Pitch Black (2000)

Pitch Black is a 2000 American science fiction action horror film co-written and directed by David Twohy. The film stars Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, and Keith David. Dangerous criminal Richard B. Riddick (Diesel) is being transported to prison in a spacecraft. When the spaceship is damaged by comet debris and makes an emergency crash landing on an empty desert planet, Riddick escapes. However, when predatory alien creatures begin attacking the survivors, Riddick joins forces with the surviving crew and other passengers to develop a plan to escape the planet.

Plot
In the distant future, the ship Hunter-Gratzner is transporting passengers in cryostasis. Among those, a Muslim preacher who goes by the title "Imam" accompanied by three young sons traveling to New Mecca, a boy named Jack, a pair of prospectors named Shazza and Zeke, a merchant named Paris, and a law enforcement officer, William J. Johns, escorting the notorious criminal Richard B. Riddick. Riddick has illegally surgically modified eyes that allow him to see in the dark but are highly sensitive to light.

Debris from a comet tail ruptures the ship's hull, killing the captain and sending the ship off course. The surviving crew members attempt to land the ship on a nearby planet. As the ship falls apart, docking pilot Carolyn Fry attempts to dump the passenger section to reduce their weight, but co-pilot Owens prevents her. During the crash landing, several passenger compartments are destroyed and Owens sustains fatal injuries.

The group explores their surroundings, noticing that the three suns surrounding the planet keep it in perpetual daylight. They find an abandoned geological research settlement, with a water well and a dropship with drained batteries. Zeke is killed but his body is missing, and Riddick is immediately suspected. While searching for Zeke's body, Fry barely escapes from photosensitive aggressive underground creatures. Johns offers Riddick a deal: if he helps them escape the planet, he'll go free.

The group takes a power cell to the dropship. One of the young sons is ambushed and eaten inside one of the buildings, and they realize the geologists were all killed by the creatures. An orrery shows that an eclipse is imminent so the creatures will be free to hunt above ground. Johns informs the others that Riddick is able to pilot the dropship and Riddick reveals to Fry that Johns is actually a bounty hunter and a morphineaddict.

They return to the crash site on a solar-powered sand truck to retrieve more power cells for the dropship, but the eclipse begins just as they get there. Creatures pour out of the ground and rip in half Shazza. They regroup again where Fry suggest they return to the dropship. Riddick agrees to lead them in the dark thanks to his special sight then the group salvages any light source they can find in an attempt to scare away the creatures and on foot. The trip back to dropship starts with the power of their light sources getting accidentally cut after Paris is killed and has them cross their own tracks. Riddick then reveals that Jack is actually female and the scent of her menstrual blood is attracting the creatures. Johns suggests to Riddick to use Jack as bait to keep the creatures off the rest of the group during the final stretch of their march, but Riddick engages Johns in a hand to hand fight, wounds him and leaves him as a distraction instead. The rest of the survivors push on, while Riddick drags the power cells behind him.

After the last Muslim child is killed and rainfall starts putting out their Molotov torches, the group, now down to Riddick, Fry, Jack and Imam, finds shelter inside a small cave not far from the settlement. Riddick leaves them there and takes the power cells to the dropship. Inside the cave, they discover bio-luminescent worms, which they stuff in now-empty bottles to use as light. Fry leaves the cave and finds Riddick powering up the ship, ready to leave without them. She pleads with him to help her rescue the others, but instead he just offers to take her with him. Eventually, Riddick has a change of heart, and they return for Imam and Jack and take them to the ship, but Riddick is separated from the group and wounded by the creatures. Fry goes back to help Riddick but is speared and carried off by a creature after finding him, presumably dying. Riddick makes it to the ship and waits until the last moment before engaging the engines to incinerate as many creatures as possible. While leaving the planet, Jack asks Riddick what they should tell the authorities about him; he tells her to say that Riddick died on the planet.

Cast

 * Vin Diesel as Richard B. Riddick, a Furyan. Former mercenary, soldier, and pilot, an infamous criminal and murderer who was captured by Johns and placed in suspended animation along with Johns, who was to bring him to a prison to collect a bounty. He has surgically altered eyes that allow him to see in the dark but need protection from daylight.
 * Radha Mitchell as Carolyn Fry, a docking pilot for the commercial transport ship Hunter-Gratzner. She has a moment of moral weakness during the emergency landing attempt, intending to sacrifice the ship's passenger section to save herself. A relationship develops between Fry and Johns, until she finds out who he really is.
 * Cole Hauser as William J. Johns. A morphine-addicted bounty hunter and war veteran who is transporting Riddick to high-security prison to collect a large bounty on him. When the ship crashed, he presented himself as an intergalactic police officer and spread the story about Riddick being a serial killer so he could capture him for himself.
 * Keith David as Abu 'Imam' al-Walid. A Muslim preacher who was travelling to New Mecca for the annual preaching, and was stranded with others when the ship crashed. He is travelling with three young boys.
 * Lewis Fitz-Gerald as Paris P. Ogilvie. An intergalactic arts dealer selling weaponry and arts from Earth and other planets. He also provided the others with alcohol.
 * Claudia Black as Sharon 'Shazza' Montgomery. A free settler who was travelling across the universe looking for a new home.
 * Rhiana Griffith as Jack. A young girl who was travelling on a distant planet for unknown reasons, and she was posing as a boy named Jack to avoid any suspicion.
 * John Moore as John 'Zeke' Ezekiel. A free settler along with Shazza and looking for a home.
 * Simon Burke as Greg Owens, co-pilot. During the emergency landing, Owens stopped Fry from dumping the passenger section of the ship, which would have resulted in their immediate deaths. He dies during the emergency crash landing of the Hunter-Gratzner on the uninhabited desert planet.
 * Les Chantery as Suleiman
 * Sam Sari as Hassan
 * Firass Dirani as Ali
 * Ric Anderson as Total Stranger
 * Vic Wilson as Captain Tom Mitchell