The Thing, Move: This Forgotten John Carpenter Sci-Fi Wonder Is Better
Carpenter has made a number of movies that have gone on to become cult classics, but this one is still criminally overlooked.
In 1968, Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was released, in 1979, Ridley Scott 's Alien – two movies that changed the science fiction genre forever. In between, in 1974, Dark Star quietly flew by – the debut film of Los Angeles film school student John Carpenter, shot for pennies.
It didn't change anything, and was criminally underrated – but now it's impossible to watch either Kubrick or Scott without remembering the fate of the characters of Dark Star.
Dark Star, a $60,000 film now considered a sci-fi classic, was the directorial debut of horror maestro John Carpenter. The film, which recently turned fifty, is as far removed from what came before it as it is from what came after – it is neither a space odyssey nor a space opera, but rather a cold, dark, and absurd story of people stranded together on a malfunctioning interstellar ship.
Dark Star was a collaboration between John Carpenter, who directed and scored the film, and Dan O'Bannon, who not only co-wrote, edited, served as production designer and visual effects supervisor, but also starred as the unstable, paranoid Sergeant Pinback.
What is Dark Star About?
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The movie is set in the year 2250. A spaceship wanders the galaxy, blowing up unstable planets. The ship's crew has been on it for twenty years, and the people are going crazy from boredom and the company of each other.
They spend their days bickering and repairing the ship, which keeps failing them; at one point, for example, they lose their entire supply of toilet paper.
In addition to Pinback, there are other strange characters on board. The senior officer, Lieutenant Doolittle, used to be a surfer; Sergeant Talby is a loner who likes to spend time in the observation dome at the top of the ship; Sergeant Boiler spends his time playing with a knife (as Bishop will later do in Aliens). The ship's commander, Powell, is in a state of hibernation, frozen into a block of ice in the ship's hold.
Dark Star Influenced Many Classic Sci-Fi Projects
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Dark Star received a limited theatrical release in 1975, but was not a commercial success. However, the rise of the VHS market helped the film find an audience and give it cult status and its influence is still felt today.
The influence of Dark Star is most evident in Carpenter's subsequent filmography. For example, The Thing is also about men in a confined space who gradually become paranoid and less trusting of each other.
References to Dark Star can also be found in other films such as Danny Boyle 's Sunshine. Despite its very low budget and props made from junk, Dark Star has gone down in history. And not just that – without it, many classic movies like The Thing and Alien would have been very different.
Where to Stream Dark Star?
Dark Star is available on Peacock, Prime Video and Apple TV.