What actually happens
A pilot with a plan involving the cryosleep passengers
The spaceship Hunter-Gratzner, in the year 2678, is hit by micrometeoroids that go through the hull, kill the captain and send the ship drifting toward a planet. Owens, the first officer, and Carolyn Fry, who normally docks ships, attempt to land it. As the ship falls out of control, Fry panics and gets ready to jettison the passengers in cryostasis to save herself, but Owens stops her. The ship crashes. Owens and most of the passengers die. The survivors are Fry, the Imam Abu al-Walid and the three young students he is taking to New Mecca, a teenager named Jack, the prospectors Shazza and Zeke, the merchant Paris, the lawman Johns, and his prisoner Riddick, a dangerous criminal who escapes in the confusion.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
An orrery with bad news
The group searches the planet for Riddick and finds an abandoned research settlement with a dropship that does not work. Zeke goes missing, and everyone suspects Riddick. Fry explores a nearby underground cave instead, is attacked by creatures and barely gets out. Johns catches Riddick again and offers to free him if he helps them leave. At the settlement, a student named Ali disturbs a nest of young creatures, and they devour him before retreating underground, which shows that light hurts them. Fry uses an orrery to learn that a total eclipse, which happens every twenty-two years, is about to start. When it gets dark the creatures will come out to hunt, which is what happened to the settlers. Johns and Riddick each try to win Fry over. She describes Riddick as coldly practical, and Riddick tells her Johns is a bounty hunter addicted to morphine, who refused to use it to ease Owens' death.
The eclipse arrives right on schedule
The group goes back to the Hunter-Gratzner for power cells for the dropship. The scene people dread most starts there, in the middle of the movie: the eclipse begins and thousands of flying creatures come out. They kill Shazza first. The survivors shelter inside the wrecked ship, but the creatures get in and devour Hassan. After that the group decides it has to reach the dropship, so they ask Riddick to lead them through the dark. His eyes were surgically altered, so he can see at night. They set out with whatever light they have and whatever they can make.
A canyon full of creatures and a very bad idea about Jack
The group reaches a narrow canyon packed with creatures, where Paris panics and bolts, and the creatures get him. Riddick reveals that Jack is really a girl who has been posing as a boy, and that her menstrual blood is drawing the creatures. Johns takes Riddick aside and proposes injuring Jack and abandoning her as a decoy. Riddick pretends to agree, then attacks Johns, hurts him and leaves him for the creatures. At Riddick's urging, the others sprint through the canyon while the creatures start eating each other. On the far side it begins to rain, which puts out their torches, and Suleiman is killed in the next attack. Riddick starts to walk away alone, then comes back back and fights the creatures off to save Jack. He stashes Jack, Fry and Abu al-Walid in a cave, then heads off to fetch the dropship himself. Fry follows him and finds him getting ready to take off without them.
The ending, explained
Fry begs Riddick to help her save the others. He asks her to leave with him, but she refuses, because she is ashamed of trying to sacrifice her passengers earlier and would now die to protect them. They rescue Abu al-Walid and Jack together, using small glowing native creatures for light. Riddick is cornered and wounded, and Fry goes back for him, but one of the creatures stabs her and carries her off. Riddick returns to the ship and waits to take off, letting the creatures gather around it, then burns as many as he can with the engines. With the planet behind them, Jack wants to know what to say to the authorities about Riddick, and he tells her to say he died down there. Fry, Owens, Shazza, Paris, Johns, Ali, Hassan and Suleiman are dead. Jack, Abu al-Walid and Riddick survive.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits, so staying for them is a guess.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Pitch Black scary?
Pitch Black is a 6 out of 10 with dread that lasts about a night. It is a creature feature with attacks in the dark and a fair amount of gore.
How does Pitch Black end?
Fry dies going back to save Riddick after they rescue Jack and Abu al-Walid. Riddick burns as many creatures as he can with the ship's engines and escapes the planet with them, then tells them to say he died there.
Does the dog die in Pitch Black?
No dog dies in Pitch Black. The only animals that die are the alien creatures.
Is there a post-credits scene in Pitch Black?
Nobody has confirmed whether Pitch Black has a scene after the credits.
What are the creatures in Pitch Black?
They live underground on the planet and avoid light, which is what happened to the settlers. A total eclipse that happens every twenty-two years brings them out in the thousands, and in Pitch Black they eat each other as well as the humans.
