I am game to watch any feature directed by John Carpenter. At least once. But most titles from his filmography have infinite replay value for me. I recently came across a film from the director’s oeuvre that I’ve rudely overlooked and I need to make a point to check it out.
The picture is called Dark Star. It’s a sci-fi comedy that began life as a USC student film project. Carpenter directed, produced, and scored the film. He shared writing duties with Return of the Living Dead director Dan O’Bannon. O’Bannon also appears as one of the leads.
The original 1971 incarnation of the film was 45 minutes long. The final budget for the student project was just $6,000. Carpenter and O’Bannon shot an additional 50 minutes of footage in 1973 to stretch the concept out to feature length. This captured the attention of producer Jack H. Harris. Harris told them that they needed to cut 30 minutes and reshoot multiple scenes to ready their picture for theaters. The film’s final budget after Harris’ investment came in at just $60,000.
Though the film looks a little rough around the edges, it has a cult fanbase and even fared pretty well with critics. Hell, it holds a 73% ‘fresh’ critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Not too bad considering the picture’s humble beginnings.
What makes me especially curious to check this one out is that it sounds very much like this project taught Carpenter how to do more with less. He later used that same approach when making Halloween. That influential effort was made for just $300,000 and eventually became a resounding success.
If you are as keen to scope Carpenter’s feature film directorial debut as I am, you can do exactly that right now. Navigate over to Peacock where the film is currently available to stream.
The setup for John Carpenter’s debut feature goes as follows:
A satiric look at the problems experienced by a crew of bumbling astronauts on a mission to destroy rogue planets.
That’s all we have for you at present, dear reader. Stay tuned to Dread Central in the very near future for more updates on which films within your interest set are available to stream and where to find them. If you’d like to chat more about Carpenter’s humble beginnings, you can find me on Threads @FunWithHorror.
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