"Dark Star" 1974 classic college cult film.

King Goldfish

King Goldfish

Anyone see this? I saw it when I was 9 when it came out at the theatre. I rented it on VHS last year but the tape was chewed up. I just rented the DVD from netflix and it has both the orriginal theatrical release and an uncut version (which I watched last night).

the acting wasnt bad, since these guys weren't really acting students. It was Filmed at USC and written by both John Carpenter and Dan O Bannon. Dan O'Bannon was kind of funny in the film.

One of the things that amazed me about the film was the fact that it was just meant to be a student project, in which some director from hollywood had got a chance to see the film and funded the film so it could be extended into a full length feature. Im wondering how often this happens in film school and if anyone knows of any other films that ended up in the same way as Dark Star did.
 
Dark Star is a great film. I saw it at the cinema in the 1980's when it was still getting regular replays in some of the cooler London arthouse cinemas.

My two favorite memories about that film are:

That they ran out of money and had to make the alien for practically nothing, so the whole thing is just a beach ball and some rubber gloves. I love that.

I also love how it's obvious that all the lift shafts in the film are plyboard tunnels with a painted sheet of plyboard being pushed up and down them on a dolly.

I'm just a sucker for John Carpenter films though.
 
I was wondering about the shaft. They did raise him up pretty high but you could see the bottom looked like foam padding.

But yes, you can clearly see part of it looked as if it was nothing more then cardboard cutouts. The beach ball alien was hysterical.

Did you see "They Live". Thats one of my favorite films. I love the 15 minute fight scene.
 
They Live was superb! One of my fav Carpenter films. That great fight between Roddy Piper and Keith david was originally another 5-7 mins longer! They cut that down! I'd love to see the complete fight uncut.

'I have come here to crew bubblegum and kick arse. And I'm all out of bubble gum!' - Great quote, great film.

Dark star is cool but they Live is the kiddy!
 
Darkstar is one of my favourites, I bought it on DVD about a year ago and have been using it to show people involved in my film what can be done with little money.

I particularly liked Pinback's Video Diaries. And the idea that the alien mascot could form the basis for the script of Ridley Scotts 'Alien' is a cool as well.

Steven
 
Last edited:
I always thought the "elevator" was just a box being pushed down a hallway. Saw it once, a long time ago. How about "A boy and his dog"? That's one for sure freaky movie. "Take'em to the farm" - eww
 
davidchecker said:
I always thought the "elevator" was just a box being pushed down a hallway. Saw it once, a long time ago. How about "A boy and his dog"? That's one for sure freaky movie. "Take'em to the farm" - eww
Click to expand...


Yeah, Clive said that too, but I could have sworn i read that they used a forklift or some kind of lift. So he was just laying down with the camera laying sideways? looks real enough. LOL


Im curious, how did he flex his body so straight and look like he was really dangling if he was on a dolly? He must have taken gymnastics to have that kind of muscle cordination.
 
Last edited:
Also note in the film, how the Starship bolts at hyperdrive and comes to a dead stop. Its very comical in a way (Though im not sure if they intended to make it look that way), Then, Go rent Hitchhikders Guide to the Galexy. There are several scenes in which the small highjacked space craft does the same thing while followed by the Aliens.

had that same look to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top