Both a cinephile and a master director, Quentin Tarantino recommends it “piece of art” A science fiction film that is John Carpenter’s first feature film, Dark Star – Black Star, released in 1974.
In 2150, the Dark Star spacecraft is tasked with destroying planets deemed unstable. But after dropping a new destructive bomb on an unknown planet, the crew collides with an electromagnetic cloud and the Dark Star is damaged.
Make no mistake, the film is a sci-fi comedy, written by Carpenter himself along with Dan O’Bannon, the upcoming screenwriter of Alien, Return of the Living Dead and Total Recall. Dark Star is a 68-minute student project that gradually grew into a one-hour, 23-minute film with outside funding.
to the microphone Video archiveQuentin Tarantino talked about what the movie invented and what he says will be filmed in Star Wars:
It completely preceded Star Wars’ Leap to Light Speed. It’s obvious that George Lucas saw this and used the idea for light speed travel.
Remember that when Dark Star comes out, we are three years before the release of Star Wars, the universe created by George Lucas. Tarantino is a big fan of the film and credits it with “M word” (“m-word”, for “piece of art” or “masterpiece” in French):
“I want the ‘m-word’ to mean something, I don’t want to throw it away. (…) I really think that’s about Dark Star, it’s a masterpiece of science fiction.”
A strange creature from a dark star
The AI on board, which is slowly becoming fireproof, is inspired by 2001’s HAL 9000: Stanley Kubrick’s A Space Odyssey, which was released five years earlier and leads to the mother’s voice heard on the alien Nostromo. The eighth passenger. In both films we find the theme of confinement that goes along with the loneliness of the astronaut.
The film would be very poorly distributed (restricted come in very deliberate) and quickly removed from the screens. If it’s not quite successful, Dark Star is inventive enough to bring a lot more to the screen than its microscopic budget suggests. Its impact on film history is definitely worth rediscovering. It is available on DVD and Blu-ray.
Source: Allocine
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
