Dark Star – Finsterer Stern (1974)

Dark Star – Finsterer Stern: Directed by John Carpenter. With Brian Narelle, Cal Kuniholm, Dre Pahich, Dan O’Bannon. In the far reaches of space, a small crew, 20 years into their solitary mission, find things beginning to go hilariously wrong.

“Itu0026#39;s an undeniable truth; – John Carpenter is one the biggest geniuses to ever contribute to landmark horror, Sci-Fi and cult cinema. There are more than enough titles to exhibit his mastery in all genres (u0026quot;Halloweenu0026quot;, u0026quot;The Fogu0026quot;, u0026quot;Escape from New Yorku0026quot;, u0026quot;The Thingu0026quot;, etc) but I never knew that his debut long-feature was a zero-budgeted and student-made spoof of space exploration cinema, and of u0026quot;2001: A Space Odysseyu0026quot; in particular. Moreover, since co-written by Dan Ou0026#39;Bannon, scripter of u0026quot;Alienu0026quot; and half a dozen of other brilliant classics, we actually witness the first venturing steps of two majorly influential titans! And no, their fondly cherished u0026quot;Dark Staru0026quot; is not a totally boring and clumsily inept try-out, but a cheerfully spirited and subtly intelligent spoof for people with a peculiar sense of humor (although, admittedly, it also took me two consecutive viewings to realize that).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe small spacecraft u0026quot;Dark Staru0026quot; is endlessly voyaging through the galaxy, on their twenty years long mission to destroy redundant little planets. To be entirely honest, and confirmed via a formal video message during the beginning, nobody on earth really cares about the men aboard; – not even following the electrocution accident that neutralized the Commander and reduced the crew from five to four. The cheesy (but adorable) country song playing throughout the opening credits is already quite clear and significant. Benson, Arizona, is probably one of the most boring places on earth, but still a location to desperately crave for when youu0026#39;re stuck in a claustrophobic shuttle in outer space! Personally, I find it genius to revolve an entire film around the message how utopic and anti-adventurous space-traveling can be, in fact, but I also reckon that many spectators are put off by the incredibly slow pacing, the almost complete lack of action and the utmost silly visuals u0026amp; sound effects. The key secret to truly enjoy u0026quot;Dark Staru0026quot;, if youu0026#39;re open-minded enough, is to look out for all the delightful absurdities and the insane dialogs between the astronauts mutually and with the u0026quot;intelligent bombu0026quot;. You simply got to love the pet alien, for instance, which is just a beach toy with duck feet, or the useless but nevertheless formal and stoic video-diaries. Heck, I even find it hilarious that the crew members donu0026#39;t remember each otheru0026#39;s first names – or even their own ones – after addressing them by their last names for 20 years straight! Admittedly you require an odd cinematic taste to laugh out loud with dialogues such as: u0026quot;Hey bomb, whatu0026#39;s your number one purpose in life?u0026quot; u0026quot;To explode, of course!u0026quot;, but I certainly prefer this over dull and pretentious milestones like u0026quot;Star Treku0026quot; or u0026quot;2001u0026quot;.”