Dark Star

Carpenter turns one of his own college projects into his debut feature film. The result is a space opera that mocks human behavior through a satirical and grotesque take on the sci-fi genre. The director levels biting irony at mankind’s predilection to conquer and its destructive nature (themes we’ll see repeated again and again in his future works), hiding his dark pessimism behind a light, amusing façade and reinterpreting some memorable scenes from Stanley Kubrick’s oeuvre (“Dr. Strangelove“, 1964 and “2001: A Space Odyssey”, 1968).

Contributing to the screenplay was future “Alien” (1979) screenwriter Dan O’Bannon who also assumes an acting role in what seems to be a dress rehearsal for Ridley Scott’s masterpiece (basically, for a good portion of the film, we get to watch an escaped alien creature making its way through the conduits of a spaceship that’s about to explode…).

Although theoretically worthy of interest, “Dark Star” remains a raw, rough work, far removed from the directing maturity that will already characterize Carpenter’s follow-up film “Assault on Precinct 13” (1976) – its rhythm falters at times and the acting is far from polished.

Top scene: the surreal dialogue between the astronaut and the bomb with its Cartesian mindset: (“I think, therefore I am“).