspects of the story give it a certain cheesy vibe nonetheless. It's pretty old-school science fiction.

Absolutely right. D'oh! I knew I was forgetting a big one here...

You are... forgiven. Go and binge no more.

Thanks, I'll give it a look at some point.