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Dark Star is a student film that was turned into a feature length film and has the legacy of launching two famous Holywood careers. It was written by Dan O'Bannon and John Carpenter and directed by John Carpenter. It's actually his first film! You can watch the whole thing for free on YouTube.
As Dan O'Bannon said, "[w]e had what would have been the world's most impressive student film and it became the world's least impressive professional film". The original movie was supposed to be shorter and cheaper--but once distributors showed interest, the time increased and the budget went from $1000 to $6000. Keeping this in mind, is pretty thinky despite it's flaws. The filmmakers mistake long periods of silence for suspense and one can't quite tell if it was supposed to be a serious movie or a comedy. Yes, a muffin tin makes up part of the space suits and an alien is quite clearly a beach ball. It's this mish mash that's made it a cult favourite.
If you can get past the low budget, there's a really intriguing story about technological failure and lack of teamwork. An Earth crew is on a mission to explode unstable planets to make the universe safe for future colonization, but, over time, the ship and crew suffer numerous breakdowns--both physical and mental. An asteroid storm damages the ship and without relief, the crew burns out until they are on the edge of disaster. Safety oversights only add to the crew's problems.
It's still pretty impressive for a low budget feature though and some of the concepts would be re-used in later films by O'Bannon and Carpenter.
As Dan O'Bannon said, "[w]e had what would have been the world's most impressive student film and it became the world's least impressive professional film". The original movie was supposed to be shorter and cheaper--but once distributors showed interest, the time increased and the budget went from $1000 to $6000. Keeping this in mind, is pretty thinky despite it's flaws. The filmmakers mistake long periods of silence for suspense and one can't quite tell if it was supposed to be a serious movie or a comedy. Yes, a muffin tin makes up part of the space suits and an alien is quite clearly a beach ball. It's this mish mash that's made it a cult favourite.
If you can get past the low budget, there's a really intriguing story about technological failure and lack of teamwork. An Earth crew is on a mission to explode unstable planets to make the universe safe for future colonization, but, over time, the ship and crew suffer numerous breakdowns--both physical and mental. An asteroid storm damages the ship and without relief, the crew burns out until they are on the edge of disaster. Safety oversights only add to the crew's problems.
It's still pretty impressive for a low budget feature though and some of the concepts would be re-used in later films by O'Bannon and Carpenter.
