Dark Star
1974
The first film from John Carpenter is a hilarious romp in a not-so-glamourous spaceship into the outer reaches of space. A team of astronauts manning the beat-up spaceship Dark Star are on a mission across the universe to seek out and destroy unstable planets. The journey is wrought with mishaps and danger seems to come from .. Read more
| Starring | Brian Narelle, Dan O'Bannon, Dre Pahich, Cal Kuniholm |
|---|---|
| Director | John Carpenter |
| Genres | Comedy |
loading...
Dark Star
The first film from John Carpenter is a hilarious romp in a not-so-glamourous spaceship into the outer reaches of space. A team of astronauts manning the beat-up spaceship Dark Star are on a mission across the universe to seek out and destroy unstable planets. The journey is wrought with mishaps and danger seems to come from the most unexpected places. There are misbehaving pet aliens, suicidal bombs that see no reason to live and want to blow themselves up, frozen crewmates dispensing advice from beyond the grave and a surly, unhelpful main computer that holds the men it serves in total contempt. Despite all these problems, the crew is still bored to the brink of madness. Co-written by Dan O'Bannon, who would go on to write the script for ALIEN, the film is brimming with jabs at the science fiction genre. John Carpenter cut his directing teeth on this film, which he also co-wrote. Made while Carpenter was a college student and produced for very little money, DARK STAR is considered to be the most successful student film ever made.
| Starring | Brian Narelle, Dan O'Bannon, Dre Pahich, Cal Kuniholm |
|---|---|
| Director | John Carpenter |
| Studio | FABULOUS FILMS LTD. |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 19 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 17 Jan 2000 Production year: 1974 |
| Format | DVD |
-
Critics' reviews (3)
View all -
Produced as a film project at the University of Southern California for just $60,000, this sly space parody begins as a satire on 2001: a Space Odyssey. However, it quickly moves into original territory as the cabin-fevered crew copes with an alien stowaway, a nagging computer, its late commander's cryogenically preserved brain and a thermo-nuclear device that's all set to explode. Witty, profound and cleverly scored by its producer/director John Carpenter, this cult favourite was co-written (with Carpenter) by cast member Dan O'Bannon, who later worked on Alien.
-
A semi-professional film which turned out to be one of the screen's neatest low-budget entries in the pulp science fiction genre. That doesn't make it wholly entertaining, but its credentials are impeccable.
-
Most helpful member's review
View all -
23 out of 28 people found this review helpful
This film should be watched with caution.
It isn’t well made, well acted or well funded and if you think special effects are important then don’t watch this as, visually, it is extremely dated.
On the other hand it has a witty, wry, intelligent script – especially if you can appreciate or just cope with the ‘hippy’ mannerisms and speech. It asks perhaps the ultimate drop-out 70’s question of ‘what is the point?’ by placing the crew on a meaningless, endless mission, the crew each develop their own way of coping – one is dead (but still talking), another stares endlessly at the stars.
With a wink to 2001 and it's message of the dangers of technology it certainly has it's funny moments. Nowadays it’s really only for sci-fi buffs, film students or those who spent the 70’s in Southern California. -
Most recent members' review
View all -
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Off their faces in space
Yep, worth a watch, great classic space film. its black comedy for real.
-
News and features
View all
Moon
- Tom Charity
- 15 Jul 2009
His time is nearly up. Sam Bell has been faithfully monitoring the Lunar energy harvesting systems on Selene for three years now, and he’s more than ready to return home to his wife and child on Earth. It’s been a long haul, and the isolation is getting to him. The company’s direct video link has been down for months now, so the only line of communication involves a time-delayed relay via Saturn. There is always GERTY, the space station’s resident robot, who has been... Read more
-
More like this
View allShowing 1 to 4 of 19
Related user collection
Naive Film (14)
82.4% from 8 members
