Dark Star (film)

This article is about the 1974 John Carpenter film. For other uses, see Dark Star (disambiguation).

Dark Star
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Carpenter
Written by
Produced byJohn Carpenter
Starring
  • Dan O'Bannon
  • Brian Narelle
  • Cal Kuniholm
  • Dre Pahich
CinematographyDouglas Knapp
Edited byDan O'Bannon
Music byJohn Carpenter
Production
companies
Distributed byBryanston Distributing Company
Release dates
  • March 30, 1974 (1974-03-30) (Filmex, Los Angeles)
  • January 16, 1975 (1975-01-16) (Theatrical, Los Angeles)
Running time
83 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60,000[2]

Dark Star is a 1974 American independent science fiction comedy film produced, scored and directed by John Carpenter and co-written with Dan O'Bannon. It follows the crew of the deteriorating starship Dark Star, twenty years into their mission to destroy unstable planets that might threaten future colonization of other planets.

Beginning as a University of Southern California student film produced from 1970 to 1972, it was gradually expanded to feature-length until it appeared at Filmex in 1974, and subsequently received a limited theatrical release in 1975.[3] Its final budget is estimated at $60,000.[4] While initially unsuccessful with audiences, it was relatively well received by critics, and continued to be shown in theaters as late as 1980.[5] The home video revolution of the early 1980s helped the movie achieve "cult classic" status.[6][3] O'Bannon collaborated with home video distributor VCI in the production of releases on VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, and eventually Blu-ray.

Dark Star was Carpenter's feature directorial debut; he also scored the film. It was also the feature debut for O'Bannon, who also served as editor, production designer, and visual effects supervisor, and appeared as Sergeant Pinback.[3][7]

  1. ^ "Dark Star (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. January 3, 1978. Archived from the original on October 31, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  2. ^ Smith, Adam (January 1, 2000). "Dark Star Review". Empire. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Tripney, Natasha (April 3, 2024). "Dark Star at 50: How a micro-budget student film changed sci-fi forever". BBC Culture. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Variety1973 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ebert was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (April 18, 2011). "Dark Star gazing". Guardian Media Group. The Guardian. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  7. ^ Maçek III, J.C. (November 21, 2012). "Building the Perfect Star Beast: The Antecedents of 'Alien'". PopMatters.